“That future stuff will never become reality in your lifetime”
Until recently 3D printing was well and truly seen as a fad only embraced by techno geeks and steampunk dreamers making their dreams come to life in “plastic fantastic” or used by large manufacturers. Then, the expense and novelty made a 3D printer an exclusive toy to play with. On top of that, the small range of filaments, printing capabilities and user-“un”-friendly software restricted its use to a narrow field of applications: mainly rapid-prototyping for the big manufacturing industry and gadgets for the geeks.
The advances during the past decade have moved it out of these niche applications and opened up new markets and users. Now it has developed into a serious field of research, expanding the areas of application exponentially and incorporating more and more aspects of daily living and industry.
Just reading news headlines doesn’t offer a realistic view of the different applications in the real world of work.
Presenting our alumni (and collaborators) we want to demonstrate how and where our creative graduates apply their 3D printing knowledge in real jobs.
As at the beginning of the first industrial revolution, big changes are afoot. And we believe that our alumni are glowing examples of the changes that we can be actively a part of: whether it’ll be in the creative field of entertainment, customizing and economizing consumer products or protecting vulnerable ecosystems. Now creative minds have new tools at their disposal, which will continue to improve steadily.
With 3D printing we can set our minds to developing and testing solutions on a small scale, which would not be possible with traditional, large-scale and expensive production methods. If we find something works, it can be expanded. If it doesn’t, reduced or even scrapped without much harm done. Especially as the recycling options for filament are improving as well and offering better holistic options.
We believe that 3D printing technology will be THE process to translate the increasingly sophisticated virtual constructs inside programs into objects capable of interaction in Real Life.