The Impact of Evolving Output Mediums on The Design and Creation of Graphic Images: 3d Printers

The history of 3D printers starts all the way back in the 80’s with a man called Charles Hull who invented the first commercial 3D printer in 1984 which was based on a technique called stereolithography which used a liquid photopolymer which hardens when hit by a UV laser. Although the first attempts are granted to Dr Kodama as he was the first to describe this approach for production. There was another method found around the same time (1988) for 3D printing which was made at the university of Texas in which powder is fused together using a laser.

3D printing has evolved a huge amount since its creation back in the 80’s. It started off as models being made with a liquid photopolymer and then it moved onto using powder now you can print plastic then it went onto metal 3D printing. The newest evolutions of 3D printing include being able to print human tissue to replace some body parts, printing edible food for people and now you can even 3D print some houses.

The cost of modern day 3D printers varies as you can get consumer and industrial ones the most basic consumer 3D printer starts at around £100 but it has its downsides as you would expect such as you can only print small items it is very slow sometimes taking hours for a small print and there won’t be much detail. Some of the more expensive consumer printers will cost over £600 and they will allow you to print bigger items and they will also have more detail in the printing. The industrial ones can start from around £1000 for the most basic which offer great detail in the printing and they also allow for more complex designs to be printed as they usually are more accurate and can print bigger items. There are also industrial 3D printers that can cost £5000+ as the more you spend the better quality the print will be from the machine and they will have more features these 3D printers allow you to print complex detailed items that can have more than one colour or can have moving parts they can also allow for mass production of 3D printed items. Some of the consumer 3D printers allow you to send you print files over to them via the WIFI signal that they connect to in your home so that you can keep the printer away from you, so you don’t have to hear it printing. These more industrial 3D printers allow you to use different types of plastic for your items and some printers use metal

“China won’t be a loser in the new era, but it will have to give up on being the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. ” This quote was found on the Harvard business review website. This infers that people are starting to think that 3D printers will replace the need for business to go to china for production of parts.

"Realistically, we're going to be living to 100. . . 110. With bio-printed organs, living to 110 won't be anything like living to that age today, " contends Jack Uldrich, a technology trend expert. "We're already printing skin, kidneys, a replica of a beating human heart. If a person loses a limb, we'll be able to print, layer by layer, a replacement. It's theoretically possible. " This is a quote that was found on CNBC website and it is saying that in the near future we could be living for longer because we would be able to replace failing parts of our body.

The impact of 3D printers on the graphic design industry will be huge as it will allow designers to make models of their designs so that they can see what it will look like without having to make one which takes a long time but if you’re using a 3D printer you can just let it do the work whilst you do something else and it also allows you to make many prototypes if you need to. If you are a graphic designer, you would probably need to learn some new skills to keep up with all the latest ways to make and produce products or prototypes.

I agree with the opinions that I found because 3D printing has already advanced so much in the time it has existed that in the not to near future we will be able to replace important parts of the body with 3D printed versions and that china will no longer be the biggest manufacture because 3D printers will be able to do a lot of that work and it will be much cheaper to do in the long run.