Nearby 21^st Century Activities You Likely Haven’t Tried Yet

Sun City Palm Desert residents have access to fantastic fresh new creative and exploratory amenities and activities that most active adults have never tried, and most may have never even thought about trying, offering great learning and creative opportunities. We have our own 3D printer in our Technology Center and there are many 21^st Century activities available nearby as well. These include:
3D Printing with multiple 3D printers
Digital Art including Animation, Games and Special Effects
Virtual Reality Painting, that can then be printed
Virtual Reality Sculpting, that can then be 3D printed
Laser Cutting, Engraving and Etching
Remote control car and truck racing
A Research Grade Observatory Telescope

There are two nearby Creation Spaces both an easy drive from Sun City Palm Desert.

One has 3d Printers with comprehensive instruction for beginners and advanced users. Choose from over 1.6 million downloadable 3D printable designs or use their CAD programs to create your own.

For a whole different experience use their Laser cutter that can cut wood, plastics, cardboard, leather etc. and can engrave in those as well as etch on glass and painted metal. While the laser cutter can cut fabrics, it is likely to burn the edges so quilters and sewers might cut a pattern on heavy carboard or acrylic and then use that as a pattern to cut the fabric. They also have electric hand tools, a drill press, bandsaw and sander for wood working.  All come with beginner and advanced instruction.

The other creation space has amazing fun new tools for digital artists. It starts with a powerful computer workstation loaded with the full Adobe Suite, including Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign as well as Autodesk 3D modeling software including Fusion 360, 3DS Max and Maya. These powerful tools allow digital artists and designers limitless creative possibilities.

They also have 3D printers and amazing Virtual Reality (VR) equipment and programs that allow you create fantastic Virtual Reality paintings in amazing colors even neons if you wish, and you can print and take those paintings home with you. Or you can use their VR programs and equipment to create Virtual Reality 3D sculptures you can then download to one of their 3D printers and create the sculpture in the real world to take with you. These two different Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for artistic creatives are accomplished using their Vive Pro VR headset. Tilt Brush by Google allows the user to create Virtual Reality environments in a 3D space. It is a really incredible experience to be transported to an alternate environment where you can paint with a wide range of tools including neon, frosting and fire.

They also offer Masterpiece, which is a VR sculpting application that allows the artist to sculpt virtually and create a 3D Printable file. It is literally sculpting something out of thin air in a virtual environment that you can then 3D print and take home with you.

Participate or just watch high level remote control vehicles race on the Valley’s own RC race course in Palm Desert. With technological and mechanical improvements these remote control cars and trucks combine durability, handling and power. These amazing RC vehicles can cost up to $500 or more and create sheer excitement for both the operators and spectators.

Sun City Palm Desert residents can tour a nearby modern observatory housing a telescope that is capable of observing objects over 50 million light-years away. This research grade telescope uses a recently developed CDK optical system and has four auxiliary telescope workstations. During night time stargazing parties you can actually use and look through the telescope which has a seeing value of about 1 arcsecond and can produce phenomenal images for both educational and research purposes.