3D-print a Norwegian fjord from your browser
terrafab.bengler.no
terrafab.bengler.no
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.
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.
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.
That said, we hadn't tested it on flatter landscapes and the models we tested with only gave us a markup of a few dollars. The markup we put on your model seems slightly greedy. We're lowering it now to a maximum of $20.
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...
People are blown away, this is by far the best app we've seen using our API!!
Perusing your Github repo right now :D
Maybe my favourite mountains as well from OS data...
[e.g. the Black and Red Cuillins of Skye]
http://terrafab.bengler.no/?box=41148.01808864827,6694070.28...
Sigh, copyright I suppose.
In some countries, building facades and similar can be copyrighted, which is mostly discussed in the context of photography. Some countries have an exception called "freedom of panorama", which gives some fair-use rights for photographs of things that can be photographed from a public street. How broad such permission is varies: in some jurisdictions it's fairly broad permission, while in other countries it may only apply to photographs of a general street scene that contains the building as one element, but may not apply to detailed architectural photography focused on a particular building.
But that's only for photography, at least so far, not for 3d reproductions. To take an existing area where the distinction between the two comes up, in some jurisdictions you can take (and sell) photographs of sculptures that are installed in public squares under freedom-of-panorama, but still cannot sell reproductions of the sculpture, whether full-size or miniature, if it's new enough to be copyrighted.
The above doesn't typically to things old enough to be out of copyright, like Big Ben, or Rodin sculptures, though I wouldn't be surprised if some jurisdictions have special-case laws about use of their famous landmarks.