3Doodler was the first 3D printing pen, which attracted international attention. The project raised over $2.3 million on Kickstarter from backers. But its bulky shape made it difficult for users to use it continuously. There have been a flurry of copycats since, but none have been much more ergonomic.

An upcoming 3D printer pen from the London-based design company Lix is looking precisely in the opposite direction. The Lix, which will likely to launch on Kickstarter this week, is much closer to the size of an actual pen.

Lix has a handy design and looks more like a normal pen. Combining features of a conventional pen with the possibilities of a 3D printer, the LIX Pen is a pen that promises to let you draw in the air. Although similar projects already exist, the reduced size of the pen is making news all over.

The device is constructed of aluminum measuring 6.45 inches, has a diameter of 0.55 inches and weighs only 34 grams, making it easy to confuse it with a conventional pen. The novelty works with both PLA filaments with ABS plastic that is heated to a temperature of 82° C while in operation.

Contrary to what happens in conventional 3D printers, there is no software guiding the shape of the object created with the LIX Pen. Thus, it allows you to use your skills as a designer to create virtually any object. According to the manufacturer, it uses a single filament 10 centimeters in width, allowing uninterrupted draw for approximately 2 minutes.

The 3D pen is equipped with a jack to which you connect a cable, the other end must be inserted into the USB port of a computer, so as to transmit the current required to heat to a maximum of 149°C. As in the 3Doodler SwissPen and other similar devices, the molten plastic comes from the pen tip and quickly cools to be able to build 3D structures. Lix has buttons on the side, which control the extrusion rate and power (which you get by plugging the pen in a USB port).

You can still draw things on paper, or cardboard, or a tabletop or whatever else, but you can also make 3D structures, like with the 3Doodler. With practice and stuffed hand, users can use this device to create plastic prototypes, custom costume jewelry or individual decorative sculptures.

The startup company that developed the pens was established this year. Its founders, Delphine Eloise Wood, Anton Suvorov, and Ismail Baran, have backgrounds in technology and art. The Lix 3D printing pen will debut on Kickstarter for $70 before selling for a full market price, estimated to be around $140. They also plan to release a ballpoint pen, which will cost about $60.

Even if the campaign fails, the makers look to the future with heads held high: “We already have a few suggestions for cooperation with different countries: USA, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, etc., says Suvorov. If the Kickstarter campaign fails, we will certainly continue to work with our potential partners.”

3D printing is entering a phase of rapid transition brought on by an expanding array of applications and the advent of low-cost 3D printers, with the creation of new market opportunities.

Makerbot’s Digitizer is another 3D prototype mainly be used by those who dreamed of the possibility to scan physical objects and then print them on the 3D-printer. Team of scientists from the Disney research as well as in the laboratories of ETH Zurich and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology managed to create a couple of software packages that allow even users with little experience to create a mechanical animated characters.

[Top photo credit, LIX Pen website, http://lixpen.com/]