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AstroPrint is a cloud platform and application marketplace designed for consumer 
AstroPrint claims to be a unifying software platform in the fragmented consumer 3D Printing space.
AstroPrint also allows users to remotely monitor their 3D printer in real time from any web-enabled device.
AstroPrint is compatible with most consumer 3D printers and its AstroBox Gateway's
AstroPrint's Official Website
3D printer companies Cloud clients Cross-platform software Technology companies based in San Diego
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
by 3DaGoGo Inc., a private San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
-based technology company.
AstroPrint develops software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
to enable the management of desktop 3D printers
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
from any web enabled device, without requiring any technical expertise.
AstroPrint claims to be a unifying software platform in the fragmented consumer 3D Printing space.
Background
In May 2014, while part of the ''Betaspring''seed accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...
, AstroPrint successfully raised $40,314 and met its funding goal in a single day using the crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
platform Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
. Subsequently, AstroPrint attended and graduated from the ''500 Startups
500 Global (previously 500 Startups) is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California ...
'' seed accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. While traditional business incubators are often g ...
in Mountain View, CA
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...
.
AstroPrint maintains partnerships with National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
, 3D Hubs, i.materialise and 3D Slash
3D Slash is a type of Three-dimensional space, 3D 3D modeling, modeling software produced by Sylvain Huet.
3D Slash software offers an original and intuitive experience to 3D model easily imitating the stone-cutter and his block : 3D Slash devel ...
.
3D printer manufacturer Airwolf 3D
Airwolf 3D is a Costa Mesa, California-based company that produces 3D printers. Actually they print 3D Banner, Posters, Photo etc.
History
Airwolf was founded in May 2012 by Erick Wolf, a garage mechanic and patent attorney with a mechanical ...
ships 3D Printers with AstroPrint software integrated.
Investors of AstroPrint include Dave McClure
David "Dave" McClure is an entrepreneur and angel investor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who founded the business accelerator 500 Startups (now 500 Global), serving as CEO until his resignation in 2017. He founded Practical Venture Capita ...
, Will Bunker, Dave Hodson (''Co-Founder & CTO of MessageCast
MessageCast was a venture-backed start-up, syndicating RSS over SMS and IM. Launched in 2002 by two co-founders, MessageCast offered large scale message delivery. The company was acquired by Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American ...
Inc.'') and Christine Tsai.
On May 8th, 2017, AstroPrint met its funding goal on the crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
website Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
for the AstroBox Touch, a cloud-enabled touchscreen for desktop 3D Printing. The campaign ended with 603 backers raising $74,781 to bring the AstroBox Touch to life. With the Kickstarter, AstroPrint also released desktop and mobile apps along with a public API
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
to enhance the 3D printing experience on the platform.
Media coverage
On May 18, 2015, AstroPrint won the ''Editors Choice'' award byMaker Faire
Maker Faire is a convention of do it yourself aka-DIY enthusiasts started by ''Make'' magazine in 2006. Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture.
History
...
& Make Magazine
''Make'' (stylized as ''Make:'' or ''MAKE:'') is an American magazine published by Make: Community LLC which focuses on Do It Yourself (DIY) and/or Do It With Others (DIWO) projects involving computers, electronics, metalworking, robotics, woodwork ...
.
On July 27, 2015, San Diego Business Journal
The ''San Diego Business Journal'' is a weekly newspaper in San Diego, California covering local business news. Each week, the San Diego Business Journal examines the economic news, demographics and lifestyle profiles of San Diego, and the many ...
wrote that AstroPrint was instrumental in enabling Dr. Peter Manning at the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
in printing 3-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...
models of a two-year-old boy's heart and the network of vessels that caused his breathing problems. AstroPrint reduced the hundreds of settings usually required by 3D printers to three.
Tech Cocktail named AstroPrint under ''3D Printing'' for ''"The Top 5 Technologies VCs Will Fund in 2015"''.
On January 5, 2016, AstroPrint unveiled a joint project with $3 billion technology giant Marvell at CES 2016
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
in Las Vegas, Nevada. The project involved the designing of a consumer-friendly 3D printer containing embedded software by AstroPrint using the Kinoma platform. According to journalists and media personnel, the printer was only accessible on an invite-only basis in a private ballroom within CES.
In May 2017, AstroPrint's second successful crowdfunding campaign was covered on the San Diego Business Journal
The ''San Diego Business Journal'' is a weekly newspaper in San Diego, California covering local business news. Each week, the San Diego Business Journal examines the economic news, demographics and lifestyle profiles of San Diego, and the many ...
, Solidsmack, NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, Fabbaloo, Inside3DPrinting, 3DPrint.com, and All3DP.
In October 2017, AstroPrint released cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software r ...
mobile and desktop apps for desktop 3D printing.
On November 10th, 2017, AstroPrint released Toy Maker, a mobile app that allows children to 3D print toys at home. Toy Maker was also used to demonstrate the content delivery capabilities of the AstroPrint platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
.
Technical specifications
AstroPrint takes a user's uploaded STL file, adds supports, slices it, and saves theg-code
G-code (also RS-274) is the most widely used computer numerical control (CNC) programming language. It is used mainly in computer-aided manufacturing to control automated machine tools, and has many variants.
G-code instructions are provided to ...
in the user's account online. The user can then access, download, modify, and print their models wirelessly via their 3D printer. AstroPrint is built with a combination of 3D printing software, such as Cura
Cura or CURA may refer to:
Music
* ''Cura'' (album), 2018 Keys N Krates release
* Cura (instrument), Turkish musical instrument
Organizations
* Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), Ohio State University
* Institute on Culture, R ...
, Repetier-Host, Slic3r
Slic3r is free software 3D slicing engine for 3D printers. It generates G-code from 3D CAD files (STL or OBJ). Once finished, an appropriate G-code file for the production of the 3D modeled part or object is sent to the 3D printer for the manu ...
, and OctoPrint OctoPrint is an open source 3D printing#Printing, 3D printer controller application, which provides a web interface for the connected printers. It displays printers' status and key parameters and allows user to schedule prints and remotely control t ...
.
AstroPrint also allows users to remotely monitor their 3D printer in real time from any web-enabled device.
AstroPrint is compatible with most consumer 3D printers and its AstroBox Gateway's Open source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
can be run on a Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...
.
AstroPrint has also released cross-platform mobile and desktop software to manage 3D printers.
In addition, developers are able to use AstroPrint's API
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
to develop third party applications for 3D printer owners on the AstroPrint platform.
AstroPrint is aimed at the general, non-technical consumer as it is a plug and play, all-inclusive platform for 3D printing that does not require any technical understanding.
See also
* 3D Printing MarketplaceReferences
{{reflist, 2External links
AstroPrint's Official Website
3D printer companies Cloud clients Cross-platform software Technology companies based in San Diego