Last week during its earnings call, Autodesk made two big announcements. The first was for an open-software 3D printing platform named Spark that is freely licensable by hardware manufacturers or other interested parties. The second announcement was for Autodesk’s first 3D printer. The printer is intended to “a reference implementation” for Spark.
On In the Fold, an Autodesk blog, President and CEO Carl Bass explained that the design of the printer “will be made publicly available to allow for further development and experimentation. The printer will be able to use a broad range of materials, made by us and by others, and we look forward to lots of exploration into new materials.”
Autodesk hasn’t released any pricing information yet, but Bass says that Spark and the 3D printer will be available within the year. For more information on how Autodesk hopes these products will help jumpstart the 3D printing industry (or to sign up and indicate interest in using Spark), see Bass’ blog post here.
