3D Printing Software Options for Every Skill Set and Price Point
In the TED Talk below, Lisa Harouni explains the reason that 3D printing is all the rage, even though the technology has been around for more than thirty years. Early on, the machinery was slow, inefficient, and—what matters most to nearly all of us—entirely too expensive.
In this variety of TED Talks, you can take a fascinating look at some of the many ways that 3D printing is forever changing our world.
Until just the last year or so, another roadblock was the fact that even if you could afford a 3D printer and its expensive ink, there were very few people who actually knew how to send the data to the printer and thus produce the desired object. But, as is so common in the software world, knowledge sharing has remained immensely popular in the 3D printing world, and software varieties now exist for every platform preference. In some cases, the software is completely open sourced and cost-free.
Most 3D printing today uses a spool of ABS plastic to create any number of plastic toys and honeycombed, geometric shapes that prove the technology's capabilities to produce intricate objects. While these creations are fun to look at, we’re wired to always think “That’s great, but what’s next?” What’s on the horizon is beyond impressive.
When you look at the number of objects—toys, guns, or even human cartilage—produced during 3D printing’s first thirty years, it's difficult to imagine what we’ll have printed during the next thirty years. The widespread belief is that very soon many of us will have the hardware necessary to print in 3D in our homes.
Where do you see 3D printing making the biggest impact? Manufacturing, medicine, or something else? Let us know in the comments section below!
