Feb 18, 2016 | By Kira
South-Carolina company ZVerse is on a mission to “make the world’s content 3D printable,” and today it has announced a partnership with global imaging technology company and 3D printer reseller Konica Minolta to advance that goal. As part of the non-exclusive software reseller agreement, Konica Minolta will sell access to ZVerse LAYR, a patent-pending suite of software applications that allows users to easily transform 2D content into 3D printable files, regardless of their level of skill or experience.
As ZVerse sees it, 3D printing opens up an incredible range of opportunities for individuals and businesses, however one of the biggest barriers to access right now is the cost and/or learning curve required to create 3D printable files. “The biggest challenge to widespread adoption of 3D printing, is that you need a 3D file. And creating these files can be a very inefficient and expensive process,” said John Carrington, ZVerse CEO.
ZVerse LAYR was thus created to all users to reach the full potential of 3D printing technology, even if they have no previous experience whatsoever. LAYR is a cloud-based, end-to-end 3D printing solution that makes the creation of meaningful 3D printed objects “trouble-free and efficient.” It includes 2D-to-3D automation, which takes images of 2D objects and transforms them into 3D files; a 3D quote engine; and 3D print job and workflow management, so that even the post-processing steps are taken care of. “Simply put, We 3D 2D,” said Carrington.
By partnering with Konica Minolta, which manufactures business and industrial imaging products including copiers, laser printers, and digital print systems, and currently sells a range of 3D Systems Projet 3D printers, ZVerse hopes to extend its current reach into “mature markets”, including 300 print specialists who will now be offering LAYR to their customers across North America. Konica Minolta expects to begin selling ZVerse LAYR in Q2 2016.
Previously, ZVerse 3D printed hundreds of full-color replicas of the race car that won the Petit Le Mans 2014 as part of a promotional event for Konica Minolta. ZVerse produced the 3D car models using its LAYR platform, and 3D printed them using the Project 660 to demonstrate the power of full-color, high-quality 2D-to-3D printed promotional objects.
"We are very excited about this partnership," said Gavin Jordan-Smith, Vice President of Solutions and Production Planning at Konica Minolta. "We are already successfully selling a line of 3D printers, but the LAYR™ platform takes the opportunity to an entirely new level. We are bundling ZVerse services with a 3D printer, or alternatively, we are selling the services platform and sales training to enable them to enter the market without an equipment investment. It's a key strategic partnership for us."
In addition to the LAYR content creation platform, ZVerse also offers expert full-color 3D printing services via its fleet of Projet 660 3D printers. Just last year, ZVerse entered a partnership 3D Systems to develop ZVerse’s patent-pending post-processing technology for full-color 3D prints. In addition, ZVerse offers the world’s largest library of officially licensed 3D printing content for the sports and entertainment industry.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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