We shared the Send to Print/ Print to Send exhibition two days ago (click here if you miss it). In case you are still puzzled about what 3D printing is, here is a great TED video by Lisa Harouni, co-founder of Digital Forming.
By now you should be convinced that 3D printing will be part of your life soon – indeed very soon. 3D Systems® just launched the very first consumer 3D printer, Cubify. You can bring it home for US$1,299 ($49.99 extra for one cartridge). It’s not cheap, but there is a price for innovation, right?
Though it’s still unlikely that a layman can just draw something in 3D and print it out, there are thousands of designs you can download from Cubify.com (with cost, of course) and print at your Cubify printer. Now all the “ink” is plastic, so there is certain kind of limit on what you can produce. However, they are working towards putting food inside. So maybe in the future valentine day you can actually print out your own chocolate.
You and me may still be wondering what would it be like to print out something in 3D at home. The “mighty” Pirate Bay, a popular site for downloading copyrighted materials, already think ahead and add a new category named “Physibles”. “Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical.” Their speed of tapping into the trend really amazes me. They do claim to have a big vision though, “No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour. We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We’ll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one”.
So the future of 3D printing is really THAT close to us. Will you be the first to try printing “physible”?
BTW, FORESCOPE just got a new facebook page, join here for more curated trend information.
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