SXSW Create

The second annual SXSW Create brings together local and international members of the SXSW community to share disruptive creations, innovative tools and unique fabrication methods.

I was a little underwhelmed for the most part. Much smaller than the Dorkbot back in 2006. But one fundamental thing changed since then that makes everything today cooler: 3D printers. Below, some photos, videos and observations.

This is the Leap Motion Controller. It’s a little box that can track all your fingers in space. They started preorders last year and it looked so cool on the videos that of course I ordered one. Well, they are shipping in May, and I finally saw it in person. Useful for me? Unsure. Cool? As hell.

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This is some sort of plastic bottle sculpture outside of SXSW Create. It’s worth about $6.50 in recycling payments.
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This is a Texas Instruments Beagle Board. It’s kind of like the Raspberry Pi I bought, but it’s more expensive and has been around for longer. What was interesting, is that they have a new model coming out that will be priced cheaper, in order to compete with the Raspberry Pi… that I used for a few days and is now sitting in a box in my office because I have no time to play with it.

This is a demo of the MaKey Makey. Plug it in to turn almost anything into sort of a sensor. Here they are demoing a fruit piano. Kinda cute.

The star, in my opinion: 3D Printing. That was the Makerbot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer, slowly but surely building some little figurines from melted plastic filament. This stuff is amazing. It sells for $2,199, which sounds like a lot. But think of this: when I was a kid, I wanted a color flatbed scanner really bad. But they cost around $2,199. Now they cost less than $100. See what I mean? This stuff is going to be everywhere!

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The Makerbot Replicator 2.
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That old school “vinyl” record is actually a 3D printed record. That’s right, genius Amanda Ghassaei came up with the idea and the software to convert audio into a 3D model of a record with the grooves on it, so that it actually plays. It sounded terrible, but is very, very impressive. Is this the return of the record? (no) Everything you need in order to make your own 3D printed record is available here, and will be of use to you if you are one of the millions of people with both a 3D printer and a record player.
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A bunch of 3D printed objects. The bicycle chain was actually articulated.
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Score! Instructables was giving away Wacom Bamboo Styli. That’s plural for stylus, people.

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