http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/153-Shapeways-metal-3D-printing-in-Titanium-contest.html [shapeways.com]

Just found this on the Shapeways blog (http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/153-Shapeways-metal-3D-printing-in-Titanium-contest.html) [shapeways.com] . A new contest they're doing for 3D printing. The winner gets their 3D design printed in titanium.

Be one of the first persons to have your very own 3D design printed in titanium Shapeways (www.shapeways.com) will be holding a 3D metal printing contest from today until the 15th of January. Because of the material properties of titanium you’ll have to take a few design rules into account:

The maximum dimensions of your model can be up to 50x50x50mm.
The maximum volume of your model can be up to 10 cubic centimeters.
The minimum wall thickness of your model should not be less than 0.2mm.
Details can be as small as 0.1mm.

The winning entry will be judged based on the criteria, “most inspirational metal design” as well as following to the design rules above. To enter the contest, upload your own design to Shapeways with the tag: inspiringmetal. The winner will win a printed out copy of his design worth approximately $1,300.

We’d love to have the contest featured in your forums. Included is more information on the best.

This actually seems pretty cool!

Indeed this is a cool method, Canada is a leader in this research. There's an NRC center in London that focuses on laser sintering. I've been there a number of times.
There really cool part is that you can switch metals during the process and blend one to another. So you can have steel blended to copper then titanium in a smooth transition.