Never printed with PLA, so hopefully i'll be happy doing it.

Too bad you can't use any other types of filament than makerbot (unless you plan to mount it outside of the printer).
Aslo need blue painters tape, but thats ok i guess..

If i buy filament from makerbot.com i need to pay $161 each spool (inkl tax + shipping).. so hopefully i can get access to them somewhere else also lol.

People who don't want to understand.

You've cracked the problem with the vast majority of western society...

It's what Makerbot uses instead of gcode.  So no accounting for differences in filament diameter, temperature, extrusion multiplier, build area, etc.  Also no taking the original model and customizing it.  It should print fine on a stock Replicator with Makerbot filament, but beyond that YMMV.

To explain, x3g is in effect gcode compiled by your (fast) computer to a specific printer, so your fast computer does more of the work, which lets an Arduino 8-bit CPU print much faster because it doesn't have to parse gcode, etc., just execute low level instructions (e.g. steps to X/Y/Z/E steppers, set temperature, etc.). So on its own, it's a reasonable performance optimization.

On the 'plus' side, giving consumers x3g files means that they don't have to do anything but copy a file onto the printer and it prints, so they don't need to understanding slicing, etc. That's great for expanding 3D printing to normal people who don't want to understand the details of 3D printing, just print stuff. But it's also very limiting, because you can't do anything but print exactly what they gave you to print.

My hope is that it serves only as an entry for noobs, and that everyone ends up graduating to being able to at least customize, and hopefully design their own stuff.

The other 'plus' is that since x3g can be generated by an open source tool, any slicer should be able to drive a Makerbot. And, of course, you can still slice and print any STL or OBJ, so you're not locked into the store at all. Whew.

Bob

Also, I wonder how it prints things like that airplane.  Must have support material now?

Does the new replicator follow the stratasys plastic cartridge trend or does it use spools?

IanJohnson wrote:

I've heard that what you download are pre-sliced files.  Makes a kind of de facto DRM since you can't edit the object or print it on other machines.

Is the file not just g-code?

Yes, but is it in absolute? Relative? You could figure out the start and end code to insert your own, but: Are the units in mm? inches? steps? They can do all kinds of things where the g-code they provide is completely incompatible to what open-source designs use.

SOmeone would have to buy one to see whats inside.

I've heard that what you download are pre-sliced files.  Makes a kind of de facto DRM since you can't edit the object or print it on other machines.

Is the file not just g-code?

welcome to the iTunes of 3d printable objects... https://digitalstore.makerbot.com/