MAQET

We here at MAQET are cat people. We also like dogs. And birds. We’re big fans of animals in general.

But there’s a special place in our hearts for cats. Cats of all kinds. Left to right:

• Typographic cats.
• Vector cats.
• Real cats.
• Katz Deli.
• Cat memes.
• Cat-5 cables.

(We also have a sense of humor.)

All you need is a cat and our tutorial, and you can make an awesome MAQET Valentine’s Day T-shirt bear. There’s no better way to tell your cat how much you love him/her. (Although we highly recommend a can of wet food in conjunction with the gift of a MAQET…)

Find out how to make your own MAQET Valentine T-shirt bears here!

It’s not too late to give your sweetheart a unique keepsake that really comes from the heart. In just a few quick steps, you can make your own personalized Valentine bear with a T-shirt that answers the question: Who or what do YOU love? Order by February 9th with overnight delivery or by February 6th with priority shipping to get your original MAQET (small $22 | large $42) by February 14th! (Dates apply to domestic shipping only.) MAQETs are vibrant, full-color collectibles, made of Plastin®, a porcelain-like material with a smooth, shiny finish. We bet your Valentine’s ex never gave a gift this cool!

There are two ways to customize your MAQET Valentine bear:

Use our free, online digital drawing and painting tools.

Click here for a short tutorial and exclusive access to customize your own Valentine’s Day T-shirt Bears with our online Character Designer.

Use our templates with your own design software.

Click here for a short tutorial and exclusive templates for customizing your own Valentine’s Day T-shirt Bears with third party software such as Photoshop.

We wrote this tutorial with our Valentine’s Day T-shirt bears in mind, but it holds true for other holidays and regular old days alike. You can find all DIY MAQET characters in the Create Your Own area. Below is a brief tutorial for making your own special 3D Valentine. Of course, it doesn’t have to be February 14th to tell that special someone you love them!

Choose your Valentine: pink or green!

• Click here for Pink bear with white T-shirt.
• Click here for Green bear with black T-shirt.

The Character Designer will open. (For simplicity, we’ll use green in this tutorial.)

Click the paintbrush icon to open the online tools palette and begin customizing your MAQET.

You will see a variety of drawing and painting tools on a palette on your left hand side.

1. Click on a graphic from the palette to select it. You’ll notice that the cursor changes to a stamper icon. In the example above, we’ve chose the “His-n-Hers” stamp.
2. Mouse over to the position on the template where you wish to place the stamp. If you hover over the spot without clicking, the stamper will display a preview of the stamp you chose.
3. Color is set to black by default, so if you’re using the black T-shirt template, you may need to change the color of the stamp in order to see it. To do this, just click within the rainbow on the palette and you’ll notice your color choice immediately indicated in the circle below.
4. If the stamp is too big or too small, you can change its size by dragging the triangle underneath the size adjuster from 1 (smallest) to 10 (largest).
5. When you’re ready, click your mouse to stamp the template. To use the stamper as a paintbrush, click and drag.
6. Experiment with the tools and have fun! You can always click the Undo button to erase your last step.

We wrote this tutorial with our Valentine’s Day T-shirt bears in mind, but it holds true for other holidays and regular old days alike. You can always find MAQET character templates and information here. Below is a brief tutorial for making your own special 3D Valentine. Of course, it doesn’t have to be February 14th to tell that special someone you love them!

Choose your Valentine: pink or green!

• Click here to download a .png format template for Pink bear with white T-shirt.
• Click here to download a .png format template for Green bear with black T-shirt.

Your download will look like this: a “flattened out” version of Shin + Nao’s Dankeschoen bear. Think of it like a coloring book. We have already started coloring it for you. (For simplicity, we’ll use pink in this tutorial.)

1. Open  the template in your choice of design software. (We’re using Adobe Photoshop.)
2. Now have some fun! We found a clip-art cat and added it to the T-shirt. Experienced users can shift colors and change the bear’s expression as well.
3. Please do NOT change the size, DPI or file format of the template. When you’re finished, save it with any name you like, but keep it as a 2048×2048 .png.

Note: You can return to your template to make changes after you’ve viewed it in 3D. Uploading it to the Character Designer in the next step is NOT a commitment to purchase. When you are happy with your design, you will click Make it Real to bring your Valentine MAQET to life.

Now that you’re happy with your design, let’s return to http://www.maqet.com/create-your-own.

Click on the blank white / DIY Dankeschoen bear to see your Valentine MAQET in 3D!

Click the paintbrush icon to open the online tools palette where you can upload your template.

1. Click Upload Design File to upload your Valentine MAQET template. It will wrap around the character like magic!
2. If you’re happy with your handiwork, click the Make it Real button to checkout.
3. If you need to make changes, go back to your design software and re-upload the file when you’re ready.

Happy Valentine’s Day from MAQET!

We’re often asked to explain how 3D printers work. Well, thankfully, Japanese-born, Canada-based artist, Hine Mizushima, created this wonderful explanation in animated gif form. So terrific! Any questions?

The current issue of Clutter magazine has a nice feature on 3D-printing. Rise of the Machines breaks down co-creation and 3D-printing for toy designers and collectors. We’re happy to see photos of MAQETs by Frank Kozik, Yosiell Lorenzo, Kelly Tunstall, Ferris Plock and Devin “Spicy Donut” Lawson–who also wrote the story.  Clutter issue 16 is out now. Check it out, and support the scene!

MAQET has gone to the birds…or technically, the birds have come to MAQET. This morning, we’re being visited by a quartet of baby parrots. Awwww…

This week, two of MAQET’s artists celebrated their birthdays. We just wanted to take this opportunity to wish Shin Tanaka and Frank Kozik another year of happiness, health, hedgehogs, robots and more!

Hope everyone had a great holiday break! We’re back to business here at MAQET HQ. Before disappearing into the lab for the next few days, here’s a little teaser for the month of January. Yes, just like The Vapors in 1980 and Kirsten Dunst (with Takashi Murakami) over two decades later, MAQET is turning Japanese! Stay tuned for more news about this month’s releases, and sing along in the meantime!

Did you enter MAQET’s Facebook and Twitter Holiday Contests? Are you a winner? If you received an email (Facebook) or a direct message (Twitter) from MAQET last night with some good news, we’re sending you the item pictured above your name. Note to Tim and Mark: as of this moment, we still need your addresses!