Big Picture - January/February 2018 - 26

INNOVATION: NEW TECHNOLOGY

3D PRINTING ON THE RISE

BIG PICTURE

January/February 2018

by Josh Hope, Senior Manager, 3D Printing and Engineering Projects, Mimaki USA

3D printing is officially everywhere - in middle schools, where
young kids are using basic 3D printers to output their favorite
video game character in a single color; to the malls where kiosks
with scanning booths capture and print out full color 3D "selfies;" to major shoe brands offering 3D printed soles on running
shoes. Consumers are increasingly comfortable with the idea
that 3D printing will become a part of their everyday lives, but on
the business side, many companies are concerned with the pace
of emerging technologies and understanding how to leverage
these technologies for their benefit.
3D printing falls into the broader category of additive manufacturing that also includes direct digital manufacturing. Where additive
manufacturing is often used to describe the manufacture of prototyping pieces both functional and visual, direct digital manufacturing
generally concerns the production of finished goods through a 3D
printing process using plastics or metals. Additive manufacturing is
the idea of starting with nothing and adding material to create the
desired result. This contrasts with subtractive manufacturing such
as CNC routing where you start with a block of material and remove
any unwanted volume to create a finished piece.
In the world of large-format printing, it is a bit of a cloudy
picture to see where 3D printing and additive manufacturing will fit
into the landscape, but as technology expands, the opportunities
are getting clearer. 3D printing is maturing into many different
types and technologies, which open doors to some very interesting
possibilities. For example, one company is now producing a 3D
printer which can print single-color objects up to almost 6 x 5 x 4
feet in size in a matter of hours. These amazing objects can then
be coated and painted for a finished piece that clearly has a place
in the P-O-P and signage world.
3D printing is no longer restricted to just one color or even a
small palette of colors. New printers are outputting 3D prints in full

color anywhere from thousands to tens of millions of colors, such
as the new Mimaki 3DUJ-553 printer. This is an exciting new area
for 3D printing that will have an impact on the large-format printing
market. Imagine the ability to create a full-color scale model of an
architectural structure with signage in place as a visual prototype
for customers. Showing a potential customer a color-accurate 3D
print of the signage, the billboard structure, and how it will fit into
an environment as a physical piece they can hold in their hand
could be a persuasive sales tool.
With the pace of new 3D printers and print technologies being
announced, it can seem like a daunting task to decide when
and where to jump into the mix. There are many consumer-level
machines that will allow you to get familiar with file formats, editing
tools, and general 3D concepts for less than $200. Many software
packages are either open source or free for noncommercial use.
It's amazing how accessible this technology can be, which makes
it a relatively painless process to get started on the learning curve.
The 3D printing market today is not unlike the desktop publishing revolution we saw in the late '90s. At that time, imagesetters
were the next big thing, but they were expensive and the learning
curve seemed impossibly steep at the onset. As the market
became more comfortable with the idea of outputting film digitally,
imagesetters quickly became a must-have item to stay competitive
in the marketplace. It is easy to see how 3D printers are already
starting to follow that very same path.
mimakiusa.com

http://www.mimakiusa.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - January/February 2018