tells the story of 3D printers, humble
manufacturing machines that are bursting out of the factory and
into homes, businesses, schools, kitchens, hospitals, even the
fashion catwalk. The magic happens when you plug a 3D
printer into today's mind-boggling digital technologies. Add to
that the Internet, tiny, low cost electronic circuitry, radical
advances in materials science and biotech and voila! The result
is an explosion of technological and social innovation.
provides readers with practical and
imaginative insights to the question "how will 3D printing
technologies change my life?" Based on hundreds of hours of
research and dozens of interviews with experts from a broad
range of industries,
offers readers an
informative, engaging and fast-paced introduction to 3D
printing now and in the future.
Chapters and contents
Chapter 1: Everything is becoming
science fiction. What would "just another
regular day" look like in a future, 3D printable world?
Chapter 2: A machine that can make almost
anything. Information morphed from analog form to
digital. Will physical objects be next? Ten key principles
explain 3D printing's disruptive power.
Chapter 3: Nimble manufacturing. Emerging
business models lie somewhere between mass production and
the local farmer's market. Small-batch manufacturing
is becoming profitable, freeing entrepreneurs from the
tyranny imposed by economies of scale.
Chapter 4: Tomorrow's economy of printable
products. 3D printing, low-cost design and
manufacturing technologies create new market opportunities
as consumers increasingly crave on-demand, custom
"experience" products.
Chapter 5: Printing in layers. For those
of a technological bent, a deep dive into the inner
workings of the 3D printing process.
Chapter 6: Design software, the digital
canvas. Without an attached computer, a 3D printer is
just an elaborate paperweight. An overview of design
software and "digital capture."
Chapter 7: Bioprinting in "living ink."
Design software and 3D printers read medical scans to
fabricate living tissue and custom artificial joints. How
long before all of us can tap into this Fountain of Youth?
Chaper 8: Digital cuisine. Today you can
3D print "high resolution" and delicious shortbread,
chocolate figurines and tortillas. In the future,
Quantified Selfers and couch potatoes alike will balance
their diets by streaming biometrics to a food printer.
Chapter 9: A factory in the classroom. Primary
and middle school teachers teach "children's engineering"
using vivid, hands-on lesson plans.
Chapter 10: Unleashing a new
aesthetic. 3D printers are the output device
computer-savvy artists, designers and architects have been
waiting for.
Chapter 11: Green, clean manufacturing.
What's cleaner to make? A 3D printed plastic toy or a
mass-produced plastic toy? 3D printers may introduce
greener living... or help us drown in a rising tidal wave
of plastic junk.
Chapter 12: Ownership, safety and legal
frontiers. Technology evolves faster than the
law. Consumer safety and intellectual property laws will
stretch to deal with printed weapons, counterfeit products
and unregulated custom-made products.
Chapter 13: Designing the future. Why
was Star Trek's Replicator used only to make Earl Grey tea?
Because once we shape our tools, then our tools shape
us. Next-generation design software will unshackle our
imaginations, giving us new ways to imagine and edit the
physical world.
Chapter 14: The next episode of 3D
printing. What lies ahead? Watercolor artists
create infinite hues by blending primary colors.
Regular people will design and blend standard
materials -- or micro-scale electronic components --
and "print" them out in fine, meticulously patterned
sprays. The result? Weird and wacky new materials. Robots
that walk out of the 3D printer. Ready-made, responsive
smart materials.