14 DAY TRIAL // Wobbleworks came to our attention early last year, when they posted the 3Doodler 3D printing pen on Kickstarter. Now, the company's product is hitting retail, along with a bunch of accessories.
3Doodler works by heating up sticks of plastic and allowing you to draw shapes, both on solid surfaces and in the air.
That alone offered much freedom of expression, although Wobbleworks did provide some paper sheets with drawn models, which you could follow in your 3D drawings.
Now, though, the company has gone one step further and created some accessories that people can buy along with the 3Ddoodler, or alone.
They will become available when the 3Doodler does, later this quarter, in 21 countries, through online and street stores like Brookstone, ThinkGeek.com and the MoMA Store.
The 3DoodleStand is on, helping stabilize the 3Doodler and guiding it along a smooth surface. It makes doodling smoother and helps keep things flat.
The two front legs are there for speed control (you can press down on them while pushing the 3Doodler along whichever route you choose). Also, when you're not doing anything, you can rest your doodle in the stand.
Wobbleworks has also prepared blocks that can be filled like stencils on a page.
Another accessory is really a set of accessories, nozzles of different shapes and sizes. No longer will you be limited to small round sticks of plastic. You can make your “sculptures” stand on triangular poles, or draw stars, etc.
It's a really good thing that the 3Doodler has a price of around $75 / €75, otherwise all these things would add up to too much for what's essentially just a toy. Actual 3D printers cost thousands of dollars though, so there's that.
The price of the plastic extruder sticks will probably play the biggest role in whether or not this thing is considered affordable.
