back to article 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 …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

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

    2. Sammy Smalls

      Going mad?

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

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

      Re 4D

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

      1. 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

        1. JDX Gold badge

          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.

  4. Player_16
    Paris Hilton

    Art imitates life.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Art irritates life...

  5. Evil Auditor Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    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?

    1. 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

    2. PatientOne
      Joke

      Re: More peace on earth

      Nah, would never catch on.

      Here, have a jellybaby instead,

    3. JDX Gold badge

      Re: More peace on earth

      Printing chocolate embryos sounds like a very niche market.

  6. 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.

  7. Ketlan
    WTF?

    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.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Adorable?

      Makes it worse? Confirms my initial sentiment.

  8. 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.

  9. FartingHippo
    Holmes

    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...

    1. 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.

      1. FartingHippo

        Re: Smile?

        Sucker.

    2. 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?

  10. Crisp

    Oh that is all kinds of wrong!

    Smack bang right in the middle of the uncanny valley.

    1. Peter Simpson 1
      WTF?

      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)

  11. Anonymous Coward
    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.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Stop

      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!

  12. 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.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Utterly repulsive

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

  13. Frumious Bandersnatch

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

    No. That's my baby.

    *awkward silence*

  14. Gronk

    No. Just... no.

  15. Eddy Ito
    Coffee/keyboard

    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!"

  16. Anonymous Coward
    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...

  17. Jonski
    Pint

    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?

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