Massivit’s 3D branding uses new technology for eye-catching displays

Anyone who has ever visited a rainforest café is likely to remember the large statues of crocodiles, leopards, snakes, parrots and apes. Massivit 3D Printing Technologies, a technology company based in Lod, Israel, has developed a technology that could bring statues and eye-catching point-of-sales displays to many locations, including supermarkets, shopping malls, hotels, concert venues, movie theaters and trade shows.

“3D branding is an approach that aligns interior design with brand positioning,“ says Massivit’s CEO Avner Israeli. While point-of-sales displays made of corrugated paper are often used to draw customers’ attention to certain brands, Israeli sees a lot of untapped potential in this new market: “3D branding provides a multi-dimensional experience that engages consumer’s senses in a deeper way than graphics alone.”

Massivit has developed a technology that is specifically designed to print large objects with volumes greater than three cubic meters. The system is optimized for visual arts and graphic communications and is able to print a variety of shapes and forms. It has, for example, printed a 3D model of the famous ‘Strati’ – a car created and developed by Local Motors.

The features of the printer, the Massivit 1800, include its proprietary gel dispensing printing technology (GDP) to print fast, up to 35 centimeter or 1 ft. per hour, with precision. The printing and curing engine of the Massivit 1800 lets the special gel solidify rapidly, which makes large-scale 3D printing possible. The printing dimensions are 1.5 meters X 1.2 meters x 1.8 meters (4ft x 5ft x 6ft) and the technology allows for a dual process, which lets users print two different objects in parallel, resulting in considerable time savings.

Massivit’s photosensitive gel hardens when exposed to UV light, allowing faster printing than the thermoplastics that are commonly used in smaller 3D printers. According to Massivit, its printer incorporates the most advanced 3D printing algorithms in the market enabling fast and economical printing, saving on printing material and printing time of superfluous support structures.

Printing a simple sculpture of a standing human in full size only takes five hours with the Massivit 1800 system. And printing another figure in parallel would bring the time needed down to five hours for two life-size figures, ideal for environments such as trade shows or point of sales displays where time is critical and the display is meant to feature the newest developments or products.

Thanks to a combination of the characteristics of the proprietary printing gel technology and unique software features, Massivit’s technology is also able to print non-vertical walls and ceilings without the need of printing a support structure.

The first Massivit 1800 has already been installed at E.S. Digital in Israel, a company specializing in wide format digital printing, visual merchandising, point of sale (POS) branding and signage. E.S. Digital’s CEO, Eyal Shemesh, has great plans for the Massivit 1800: “We can now offer our customers more ways to grab attention, call for engagement and make their marketing campaigns attractive and entertaining – we can add another dimension to marketing.”