Erik de Bruijn, co-founder of 3D printing company Ultimaker, working on his 3D printer.

Photo by soulfish

The Penrose Triangle is as elegant as it is impossible—much like M.C. Escher’s drawings, it presents a two-dimensional illusion that the eye interprets as three-dimensional. The task of effectively creating this illusion in three dimensions, without resorting to hidden openings or gimmicky twists, seemed daunting until a Netherlands-based designer named Ulrich Schwanitz succeeded in printing the object recently. But Schwanitz, who posted a YouTube video of his design achievement in action, wouldn’t share his secret with the world. Instead, he made his “impossible triangle” available for purchase through Shapeways, a company that fabricates custom 3D designs, for $70.

Maybe I should try to make one of these? :)

The South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, is an opportunity for tech heads to bang their collective heads together and create something special.

In Click's second report from SXSW, Richard Taylor joins the jamboree to witness yet more alchemy at Dorkbot.

Follow the Click team on Twitter at @bbcclick

Click to visit visit the site; there's a video of SxSW which includes some chat about 3D printing. Raises and interesting point about the commercial copyrights on the technology expiring in a few years.

Technically incredibly awesome and yet quite pointless at the same time. I love it. :)

Not exactly my style.. but that's kind of the point isn't it? That you could have any style of bike printed. :)

The group that created the 3-D MakerBot printer — Mr. Pettis, 38, Mr. Smith, 27, and Mr. Mayer, 35 — first met at NYC Resistor, and did much of their initial work there. With $75,000 raised from friends and family, they set up MakerBot Industries and started taking orders for the kits in March 2009. The first 100 sold out within a few months. So far, the company, with 30 employees, has sold 4,000 kits for making MakerBot. The latest version is called “Thing-O-Matic,” and costs $1,299. Hobbyists, do-it-yourself families and schools have bought them.

“We push the limits of what is possible, and enjoy the failures,” Mr. Pettis said. “You come into the hacker space, and you expect to see kittens in jet packs, flying around the place.”

This actually isn't quite 3D printing, but it's very similar.. and very freaky looking. Reminds me a little of some of the architecture in Blade Runner.

I love the one titled "Interactive Parametrics 5540 Blobby".

More 3D printing fun! (For one of the strangest prototype cars I've seen in a long time.)