3D Printed Motorcyles, Monsters and Elvis.. Oh My!

There was a lot of hype surrounding RAPID 2015… and RAPID 2015 did not disappoint.

RAPID was 3 days of educating, exhibiting and exciting discoveries of what is happening in the world of 3D printing. The Long Beach Convention Center was buzzing for 3 days with students, industry experts and exhibitors networking with each other, and Hoosier Pattern’s Dave Rittmeyer, Steve Murray and Alyssa Corral were all there to take it in.

Monday was booth set up day:

Check out the full process of that here.

Monday night included a welcome reception sponsered by SME and Materialise, which included endless networking opportunities as well as appearances by Elvis and The Blues Brothers!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were days full of exhibiting. With over 200 exhibitors present, there were endless things to see and discover in the 3D printing world including 3D printed dresses and shoes, as well as a fully printed motorcycle and a car with over 70 3D printed parts.

The most visited as well as the biggest thing present on the exhibit floor at RAPID this year was Bodock, the Giant 3D Printed Monster. Stratasys partnered with the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Legacy Effects, WIRED, and Condé Nast Entertainment to produce a 14-foot tall creature to introduce at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July of 2014. Bodock was made using 6 different 3D printer, and it takes 4 people to operate him.

RAPID had many cool features to it, but perhaps one of the coolest was the RAPID App for people attending the show. The app was free to download on any smart phone or tablet and included all of the exhibitors and their location, conference schedules, attendee lists, maps, as well as a live news feed giving attendees and exhibitors yet another way to communicate and interact with eachother. It took being a part of a trade show to another level of communication and networking.