Sketchfab offers 3D printing artifact service from the British Museum
November 3, 2014 | In the PressFrom Sketchfab3D (http://www.inside3dp.com/sketchfab-offers-3d-printing-artifact-service-british-museum/)
If you’ve ever visited a museum and have fallen in love with a historical piece only to realize you could never own it, you’re in luck. The British Museum has collaborated with leading 3D specialists Sketchfab, to offer a service where people can print artifacts in their own homes.
Sketchfab enables users to publish and share their 3D files online. So far, more than 200,000 3D files have been uploaded, which makes them one of the largest holders of 3D content on the web. The 3D company released details on Thursday about new option for users to make their files downloadable. Users can now choose to publish 3D content for ‘display only’, or for ‘display and download’, under the Creative Commons licenses.
They can then apply this content in numerous ways, from creating wonders of the world, smartphone cases, to creating Minecraft characters. It was this new innovative option that caught the attention of the British Museum. But surely such an institution wouldn’t take so easily to modern technology? Chris Michaels, Head of Digital Media & Publishing at the Museum, was keen to brush aside these old stereotypes.
“The British Museum is fascinated by the potential of 3D to unlock new ways for people to interact with our collection – and love what Sketchfab are doing to power this market. So today we’re making available a set of 3D models produced by one of our team for download from Sketchfab. We’re fascinated to see what people do with them, and can’t wait to experiment more in this exciting new area … so watch this space!” Michaels said.
So far there are 14 available 3D artefacts, including the Granite head of Amenemhat III, the Statue of Ramesses II, the ‘Younger Memnon’, the Seated statue of Amenhotep III, a Stone figure of Xiuhcoatl (Fire Serpent), Colossal marble bust of Zeus, Marble portrait of Julius Caesar, Granite statue of Amun in the form of a ram, Grey granite papyrus-column (lower section), Hoa Hakananai’a and Red granite lion of Amenhotep III.
For those who prefer their 3D models just a little more 21st century, Sketchfab points out that there are many other downloadable files in their database. The most recent of which being the first ever 3D printable phone case from HTC for the HTC One M8.
And with Movember coming up, who could resist the Microsoft Moustache Cookie Cutter? Presumably created for those having trouble growing upper lip hair. But for those who can’t get to their favorite museums, this artefact printing service could really be a convenient alternative.
