More than 250 students, industry representatives, academics, K-12 teachers and hobbyists attended Construct3D, a four-day 3D printing and digital fabrication conference at Rice University.
“3D printing is no longer a novelty. It’s being used in earnest not just in industry but by filmmakers and others. It has become an indispensable tool that allows radical creativity,” said Matthew Wettergreen, an associate teaching professor in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) and an organizer of Construct3D.
The third annual conference, held Feb. 13-16 in Duncan Hall on the Rice campus, included hands-on workshops, panels and talks representing such fields as healthcare and medicine, art and entertainment, mathematics and aerospace.
Among the keynote speakers was Brian McLean, a special effects artist at LAIKA, the 3D animation company that worked on such stop-motion films as Coraline, Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings, and ParaNorman. Also speaking was Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice and founder of Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute.
Construct 3D was founded by Ultimaker’s Matt Griffin, Duke University’s Chip Bobbert and nTopology’s Lizabeth Arum. The previous conferences were held at Duke University and Georgia Tech.
The event was sponsored by the George R. Brown School of Engineering and the OEDK.