Startup unveils 3-D scanner at SXSW

LONDON. March 9. KAZINFORM Four years ago an unknown startup called MakerBot showed up at the South by Southwest Interactiveconference here with a prototype of its first desktop 3-D printer, which spit out plastic replicas of small objects, Kazinform refers to CNN.

Bre Pettis, the company's co-founder, took the machine around to Austin's watering holes, set it on the bar and showed off its capabilities by printing shot glasses. "They were pretty popular," he said.

On Friday, Pettis was back at SXSW, this time as a keynote speaker before a packed hall of 3,000 people, further evidence that 3-D printing is a hot trend in the tech world. Once again, he brought a new prototype with him.

This time MakerBot unveiled a desktop device that can scan small three-dimensional objects. Called a MakerBot Digitizer , it's meant to complement the company's Replicator printer by letting customers scan objects, then feed the resulting digital files to the Replicator to be printed.

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