People Really Want to Draw in 3D: 3Doodler Crushes Kickstarter Goal in Mere Hours

I messed up. Yesterday, I saw the Kickstarter campaign for the 3Doodler, a pen that lets you draw in three dimensions, and didn’t think it was something most people would be interested in, so I ignored it. It turns out I was wrong in a big way. The project met its goal in only a few hours, and already has more than 7,000 backers and pledges of $639,955 as I write this. I underestimated how much people want to draw squiggly 3D plastic things.

In my defense, I personally thought the 3Doodler was interesting. It melts and cools plastic thread, allowing users to make 3D objects. Essentially, it’s 3D printing by hand. It’s the kind of thing I would have bugged my parents for in a big way as a child. It just didn’t seem to be the kind of thing that would have mass appeal, but the numbers don’t lie.

7,325 people have thrown money at this thing, almost all of them over the $50 level to score themselves the finished product and other rewards. The only rewards categories that aren’t full up already are the second round of rewards at the $75 and $99 levels to get the pen and plastic thread, and the $10,000 “Wobbleworks Special” which nets you the 3Doodler, membership in the company’s beta testing program for future products, and a day with the creators. Travel is not included, but lunch and dinner are, and they’ll even engrave your 3Doodler for you.

One of the more creative ideas behind this Kickstarer is that the creators of the 3Doodler have teamed up with some popular Etsy artists who will use the 3Doodler to create limited edition art pieces. This is kind of brilliant, since it will allow people to see some beautiful creations being made with the 3Doodler, that will inspire them beyond the sloppy melty messes everyone is bound to make on their first try with this thing. The Etsy pieces were offered as rewards, but they’ve all been snapped up.

The original goal for the 3Doodler was only $30,000, and it hit that in a few hours. In fact, it’s raised more than that much in the time it took me to write this. Now with 32 days left to go on the campaign, and backers coming in at a steady pace the only question is what multiple of their initial goal with the folks behind the 3Doodler hit.

(via Kickstarter)

Relevant to your interests

• Another Kickstarter that met its goal was ?*$@! – An Illustrative History in Profanity
• Someone tried to Kickstart a Death Star, so these guys Kickstartered some X-wings
  
• Kickstarter success Wasteland 2 has some gameplay footage out