Shapeways, the website that people can upload their 3D designs to, have them 3D printed, and then shipped to their home, has opened a 3D printing design school on Skillshare, and are calling it the Shapeways Skillshare School. They are just starting out, with seven classes up and going, and are looking for more 3D designers to help others learn how to design for 3D printing. I’m certain that given the tremendous community there is in 3D printing, and how generous these people are with their time, that many more classes will be added quickly.

The initial classes are taught by experts Aaron Trocola, Natalia Krasnodebska, Kevin Wei and Duann Scott, and range from beginner to more advanced tutorials; the classes are listed below. You can sign up to be alerted of the locations when the upcoming classes are announced. Only scheduled classes are priced, and the only class scheduled so far is a two-hour “Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways” class which is $30.

Unfortunately for those of us out on the west coast, most are in New York. But there is one in Hermosa Beach.

Intro to Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways
Instructor: Duann Scott
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
This introductory class will cover the basic principles behind design for 3D printing, the free tools available to get started and the materials and processes used to make your ideas real.

Design for 3D Printing with Shapeways
Instructor: Aaron Trocola
Location: Hermosa Beach, CA
Date: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
This class presents the foundations of 3D modeling and 3D printing, and uses SketchUp (Google’s free 3D modeling software) to apply those concepts. In the exercise, you will customize your own case for the iPhone, learn how to get it 3D printed on Shapeways, and sell customized versions of this and other products in your online shop.

Design Your Own iPhone Case to be 3D Printed with Shapeways
Instructor: Duann Scott
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
This introductory class will cover the basic principles behind design for 3D printing, the free tools available to get started and the materials and processes used to make your ideas real.
We will cover the basic steps to customize your own iPhone case, to placing an order to get it 3D printed on Shapeways.

How to design your own ring and 3D print it with Shapeways
Instructor: Natalia Krasnodebska
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
The future is here! Anything you can imagine, you can create with 3D printing. It’s not all lasers and magic, with a little help from SketchUp and Shapeways, anyone can create a stainless steel ring to wear in one night. We’ll learn how to design a ring in a 3D modeling program, then send it to be 3D printed in stainless steel.

Intro to Parametric Design & 3D-Printed Wall Art
Instructor: Kevin Wei
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
(no info yet)

Intro to Parametric Design & 3D-Printed Jewelry
Instructor: Kevin Wei
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
Together we will create an extraordinarily meaningful and beautiful small object using parametric design and 3D-printing. We will begin with a simple piece of jewelry (Day 1), end with an advanced object of your choosing (Day 2), and then reconvene to share our real designs and receive invaluable feedback from some of NYC’s most creative designers (Day 3).

Intro to Parametric Design & 3D-Printed Building Block Sculptures
Instructor: Kevin Wei
Location: New York City, NY
Date: TBA
(no info yet)

I’d never heard of Skillshare, the site on which Shapeways chose to launch their 3D printing school. Cool site. I especially enjoyed a couple of the videos I watched on their site and thought I’d share them with you.

The first is somewhat of a motion graphic that described what Skillshare is all about:

The other is their manifesto:

Source: Shapeways