Autodesk Ember 3D Printer
Since its announcement last May, the intrigue around Autodesk’s debut into the hardware market has continued to grow with huge names in the industry such as Local Motors and HP getting on board as early adapters of the company’s innovative and open source Spark platform.
This week the leading software company is extending this opportunity to the masses with the commercial release of the Ember 3D printer.
Designed to complement the Spark platform, the machine is an open source, resin based DLP SLA 3D printer, already proving highly valuable in areas such as the jewellery industry through software collaborations.
Penned by Autodesk as a printer for people who want to build printers, the company set out to produce a machine that would encourage innovation in all areas of the industry rather than simply champion the hardware market.
Currently available via the Spark store is the Ember “Explorer Edition” 3D printing package which includes the machine, two 1L bottles of resin, Ember finishing kit and access to technical support and the Ember forum.
The lead time for the US and Canada is around four weeks and shipping to Europe will begin by early April.
TCT spoke to Autodesk’s Maker in chief Jesse Harrington Au at CES 2015 about how the Spark platform is designed to bring all elements of 3D design and printing together through innovation in software, material science and hardware.
“Spark is this amazing open platform for innovation for any 3D printing company,” Jesse explained. “Whether you have a machine or you make software, sometimes it’s hard to make that connection. Spark sits right in between and connects these things for those companies so they can build on top of it and make sure that they have a connected solution.”
The Ember 3D printer can be ordered here.
