Model from a head scan of comedian/singer Reggie Watts via Makerbot

3-D printing is still pretty far from the mainstream, but Makerbot, the New York firm which has done the most to bring it to the attention of the masses, just scored a $10 million round of funding from some big names. They aren't wasting any time putting that cheddar to work, launching a spiffy new web series, Makerbot TV, that profiles people, places and things in the world of 3-D printing.

The series kicks of with a "head scanning" party Makerbot threw in collaboration with Brooklyn's Afro-Punk festival. Some sample reactions from the crowd when asked the question:

What do you think of 3-D printing?

I don't think its 3-D printing, I think it's teleporation

It's all new to me. Who comes up with stuff like this?

What would you make with your own 3-D printer?

That's pretty easy, a BMX bicycle.

Custom, model parts, for sure.

Lego for my son.

Makerbot got a few celebs to submit to the head scanning process, which has already produced a model of Stephen Colbert's dome that ended up in outer space. Angelo Moore of Fishbone got a head and hand scan and comedian/singer Reggie Watts got his amazing fro scanned and printed.

The series is well shot with some nice electronic music. It shares content from Thingaverse, the community site for digital design also founded by Makerbot's Bre Pettis and Zach Hoenken. The show ends with some slo-mo nerd-gasm, as crush worth host Annelise Jesky does swordfights with a Makerbot made life size replica of the Sword of Omen from Thundercats. All we can really say about that is a repeat of the Makerbot TV catchphrase, "Keep it Awesome!"

The achievement created a little buzz in design circles, but since Schwanitz refused to reveal his design, admirers were left with just a few tantalizing screen shots.  The Dutch dynamo did post a video of his Penrose Triangle being fabricated and made the object available on New York based Shapeways for $70 bucks.

A few weeks later, a former Shapeways intern named Artur Tchoukanov watched the video and cracked the code on how to print the Penrose. He uploaded a set of instructions that would let anyone create the shape to Thingaverse, an open source site dedicated to 3D printing. Boing Boing reblogged the story and Cory Doctorow mistakenly credited Tchoukanov as the originator of the design.

Schwanitz, feeling his copyright had been infringed, posted a take down notice to Thingaverse, which complied. “For better or worse, we’ve hit a milestone in the history of digital fabrication," Thingaverse and Makerbot founder Bre Pettis told Ars Technica.

A weekend of back and forth sniping ensued. It wasn't just the fact that this was a community typically committed to sharing ideas. It was also the first time such a legal threat had been leveled at this sort of DIY 3D printing.

"We have of course seen precedents with music, game and movies being pirated and shared, but the relatively small size of the community make this a little more intimate. The fact that this is being played out between two or three people, but watched by many more, who are all passionately involved in pushing design forward with 3D printing may have fueled this to move into a awkward position incredibly quickly, all unfolding within two weeks." wrote the folks at Shapeways. "It has raised serious issues that we need to discuss as a community to ensure the vibrancy and innovation is not crippled by legal interference."