As children, we read about a golden future of 3D xerox machines that would bring to life a barely-expressible future of universal fabrication.
As adult, we read things like “14 3D printers”, and see that the future has become the mundane with no interstitial period of hands-on wonder. Chunks of milled beigeness? This isn’t Earl Grey!
I do, however, love this example, which makes me think of a city of very happy skyscrapers in which they forgot to put in the roads.
14_3D Printers [Tim Pickup via Fabaloo and Makezine]
… But they didn’t mention CandyFab…
It’s a review of fewer than fourteen 3D printers. The 14 is just the page’s node number. (The prev and next links are 13_StroMotion and 15_Poser to Rhino).
Still a good article.
Yesterday’s future is tomorrow’s yesterday. Or such.
In regards to rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing, I don’t think the future is here quite yet.
I’m a product designer and my mind simply boggles when faced with the option of having zero manufacturing restraints on a product. Given time we’ll get our heads around this, and that’s when you’ll see products that couldn’t be made using current manufacturing processes.