It looks like a miniature shark is sitting in that clear cube. But it’s all an illusion–an illusion that could have a big future.
If you think 3-D printing will change the world, you probably imagine yourself printing objects that work, like organs and furniture. But today’s desktop printers are primarily churning out objects to look at, like self-portraits and plastic gnomes. (Check out theInstagram gallery of MakerBot’s “thingiverse” for more.) For these and other “purely visual” uses, Hong Kong inventor Shawn Frayne has created an alternative that is faster, simpler, and ingenious to the point of appearing magical.
“Purely visually, I think Looking Glass sort of crushes–it will crush–3-D object printing,” says Frayne.
To explain Looking Glass, Frayne met me in a Brooklyn coffee shop with a box full of Looking Glasses. “It’s hypervisual so it should explain itself,” he told me as he placed on the table an assortment of what appeared to be 3-D-printed objects suspended in clear plastic boxes: four lego men, a vase of flowers, a shark. “My pitch is this may look like a toy shark, but in fact there is nothing in here but for ink,” he said.
Ink, on 200 sheets of plastic inside a box he bought online. The process by which this comes to impersonate a shark is what Frayne calls “volumetric printing.” It started with a 3-D design file made for traditional 3-D printing (in this case, by Peter Tan). But instead of creating each layer with extruded plastic, Looking Glass printed them in full color onto 0.3 mm-thick, clear lucite sheets using an inkjet, poster printer. “It’s using 2-D printers for 3-D printing,” says Frayne./
The stack alone creates a 3-D effect, but hampered by something called Fresnel reflection. Essentially, the clear sheets becomes murkier and murkier as the light refracts through less-dense air between the sheets. A vase of flowers produced this way looks like it’s trapped in a thick cloud. “It’s the Han Solo carbonite thing,” says Frayne.
The insight that allowed Frayne and his colleagues at Haddock Inventions to solve this problem came from their years of work in a totally different sector: cleantech. Specifically, it came from solar panels, which often use an “index matching” substance to capture light more efficiently. “Basically it just means you put some sort of substance between two materials so light passes through more easily and have less reflections,” he explains. You replace the air with something that approximates the substance the air sits between. In this case, to mimic the refraction index of the acrylic lucite sheets they found a solution in silicon oil. “It’s a perfect match optically for acrylic,” says Frayne. ”You can think of it as if we melted the whole stack together.”
The result is a representation of a shark that I would swear was a physical shark–until I turned it 90 degrees. Seen from the side, you can see the sides of the sheets, with the ink visible only at angles. “It just disappears,” says Frayne.
That seeming weakness could be reduced with thinner sheets, but it may also be offset by other advantages. While 3-D printing a complicated object can take overnight, the whole process of printing, stacking, vacuuming out the air and pumping in the silicon oil takes Looking Glass less than an hour. “Eventually we can get it down to 30 minutes,” Frayne says.
The Latest Bing News on:
Looking Glass
- Looking Glass launches new 3D displayson May 15, 2024 at 9:32 am
Looking Glass makes trippy-looking mixed-reality screens where things look 3D without the need of special glasses. Today it launches a pair of new ...
- Looking Glass introduces new spatial display modelson May 15, 2024 at 2:24 am
The displays are designed to turn 2D photos into 3D, with larger formats to cater for XR developers and professionals in design, engineering, education, research, and healthcare. The new displays ...
- Hologram Company Looking Glass Unveils New 3D Visuals Without Headsetson May 15, 2024 at 1:20 am
The hologram company Looking Glass has introduced two new spatial displays, a 16-inch, and a 32-inch model, aimed at professionals who seek cutting-edge visualization tools for working with 3D content ...
- Looking Glass launches 16-inch and 32-inch spatial displayson May 14, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Looking Glass has unveiled its latest additions to its holographic display line-up: the 16-inch and 32-inch spatial displays.
- Looking Glass announces new 16” and 32” Spatial Displayson May 14, 2024 at 1:59 pm
The new Looking Glass Spatial Displays are available now, with pricing starting at USD $4,000 for the 16” (currently available for USD $3,000 for a limited time). For the 32” display, a price was not ...
- Through the looking glass: Fenton Art Glass Collectors of America to have new homeon May 2, 2024 at 10:28 pm
Fenton Art Glass admirers will soon have a new home to view pieces and learn about who created them. Fenton Art Glass Collectors of America closed on the former Riverside Church of Christ building at ...
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- Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Disney Pluson April 27, 2024 at 2:45 pm
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) is a fantasy adventure film directed by James Bobin. It is the second installment in the Alice in Wonderland movie franchise. Based on the characters written by ...
- The Supreme Court Goes Through the Looking Glass on Presidential Immunityon April 24, 2024 at 5:00 pm
That was not the only moment in which the hearing went through the looking glass. Justice Samuel Alito fretted that if former presidents do not enjoy immunity, they could face the danger of ...
- The Looking Glass War Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Amazon Prime Videoon April 13, 2024 at 7:32 am
The Looking Glass War, a 1970 Cold War thriller based on John le Carré’s novel, follows Leiser, a disillusioned Polish defector recruited by MI6 to spy in East Germany.
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Europe's newest rocket soon launches, taking with it many space missions each with a unique objective, destination and team at home, cheering them on. Whether into Earth orbit to look back and study ...
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A man has been jailed for 10 years after using a 3D printer to make homemade guns.Dion Matthews, 60, from Burton-on-Trent, was handed a 11-year and three-month prison sentence at Stafford Crown Court ...
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Discover the new Massivit 3000 large-format 3D printer unveiled at Drupa 2024. Revolutionize your business with high-speed, affordable 3D printing solutions for marketing and entertainment.
- ISRO successfully tests 3D-printed rocket engine: What is 3D printing and how does it work?on May 11, 2024 at 11:44 pm
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday (May 9) successfully tested a liquid rocket engine made with the help of additive manufacturing technology — commonly known as 3D printing.
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We’ve even rounded up the best 3D printer for beginners based on their affordability and ease of use. Here’s what you need to know to get the best 3D printer capable of producing exactly the k ...
- US university creates world's biggest 3D printer ever and it can even use wood dust — named Factory of the Future 1.0, it can print objects almost the size of 40 standard ...on May 4, 2024 at 5:27 am
The University of Maine has revealed the largest 3D printer in the world. Named rather grandly Factory of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0), the new unit is four times larger than the university's previous ...
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and traditional paper printers Credentials 6 years working professionally in the 3D printing space / 4 years testing consumer electronics for large websites. CNET’s expert staff reviews and ...
- World's biggest 3D printer whirs into actionon April 25, 2024 at 5:00 pm
It can print up to 500lbs (227kg) of material per hour. While 3D printers often print using plastic, the university hopes to include more sustainable materials and prioritise recycled polymers.
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