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How LAIKA used 3D printing and Cuttlefish software to bring ‘Missing Link’ to life Consumer Products

One of the most prolific animation studios today, LAIKA has brought stop-motion animation back to the big screen with a number of endearing and entertaining works in recent years. From Coraline to The Boxtrolls to ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings, the Oregon-based studio has touched all of our hearts in some way with its animations—a feat which it owes in part to 3D printing technologies.

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Aguahoja by Mediated Matter showcases tunable water-based biocomposite structures Materials

One of the primary ecological concerns of our time is plastic consumption and waste. Of the plastic we use on a day-to-day basis, less than 10% is recycled, with the rest going into landfills and, as it becoming increasingly clear, the ocean. In addition to curbing plastic consumption and reducing what we use, there is also a growing effort to find sustainable alternatives to the ecologically taxing material. One such effort is coming out of MIT, where the Mediated Matter lab is developing a technology for 3D printing water-based biopolymer composites.