Pregnant? Celebrate your proudest moment ... by 3D-printing a copy of the foetus

Proud parents-to-be with a few bucks to spare might want to consider splashing out on a "3D Baby" - an "adorable baby figurine" of their pre-natal sprog squirted into shape by a 3D printer. A 3D baby in its presentation box. Pic: 3D Babies According to California-based 3D Babies, these foetal representations are created …

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes technology goes too far....

Bad enough when your parents get out your baby pictures,

Worse if they show your scan around

And now? Oh look at my foetus?

The world is going mad.

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely this technology should be put to better use than catering for celebrities and chavs?

[Sammy Smalls]

Going mad?

Mad is a pin prick in the rear view mirror......

[Suricou Raven]

Politics

If they want sales, they should sent flyers to the anti-abortion campaigners in the US. Little figures like that? They'd buy by the hundreds to send as 'gifts' to their opponents.

[frank ly]

If they moved .....

...using 3D/4D ultrasound images and "the latest computer graphics and 3D printing technology".

I'm just glad the model isn't 4D.

[Evil Auditor]

Re 4D

What you mean with 4D model? Would it be screaming and squiring?! Ugh

[dssf]

Re: Re 4D

4D means it would also be producing its own diarrhea, burpage, and other activity. Such as growing hair..., without a crank-in-the-back...

Might be articulated, too. So, it would probably face a lawsuit or cease and desist from the owners of "Rub-a-Dub Dolly", hahahaha...

Now, will that baby be "transported" out as a facsimilie, or printed out as a Printsarian Section...., or extruded from the mother?

The 5-D version probably has Soul Release .05, hahahha

[JDX]

Re: Re 4D

4D is a typical term used in the medical imaging world, I think they do even talk of 5D at times. The extra dimension(s) can be time - a 4D heart scan could be a video of a single heart-beat where each frame is a 3D image - but could be other stuff too like ultrasound strength or x-ray frequency, etc.

To understand the true 3D structure from ultrasound, a 4D (3D video) scan might be needed, to help differentiate the tissue as it moves around.

[Player_16]

Art imitates life.

[Anonymous Coward]

Art irritates life...

[Evil Auditor]

More peace on earth

Finally, there's a real business case for 3D printing!

Some are printing food, others printing babies. Merge. Print edible babies, body parts, whatever... overindulge in your passion and no one needs to wonder again why your neighbours keep disappearing.

Thumb up icon's kind of suitable, innit?

[dssf]

Re: More peace on earth

Fat Bastard would be THRILLED to eat an endless stream of "printer-back printer-back-printer-back ribs"...

It can even be infused with 5,000x density fat and marbly grissel and cartilage, supplements, and vitamins, minus the antibiotics and growth boosters

[PatientOne]

Re: More peace on earth

Nah, would never catch on.

Here, have a jellybaby instead,

[JDX]

Re: More peace on earth

Printing chocolate embryos sounds like a very niche market.

[Ralph B]

Real 4D

Real 4D would involve growth over time. Make these babies out of rubber and put a bicycle pump adapter on the end of the umbilical and you could be on to something.

[Ketlan]

Adorable?

I don't find it adorable at all - in fact I find it nauseating. And the fact that Kardashian and West seem to have put their seal of approval on it just makes it worse.

[TRT]

Re: Adorable?

Makes it worse? Confirms my initial sentiment.

[ukgnome]

I was just chatting to Mrs Gnome about this the other week, as I could see this happening.

Her reply was essentially - I have just vomited in my mouth.

[FartingHippo]

Smile?

I'm pretty sure fetuses don't smile. I'm also pretty sure that every model sent out is smiling.

In fact a cynic might suggest that they knocked up five models to cover the broad ethnic groups, and simply choose the closest to the picture they get. Four shades of brown should cover any issue of skin tone, and bob's your uncle! Let's start making money off these saps...

[Suricou Raven]

Re: Smile?

They move. Not with much coordination, but they do move. I expect they pull expressions too. That'll be the 4D part: I expect they take voxel-video over a reasonable period then go through each frame and pick out the most photogenic. Throw away all the ones where it looks like something by H R Giger, and pick the one where it looks like a smiling happy baby.

[FartingHippo]

Re: Smile?

Sucker.

[Darryl]

Re: Smile?

My thought as well... Why do they need the 3D/4D scans of the fetus if they only supply one of two poses?

[Crisp]

Oh that is all kinds of wrong!

Smack bang right in the middle of the uncanny valley.

[Peter Simpson 1]

Re: Oh that is all kinds of wrong!

Proving that once again, just because something is technically possible, actually *doing* it may not be advisable (or in good taste)

[Anonymous Coward]

If I had to choose...

With this and the Google Glass app to record conception, I can imagine a full suite of accessories and other paraphernalia which could turn each and every baby into a product;

* Action Figures

* Making of DVD

* Greetings Cards

The possibilities are endless!

One thing in its favour though is that in a world where many children are unloved and unappreciated, it at least shows some form of affection towards a new human about to make their most arduous journey into our world.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: If I had to choose...

Now that really would be bad. Not content with showing your baby photos to potential girlfriends, parents could have the ultimate weapon in the family embarrassment wars. Let's put on the DVD of your conception... Eek!

[Nigel Whitfield.]

Utterly repulsive

It's bad enough working in an office where people don't have the manners to wait until their baby's been born before showing it off, and insist on bringing in their scans for people to coo over. Imagine the yummy-mummy-to-be bringing one of these in, wrapped in a hand knitted llama wool shawl, seeking praise for her fecundity.

And it will surely not be long before some nutjob american politician proposes a law that says anyone seeking an abortion must be made to hold a model of their foetus beforehand. Probably while praying, or something equally risible.

[JDX]

Re: Utterly repulsive

I'd rather look at a printed version than have the real think squawking in the office though...

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Ahh... I see you're a fan of H. R. Giger

No. That's my baby.

*awkward silence*

[Gronk]

No. Just... no.

[Eddy Ito]

Just what I needed on a slow Tuesday. I wonder how long it will be before someone digs up the old 3D Studio files and makes dancing baby figurines to be followed of course with the stumbling drunken baby, rasta baby, etc.

"The lulz! The lulz!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Could be kinda cool...

Now if you were kinda twisted, you would want to make one out of sugar and make sure its edible.

Then you could use it as part of a cake decoration to celebrate the pregnancy. Blue icing around the fetus if its a boy, pink if its a girl.

It would definitely be a novelty item and not for many...

[Jonski]

I knew I'd seen this before...

[The members of "The People's Front of Judea" are sitting in the amphitheatre. Stan has just announced that he wants to be a woman and wants to be called "Loretta," and is explaining why.]

Stan: I want to have babies.

Reg: You want to have babies?!?!

Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.

Reg: But ... you can't HAVE babies!

Stan: Don't you oppress me!

Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus gonna gestate? You gonna keep it in a box?