Humans are accustomed to drawing in the air. We gesture with our hands when talking and will try to illustrate charade secrets by "drawing" objects in space. 3D-printing pens takes those gestures, makes them tangible and, in the hands of an artists, beautiful. Recent 3D-printing pens have been cool, but clunky affairs. LIX Pen, however, is something different. It's light, small and apparently needs no more power than you can draw from your run-of-the-mill laptop. Now it's coming to Kickstarter.
在描述一件東西的時候，人們喜歡用手在空氣中勾勒一下這個東西的大致形狀，然后邊說邊比劃，有時候為了盡可能的描述相關特征，還會在空氣中進行“繪圖作業(yè)”。不過現(xiàn)在，一款3D打印筆能夠收集這些手勢動作，并且實實在在地把手勢勾畫的對象呈現(xiàn)出來，感覺就像是一只靈動的藝術家之手。最近有不少很酷的3D打印筆出現(xiàn)在市面上，但是絕大多數(shù)都顯得十分笨重，不便操作。不過LIX Pen卻是完全不同的一支3D打印筆。這款筆重量輕，體積小，而且用戶可以輕而易舉地拿起來比劃兩下，絲毫不會比在普通筆記本電腦上繪畫繁瑣?，F(xiàn)在，它來到了著名的眾籌平臺Kickstarter。

Measuring 6.45 inches long, 0.55 inch in diameter and weighing just 1.23 ounces, the aluminum?3D-printing pen (which also comes in black) really is pen sized. You hold it just like a pen, and plug a 3.5mm-like jack into the base and the other end of your cable into your computer. The juice allows LIX to heat to over 300-degrees Fahrenheit, though the plant-based PLA filament (it can also use the stronger ABS plastic) only needs to heat to 180-degrees to work. That filament is fed in through a hole in the base and emerges as a super-heated liquid on the tip so you can start doodling in the air.
如果對這支筆做下測量，會發(fā)現(xiàn)它有6.45英寸長（約16.38厘米），直徑為0.55英寸（約1.40厘米），重量只有1.23盎司（約34.87克）。這款鋁制3D打印筆（顏色為黑色）和真筆大小一樣，握在手上的感覺就像是握一支鋼筆，在筆的末端有一個3.5毫米大小的插孔，用戶可以用連接線把它和自己的計算機連接在一起。LIX打印筆使用的“墨水”可以加熱到華氏300度，但是他們采用的PLA纖維打印材料只需加熱到華氏180度就能正常工作了，另外它也支持使用更強的ABS塑料打印材料。LIX 3D打印筆噴出的纖維絲是通過筆底部的一個孔灌注進去的，然后從筆尖處涌出經(jīng)過熱處理的液體，并迅速在空氣中固化，這樣用戶就可以在空氣中涂鴉了。

Unlike 3D printers, there is no program guiding the printing tip. Instead, to create 3D objects, you simply start drawing in the air with the LIX Pen, moving slowly as the melted filament draws out. It cools quickly so that your structure remains rigid. Each filament rod is about 10 centimeters long and should, according to the company, last for about two minutes of air-drawing.
和3D打印機不同，LIX 3D打印筆沒有應用程序支持，它就是非常直接地創(chuàng)造出了一個3D物體對象，用戶使用LIX Pen在空氣中勾勒，當纖維絲融化流出之后開始慢慢移動，就可以進行“繪圖作業(yè)”了。LIX Pen的“墨水”可以迅速冷卻，讓你勾勒出的結(jié)構(gòu)圖保持剛性。另外根據(jù)該公司表示，每個纖維絲棒大約有10厘米長，可以維持兩分鐘的空氣繪圖作業(yè)。

3D pen printing works for everything from abstract sculpture to fine art and jewelry to T-shirt design. The only limit, it appears, is your skill level and ability to hold and move the pen very, very steadily.
3D打印筆可以應用在很多領域，比如制作一個抽象雕塑藝術品和珠寶，或是進行T恤衫的設計，等等。但是使用3D打印筆的時候需要用戶具有一定的技術水平，比如你必須要能握定這支筆，然后非常穩(wěn)地移動。

LIX co-founder Anton Suvorov, told Mashable the company's 3D-printing pen "has no concurrence on the market," and it should arrive in Kickstarter sometime around April 14, where the company will be taking pre-orders. The starting price, at least for the campaign, will be $139.95. LIX also sells, for $59.95, a ballpoint pen replica of LIX that is nothing more than a regular pen, but why would anyone want that?
LIX 聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人Anton Suvorov表示，該公司的3D打印筆還沒有投放上市，但是他們應該會在4月14日左右登陸到眾籌平臺Kickstarter，并在上面接受預定。LIX Pen的起售價將會是139.95美元，此外，LIX還在Kickstarter上面銷售一款3D打印筆的復刻版圓珠筆，不過這支筆就是一支普通的圓珠筆，可售價卻高達59,95美元，真想不通會有人想要這支筆嗎?