Any 3d printer users with Mac software?

[rche]

I am looking at adding a 3d printer to my kids robotics club, and our lab has mostly Mac systems. Was wondering if anyone had experience or suggestions for 3d printing software. Thanks

[Legend of Link]

Noelani72 and I use Makerware Desktop for configuring our prints. Then again, we only use it because we have a Makerbot Printer.

[rche]

I've looked into the makerbot, but it is still a bit too steep for our club. I have read some good reviews on a small kit printer called the Twoup, but was also wanting to get some input on any favorite software. I am assuming you are sculpting in a 3d environment like Maya or Lightwave and then using that sulpt for the printer software.

[Legend of Link]

The Makerbot Replicator 2 (now discontinued i believe), has served us well. I believe we have over 2000 hours with it and we are happy with our results. Sure we'd like better resolution, but 100 microns is fine, for now. You could probably get a slightly used one for $700-1500. But you'd have to have a little bit of a tech background to service it. The first year we had ours was spent tinkering with it so it'd print in the highest resolution possible for that printer. But once we found the honey spot, its been smooth sailing ever since.

I can't say I've ever heard of a Twoup, i might have to check that out.

As for software, There is a website called 123dapp.com. They offer neat free 3d modeling software. The thing I enjoy about them is that they offer free apps for at least IOS too. There was a period where I did most of my head sculpting on my iPad and then saved it to their online cloud. But when I'm on my MacBook I use Blender for sculpting and from there I advanced to ZBrush. Just last night I sat down and sculpted a head from scratch for a custom I hope to have done next week. Also something neat to note, there is a Mac App called Cheetah. It's $70 though. I haven't used it much, but from what I read about it is that you can create your own sculptures, and then apply a skeleton and animate what you just created. (but that's getting off track lol)

[rche]

The One up and Two up printers are super entry level kits aimed at first time hobbiests and students. Sort of like the heath kit of small printers. They had a kckstart campaign for production of their first models and were overwhelmed by the response. There is supposed to be a new wave of machines in the works and I am thinking of ordering one for our club. We do have limited access to an original makerbot, tho the current owner is not quite ready to let go of it and sell.