Dec 11, 2015 | By Kira
The thing about creative endeavors is that while they may be good for the soul, they’re rarely easy on the wallet. Whether oil painting, model trains, or the culinary arts are your calling, the equipment required to jumpstart your passion can be disappointingly expensive. Luckily, 3D printing technology is here, and it’s not just for drone-makers or robot engineers. 3D printing can help reduce equipment costs for artists, hobbyists and creators of all walks of life.
For photography and filmmaking in particular—two notably expensive artistic mediums—3D printing has been quite the boon. We’ve seen 3D printed camera sliders that can be made for $20, 3D printed custom lens shades, and beautiful 3D printed accessories for the Olympus Air Open Platform camera. Now, in order to fund his own wallet-unfriendly creative passion, timelase videography, NYU student Joe Fabiani has added his own 3D printed camera accessory to the list, and it’s one of the most economical and intriguingly simple we’ve seen to date.
Like so many other filmmaking activities, timelapse videography requires heavy and expensive equipment. Namely, complicated rail systems that can add exceptional depth to a timelapse, but at the cost of hundreds to thousands of dollars. Rather than give up his hobby, Fabiani has spent the past few years designing the easy and economical GoLapse Trolley, which does away with heavy rails while still allowing a variety of cameras to get from point A to point B smoothly and reliably.
“GoLapse is the only timelapse system that allows the camera to act as a trolley, so it lets you say goodbye to lugging heavy rails where you go so that you can focus on getting a good shot at a fraction of the price,” wrote Fabiani. “Who wants to waste time setting up a complicated rig when with GoLapse you can just string a cord between two trees and start shooting?”
Sounds good to us. He has also designed the device so that it can accommodate a variety of cameras—from smartphones, to GoPros, to DSLRs with heavier lenses—thanks to a handy slider along the bottom.
Though he initially designed the GoLapse as something he would just use himself (he’s been making timelapse videos in his spare time for the better part of five years), Fabiani quickly saw the potential to share it with a wider audience. And like so many great makers before him, he’s turned to two proven product-launching resources: 3D printing technology, and the crowdfunding power of Kickstarter.
Through the campaign, the developer is hoping to raise a relatively modest $6,000 sum to fund commercial production of the GoLapse trolley. If you’re interested in timelaspe filmmaking, this seems like a great project to back regardless, however if you’re into timelapse and 3D printing, Fabiani is offering particularly novel reward. For a pledge of $65, he will provide the pre-assembled electronics and 3D files so that users can 3D print their very own GoLapse at home.
The Kickstarter campaign is on now, and is a perfect embodiment of when an expensive creative passion meets its pragmatic, 3D printed solution.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Seriously would you trust your camera on that without a safety cable, a few more wheels needed to hold it on the cable better.