from Hacker News

3D-print a Norwegian fjord from your browser

by wilhelm on 9/27/13, 8:11 AM with 38 comments

• by joeframbach on 9/27/13, 3:18 PM

  Arthur Dent: Are you telling me you originally made the Earth?

  Slartibartfast: Oh, yes. Did you ever go to a place - I think it was called Norway?

  Arthur Dent: No. No, I didn't.

  Slartibartfast: Pity. That was one of mine. Won an award, you know. Lovely crinkly edges.

• by mkl on 9/27/13, 9:30 AM

  "genuine gypsum heirloom mantelpiece display replica"

  3D printing is only going to get cheaper and more accessible - I think pretty soon that "heirloom" is going to look like a dollar-store trinket.

  Still, aside from the hyperbole this is a pretty neat idea, and New Zealand certainly has some landscapes worth this treatment too (including fjords, even). Australia has some impressive cliff forms that would work; seems like thousands of areas worldwide.

• by kawsper on 9/27/13, 12:37 PM

  This is really nice, I wanted to get a version of Nordkapp for my father, but I feel that $100 is a bit to pricey for a 10cmx10cm version.

  Nice project, and very nice with their partnership with Shapeways.

  Exporting their model, and uploading it on Shapeways gives me a price of 42.65 EUR ($57.59) including shipping.

• by maaaats on 9/27/13, 9:33 AM

  Heh, it says "removing trolls" when generating the preview (after clicking get it printed)

  I walked Besseggen last summer [1] and the model [2] for that looks pretty accurate with the huge drop on both sides down to two different waters.

  [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walking_on_Besseggen.jpg [2] http://terrafab.bengler.no/preview?box=164077.08468046575,68...

• by erre on 9/27/13, 9:24 AM

  So, how can I get the one with Slartibartfast's signature?

• by zokier on 9/27/13, 11:38 AM

  Huh, one nice and actually useful application of WebGL for once.

• by TimGremalm on 9/27/13, 9:26 AM

  Are all the models signed by Slartibartfast? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

• by diziet on 9/27/13, 9:08 AM

  I love the fact that they generate the mesh for users that have their own 3d printers for free.

• by bdickason on 9/27/13, 4:36 PM

  Thanks for posting this! Very, very cool app :) I helped create the Shapeways API and just shared it with our dev team.

  People are blown away, this is by far the best app we've seen using our API!!

  Perusing your Github repo right now :D

• by arethuza on 9/27/13, 10:59 AM

  Google's 3D building data for some cities (e.g. here in Edinburgh) is incredible - I'd tempted to get a 3D printer and work out ways of printing interesting parts of town.

  Maybe my favourite mountains as well from OS data...

• by jacquesm on 9/27/13, 9:44 AM

  Not equatorial enough.

• by cgore on 9/27/13, 4:36 PM

  I like backpacking, and often spend money on topographic maps because of this (typically from mytopo.com). I do like this site's idea. It obviously wouldn't work as a map, but it might be nice to integrate a lot of standard topographic map features into the models themselves. Especially if you can do it on really small-scale areas, architects might really want it.

• by jimmytidey on 9/27/13, 12:19 PM

  Presumably landscapes with gentle gradients and fewer overhangs are going to be significantly easier to print than architecture.

• by icefox on 9/27/13, 4:44 PM

  It would have been really cool if trolltunga had shown up

  http://terrafab.bengler.no/?box=41148.01808864827,6694070.28...

• by r0h1n on 9/27/13, 10:35 AM

  Very interesting. But why restrict this to just landscapes? What's to prevent someone from allowing 3D printing of any landmark in the world like the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Eiffel Tower or London Eye?

  Sigh, copyright I suppose.

• by andreer on 9/27/13, 9:48 AM

  Very neat. I'm ordering a print of my home town. Then we can add pins to show where our house, where grandparents live, etc. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it.

• by thomax on 9/27/13, 9:22 AM

  Sweet! The number of places I want to visit just increased!

• by DanBC on 9/27/13, 12:31 PM

  It'd be ace if I could 3d print the moon at some sensible scale. Or Mars.

• by rileyteige on 9/27/13, 2:59 PM

  I, for one, was expecting a horse.

• by adamsch on 9/27/13, 8:07 PM

  just saw the print in real life in the Bengler office, looks awesome

• by kristofferj on 9/27/13, 9:06 AM

  Wow!

• by marincounty on 9/27/13, 9:07 AM

  physibles

• by thenomad on 9/27/13, 9:23 AM

  Not, I'm assuming, life-sized.