Makie history

From Lovesbloom:

Not really sure where to put this… Not really where print has gone wrong but it is a little vid on 3D printing… Printshow London 2012

Scroll to 2:54  It's only a few seconds but the Makies get a cameo.

Makies must have not long become reality around about then, am I right? 

Awesome to still find these types of things when you aren't particularly looking for them 

Here's the Printshow London Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-E6vRfnijw

Cool find! Thanks for sharing!

Came across this. Apparently this is the machine "birthing" Makies. So they like... squeeze out the top? Confusing.

Still looking to see if I can find more clarity on this kinda creepy image lol.

Muddy describes this as "We are simple midwives, holding the machine's hand and urging her to PUSH!

As we were building MAKIES, we released this picture - a very early MAKIE head, with a Lilypad Arduino inside.



What does it do? Well - it's more what could it do. Arduino is a neat little open source DIY electronics board, and you can see what you can do with Arduino.

Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators.

Lilypad was created by two ladies, Leah and Kate: there are little grooves inside every MAKIE's head, so a Lilypad can sit snugly inside.

Every MAKIE has an empty compartment in its back, too, plus the neck has a hole for wiring to go from “brain” to “powerpack”. We're curious to see what people would want to build inside a MAKIE: after all, a doll is just kind of an empty robot, right?

Let's nerd out … with BLINKY LIGHTS! If you do build something with Arduino or similar, don't forget to upload to the forum, we'd love to see it…

 - Alice.

http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Eleah/LilyPad/ tutorials on things you COULD do.

Did you know that once upon a time Makies had an ETSY store? Where they sold the "made for you" Makies (or at least the precursors to those)

on the 30 Jan, 2013, Makies became available in colours other than white!



Then on feb 14th they were CE- Certified WHOOOO

they also have a flickr page

On May 2nd 2013 Makie marks rolled out:



Yes that lovely logo on the back of the head that tells the world "I'm a Makie"

July 22nd 2013 - New design bodies!



Top, old joint; bottom, new joint


Left, old joint; right, new joint


Legs! Old on left, new on right


Legs from back: Old on left, new on right

Oh man, this is so cool! Thanks, p_m! Interesting thing is, I have two classics and neither one has the logo on the back of the head. Allie was made real less than two months after that was started and Garrak (Flex) was printed in August of the same year. I'd be happy to share pictures of them for comparison or curiosity. Allie has the old joints.

My favorite thing of all: the "birthing" photo! I've been wanting to see what that was like for a long time.

This is great, I didn't know that about the joints.  Very interesting.

I'd LOVE a video of the "birthing process" lol. (only time in my life i'll ever say that hah)
sadly none could be found.

I think we're looking at something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BTo8_VuX64

In fact, here's an article in which Makies talk about the machines they use:
http://uk.pcmag.com/toys-products/37893/news/forget-barbie-makielab-will-3d-print-your-doll-dop

So yeah, they print in a tray full of dust.

I wonder how many they can do per batch and how many hours it takes.

there's a newer one on the market that actually prints COLOUR, how amazing is that? It applies ink AS it prints.

But yes, i'd love to see a makies video of the process one day. It'd be so interesting to see those little faces emerge.

Man, I remember when Makies was first starting up. I don't remember how I found it, but I began making tons of digital versions. Never made one real, which I regret because the clothes and accessories where better back then.

Yeah, I remember seeing one of the old forum members being fairly displeased with the style change. I really regret never getting to design any classics.

Anyway, even though I like a lot of the clothes now, I also would have liked some of the weirder stuff they used to make. I'm sad I missed out on the leaf-print pants they had in the store. And the cherry-print top would have been great to trace patterns from!

For me, I want the old clothes and accessories with the last 3dp bodies. Looking back at my creations, I noted a few with some decently cool clothing. Such as the Skelton sweatshirt

Sioux posted these up:

Expressive Makie!



Hilarious.

Wonder how these were supposed to work. Individual right and left sliders? that'd have been fun.



Also from "mr Ebay", the half sized kid sibling Makies. 7 inches tall, ADORABLE as all hell.

Both mysteries, both some sort of abandoned experiment, but a cool part of Makies history.