Print The Legend - 3D Printing Documentary on Netflix about Makerbot, FormLabs, 3D Systems

[Samantha]

Anyone checked out the documentary 'Print The Legend'? It's available on Netflix in the US as of last Friday 9/26.

I thought it was pretty well done, although it didn't mention the reprap movement as a precursor to the current 3D printing boom. It certainly didn't reflect well on Makerbot, and I'm inclined to believe some of the issues they showed are why we have seen and experienced the issues we've had with the 5th gen line. 

[Dan Newman]

On 29/09/2014, 5:59 PM, Samantha wrote:

> Anyone checked out the documentary 'Print The Legend'? It's available on
> Netflix in the US as of last Friday 9/26.

Some discussion has occurred over on the 3dprintertipstricksreviews forum.

> I thought it was pretty well done, although it didn't mention the reprap
> movement as a precursor to the current 3D printing boom.

True, but I don't think it was trying to be a historical account of 3D printing
or even DIY 3D printing. Rather a look into two examples of entrepreneurship
at two leading 3D printing startups. With some of coverage of Cody Wilson
as well. In case you weren't aware, Zach "Hoeken" Smith was one of several
leading figures in the early RepRap movement. His involvement there dates
back to 2007.

> It certainly
> didn't reflect well on Makerbot, and I'm inclined to believe some of the
> issues they showed are why we have seen and experienced the issues we've
> had with the 5th gen line.

Read this,

http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

It's something Bre was sufficiently proud of that there used to be posters
of it at Makerbot. People there had it on shirts. It was the culture he
was embracing and trying to instill in others at some point. It may also
shed light on the Gen 5 disaster.

Also, realize that the Gen 5 bots brought to CES 2014 were non-functional.
The prints displayed within them were not printed on Gen 5 bots. You had
to ask really hard to get them to admit that. The six industry awards MBI
walked away from CES 2014 with were given without anyone seeing the Gen 5
function (because they weren't yet functional).

Dan

[Kobus du Toit]

What I want to learn is how Makerbot and Apple figured out how to market something to get smart people to do dumb things.  That is really the trick. They are able to sell ice to Eskimos. I want to learn how to do that, but with a good product. Imagine the possibilities

Kobus

[Joe Higham]

"One more thing ... iCe. We've revolutionized blocks of frozen water, and they will cost only $199 for a tray of 12!"

Hmmm. Not very convincing. Maybe I need to buy a black turtleneck.

[Kobus du Toit]

But you forgot you need to show people steam and tell them it is possible to make ice and then get rewards for the possibility. I wonder when I will get my award.

[TobyCWood]

While slow in parts I enjoyed the movie which basically was about MBI, Formlabs and Cody Wilson. The filmmakers tried to show parallels and contrast across the stories... IMO it did not work. The Cody Wilson gun stuff was a superfluous waste of time. It was also quite evident over the 2 or so years the filming was made that the filmmakers became close friends with Michael Curry, an MBI designer who designed a lot of Thingiverse stuff to be printed by Makerbots... he gets spots throughout the film and you see him go from a tried and true believer to an ex-employee. In the end you take away the following messages; Cody Wilson is a jerk, the form labs guys are ok, but SLA tech will always be hampered by 3DSYS IP, also if you watch carefully... you get a message that MBI was infiltrated by an organizational assassin (Jenny Lawton) who converted Bre into an evil Ahole and eventually got him kicked out of the CEO position and took it over herself... and lastly, most of all... that Bre Pettis is the biggest Ahole fool of all time.
BTW... keep in mind that Jenny Lawton has been part of MBI strategy and decisions the entire time that MBI was working on the Gen5 products.

IMO what the filmmakers should have done was try to get a parallel between Makerbot and PrintrBot. That would have been a much more interesting story, although it's far from done.

On Monday, September 29, 2014 5:59:50 PM UTC-7, Samantha wrote:

Anyone checked out the documentary 'Print The Legend'? It's available on Netflix in the US as of last Friday 9/26.

I thought it was pretty well done, although it didn't mention the reprap movement as a precursor to the current 3D printing boom. It certainly didn't reflect well on Makerbot, and I'm inclined to believe some of the issues they showed are why we have seen and experienced the issues we've had with the 5th gen line. 

[Andrew Pilgrim]

I quite enjoyed it and great analysis Toby, your takeaways are basically the same as what I got out of it.  Also I like the idea of having an MBI vs PrintrBot film.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:57:24 AM UTC-5, TobyCWood wrote:

While slow in parts I enjoyed the movie which basically was about MBI, Formlabs and Cody Wilson. The filmmakers tried to show parallels and contrast across the stories... IMO it did not work. The Cody Wilson gun stuff was a superfluous waste of time. It was also quite evident over the 2 or so years the filming was made that the filmmakers became close friends with Michael Curry, an MBI designer who designed a lot of Thingiverse stuff to be printed by Makerbots... he gets spots throughout the film and you see him go from a tried and true believer to an ex-employee. In the end you take away the following messages; Cody Wilson is a jerk, the form labs guys are ok, but SLA tech will always be hampered by 3DSYS IP, also if you watch carefully... you get a message that MBI was infiltrated by an organizational assassin (Jenny Lawton) who converted Bre into an evil Ahole and eventually got him kicked out of the CEO position and took it over herself... and lastly, most of all... that Bre Pettis is the biggest Ahole fool of all time.
BTW... keep in mind that Jenny Lawton has been part of MBI strategy and decisions the entire time that MBI was working on the Gen5 products.

IMO what the filmmakers should have done was try to get a parallel between Makerbot and PrintrBot. That would have been a much more interesting story, although it's far from done.
On Monday, September 29, 2014 5:59:50 PM UTC-7, Samantha wrote:

[DonaldJ]

On Wednesday, October 1, 2014 11:54:46 PM UTC-5, Andrew Pilgrim wrote:

I quite enjoyed it and great analysis Toby, your takeaways are basically the same as what I got out of it.  Also I like the idea of having an MBI vs PrintrBot film.

 That will never happen, but this might come awfully close: https://plus.google.com/+BrookDrummpb/posts/HbmyHydoc6d

[Aaron Tunell]

Good overview. Frankly I loved the movie, and it explained sooooooooo much about why makerbot is so different than the old days. It used to be a company I felt like was full of innovative friends. Now I feel like it's a faceless organization out of touch with it's user base and focused on profits alone.

The movie explained all of this.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 9:57:24 AM UTC-7, TobyCWood wrote:

While slow in parts I enjoyed the movie which basically was about MBI, Formlabs and Cody Wilson. The filmmakers tried to show parallels and contrast across the stories... IMO it did not work. The Cody Wilson gun stuff was a superfluous waste of time. It was also quite evident over the 2 or so years the filming was made that the filmmakers became close friends with Michael Curry, an MBI designer who designed a lot of Thingiverse stuff to be printed by Makerbots... he gets spots throughout the film and you see him go from a tried and true believer to an ex-employee. In the end you take away the following messages; Cody Wilson is a jerk, the form labs guys are ok, but SLA tech will always be hampered by 3DSYS IP, also if you watch carefully... you get a message that MBI was infiltrated by an organizational assassin (Jenny Lawton) who converted Bre into an evil Ahole and eventually got him kicked out of the CEO position and took it over herself... and lastly, most of all... that Bre Pettis is the biggest Ahole fool of all time.
BTW... keep in mind that Jenny Lawton has been part of MBI strategy and decisions the entire time that MBI was working on the Gen5 products.

IMO what the filmmakers should have done was try to get a parallel between Makerbot and PrintrBot. That would have been a much more interesting story, although it's far from done.
On Monday, September 29, 2014 5:59:50 PM UTC-7, Samantha wrote:

[TobyCWood]

Yeah... but what Brook is writing about is the story of RepRap and beyond... It would be interesting to many of us but to the rest of the world it could be a bit of a bore. There has to be a compelling twist to it for it to work commercially. An irony. Print The Legend got that with Bre's ouster and Lawton taking over. 

BTW... the film says he moved over to work as the Innovation Officer for SSYS. Seems that's NOT where he is! He's in Brooklyn with 4 artists in the old digs making 3d printed puppets for a stop motion animation he is dreaming about... and now he looks like a taliban with a real goofy beard!
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140923-bre-pettis-launches-bold-machines-3d-printed-margo.html

[Robert Worne]

>What I want to learn is how Makerbot and Apple figured out how to market something to get smart people to do dumb >things. That is really the trick. They are able to sell ice to Eskimos. I want to learn how to do that, but with a good >product. Imagine the possibilities

Please, at least Apple's stuff works. Makerbot had a good thing going and they screwed it up. They dug themselves a good hole, and they keep digging thinking it'll get them out somehow.

[Ryan Carlyle]

In fairness, the batteries in four of my Apple devices over the last few years have eventually swollen up to the point the Apple Store had to ship them back to the factory in explosion-proof boxes for safe disposal. Apparently it's super common. Nobody's hardware is perfect. But at least Apple puts some spit-polish on the product and cares about function as much as UX.

[John Armbruster]

Why in the world would printing out puppets for a stop motion film be cost effective or cutting edge technology? When you have the digital mesh, why go the Thunderbirds route instead of actual animation?

[Dan Newman]

On 05/10/2014, 1:00 PM, John Armbruster wrote:
> Why in the world would printing out puppets for a stop motion film be cost
> effective or cutting edge technology? When you have the digital mesh, why
> go the Thunderbirds route instead of actual animation?

Probably not the Thunderbirds route but rather stop action. Supermarionation
which is what Gerry Anderson did for the Thunderbirds and other shows of that
era is considered a bit of a dead end. Yes,
Trey Parker and Matt Stone did it for Team America, but they almost abandoned
it several times because of just how extremely difficult it turned out to be.
They and folks involved with it have given a number of talks and interviews
on just how difficult it ended up being.

Dan

[lassi kinnunen]

well, two reasons. one would be to showcase the printing technology and the other would be to "gain an artistic quality" to the film.

-lassi