[ExI] Full Colour 3D Printing - the next big thing?

[Mike Dougherty]

On 8/6/07, Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> When I imagine how it'll play out, I think of how people use paper


The print / consume / dispose in a very short time.  Hopefully the 3d
printouts will be more recyclable than paper.

customisations on a basic model or models. For example, with gaming
> miniatures, downloading and printing the existing miniatures would be
> ok, but downloading software that lets you choose colours, hairstyles,
> weapons, stuff like that, showing you the result onscreen as you play
> with the parameters, then lets you print out the result... now that
> has legs.


And if the IP laws are not brought within reason before then, you will have
to purchase a license for the basic model, subscribe to the software to
customize and lease the derivative works for the duration of their
existance.

Or for World of Warcraft players, imagine the ability to 3d print your
> character. Or a mug with your character on it. etc...


Why would a Word of Warcraft player need any physically real objects?  Sure,
they might want the blueprints for the sake of owning them, but what good is
an object if you can't show it off in-game to your friends?

Consumer electronics - what's cooler than an iPod? Perhaps an mp3
> player where you buy a kit with internals and a CD with software that
> lets you heavily customise the colours and shape of the external case
> (in simple ways - select a shape, size, colour scheme, etc etc), then
> print out the result and clip it all together. The models used by the
> software would be designed by the same industrial designers that
> currently design the iPod  et al, so you wouldn't lose the excellence
> of those designs, just add choice.


Of the American consumers I know, they'd more likely pay the 0.01% of the
population (who think like you suggest) to do the work for them and just
give them the product.  This is exactly why, despite CafePress' ease of use,
people still purchase items from existing sellers rather than set up their
own store.

Is there a widespread use for 3d printing?  It will probably require
creating a market, similar to how the cell phone went from a tool employed
only by doctors (and drug dealers) to every soccer mom and mallrat.

I wonder if these "printers" will be capable of producing all the parts
required to build one.  :)  You could purchase the hardware once and
subscribe to an update service.  Every (exponentially shorter time interval)
the device produces it's successor which then produces a more efficient
recycler into which it places both it's predecessor and the previous
recycler.
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