3D printing, or “fabbing,” is creating quite a stir amongst the printing community. The movie Coraline is an animated, 3D, stop-motion film released in February. The movie used replacement animation, where one stop motion puppet face is replaced with another slightly different expression so that the facial features and body movements appear seamless. 3D printers were used to create the models and facial expression rather than a digital rendering. You can check out the story at CGSociety.
Besides the movies, fabbing is growing among doctors, architects and obviously, designers. 3D printers have been around since the early ’90s, but are just now getting into the price range that most can afford. Desktop Factory has created a 3D printer selling for $4,995, about $5,000 cheaper than its next cheapest competitor.
Rapid Prototyping
Turning a digital image into an actual physical model in a printer is the epitome of rapid prototyping. Now engineers can design a house, print it out, and see if the dimensions planned out will work. Blueprints for models that once took a week to build can now be printed in hours.
Medical Uses
According to Business Week, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center uses a 3D printer made by Z Corp. that retails for $39,900. It uses the 3D printer to make models of arteries, knee caps and other body parts for surgeons. Surgeons and other doctors can now see “what if” and practice major surgery on these printed models.
Reconstructive surgeries can now be done with more ease since instead of putting plaster on a patient’s face, an imaging device acting as a 3D camera can create a map of the patient’s face, which can then be printed and altered and used as a guide for reconstructive surgery.
Levels of 3D Printers
Of course, the reconstructive type of printing commands work from a more in-depth, precise 3D printer than the $5,000 model offered by Desktop Factory, but the technology is there and it’s getting lower in price every year.
According to Wohlers Associates, a Colorado consulting firm, approximately 3,600 3D printers were sold in 2007. That number is expected to jump to 300,000 by 2011 with the lower prices.
Z Corp. sells an entry-level 3D printer for less than $20,000 and the 3D Systems is in development of a 3D printer that will cost less than $10,000.
A Disney-Type Fantasy
Yes, even Disneyland has gotten wind of the 3D printer and has used it in its Innoventions Dream Home in Disneyland. You can read more about the home, which includes all kinds of futuristic technology, including the 3D printer to recreate a cell phone cover, at the Los Angeles Times Web site.
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