Uu 3D CUSTOM figurines in Singapore.

Brought to you onto sunny island Singapore by the good people of kinetic, scotts square and mikanbako - #Uu3D.

What is #Uu3D?

In summary, it is a popup exhibition plus 3D printing service where equipment and talent is fly in to Singapore from Japan. When I first saw this service + event on Facebook I was already pretty interested in it as this is not my 1st time looking at 3D printing BUT this IS the 1st time I'm looking at 3D printing for consumers purposes.

In fact months ago my cousin was discussing about this product with me. He ask me for my professional opinion on how can 3D printing make money. Yes, the discussion was about making money at consumer level. My cousin is an engineer and according to him, 3D printing is largely used in his industry for parts or prototype development but he is interested in bringing this into the consumer market. At that point of time, I did gave it a thought but we ended up with a conclusion that currently it is not quite possible. Price aside, what would you wish to print in 3D and that is useful and legal? Yourself?

Months Later.

Indeed, kinetic did bring the technology in and indeed the primary objective is really "yourself". What makes the exhibition really interesting is the whole presentation. In fact the very 1st reaction when I got to know about this event was "I thought Kinetic is a creative agency right? Why are they doing consumer product now?" Later did I find out that #Uu3D is really more of an exhibition than a shop.

Typography. 

I'm a sucker for this and must say that really caught my eye. The CAPITAL U and small u which represents big and small you. The series of posters they did was neat, clean and brought out the message pretty instantly.

TOWKAY. FYI towkay is the picture of the 3D figure and not a photoshop version of TOWKAY.

Uu, it's just like you but a much smaller version. Not much like how it was in Austin Powers but in the 3D printing format. All it takes is 30mins of scanning and capturing data points of you and you will see yourself in a smaller version.

They even had this write up on the wall that came in both CAPS and small.

What is this for?

In fact, this is the part that I have to give it to Pann and Carolyn - founders of Kinetic. During the opening speech where they were sharing some insights with the guests they told us how they 1st discover 3D printing in Japan and how they bring it over to Singapore. My favourite part of the opening speech has to be when they were trying to explain why they decided to bring it into Singapore - For Fun. They honestly mentioned that it is expensive to do a 3D figure of yourself and yet they still did this popup store not looking for a profit(which i really do believe considering how expensive it is to get a mini version of yourself), it is about sharing technology and science but in a form of art. They also open this exhibition to schools where schools bring in their student to learn about this technology. I can't remember when was the last time an agency did something for passion and art instead of "clients' KPI". From the look of the shop and all, it is pretty obvious the investment has to be a pretty big some of money and it is all for the "fun" of it. #Respect. Doing something you think it is right purely base on feeling and passion. How I wish I can stand up to that motto and live my life everyday that way.

CEO of Mikanbako - Wataru, 1st gentlemen from the left. Carolyn and Pann in black on the right.

It is actually pretty heart warming reading the exhibits where each of the "models" share a little story of themselves.

Childhood dream come true? Having a toy figure of yourself. 

My personal favourite has to be the exhibit where they shared the story of kinetic. I also like how Pann talked about Kinetic being a family where everyone worked together as a team. Something I always believed in. The mindset of "we" instead of "me". The culture which is pretty hard to find these days especially not in agencies where we are well known to job hopping.

My favourite figure has to be Janet. Look at those inks! 

Pann and Carolyn

Daniel Boey

The famous David Gan

How?

So how does this work? Walk yourself into scotts square and get yourself scan within 30 mins. Pay and wait for around 3 months for the mini u to be sent over from Japan to Singapore.

As it is a "bulk" order, thus the shipping takes awhile longer. So, how much does a 3D figure cost you at the #Uu3D exhibition?

Small - $850
Medium - $1,000
Larger - $1,500

Questions?

We have plenty of questions for this 3D printing technology. We asked so much and I've learnt so much. Below are some of the Questions and Answers I can share. I hope I got them right.

Are the colours painted on or print? 
printed on.

Will the figure get disfigured in water?
Apparently one of the figure did get caught in the rain and got the colour faded but it was okay running under the tap.

Can I do post scan edit? 
They could but no, not now. They ain't gonna make you look slimmer.

Can the figures stand on it's own?
It really depends on what you are wearing and how you stand. The figure is a mini you but it's just a figure. Don't expect it to do yoga stunts.

Can I send in a picture or must I physically be there?
Technically you can but due to license issues you are not allowed to in this exhibition.

Can you do one naked? (Guess who asked this question.)
Technically yes, but no, not the one in Singapore.

And the future of 3D printing? 

It's hard to say. Carolyn pointed out a very good example about hard disks and thumb drives back than and now. Who knows where this technology will end up one day? Everyone might just have one at home but frankly my question is still why would I need a 3D printer? I can scan something I already have at home but the material is different and that means I might not be able to use it the same way isn't it so?

You didn't ask me but...

I can't say enough how inspired I am by the people at kinetic. Not just because of the exhibits but because of the attitude of it. Like I mentioned it's just a popup exhibition which means this will end before you know it. So better go catch it while it's still around.

Uu is at Scotts Square, 6 Scotts Road from 21 Sep - 6 Oct 2013. Daily from 10am to 10pm.

Close-up of a 3D figure. 

MR.SMITH or mr.smith, still as awesome but too bad not famous enough to get free figurine and not rich enough to blow $1,500 on it either. HAha.

All pictures taken by Olympus E-PL 6.