Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 28, 2013. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Jewellery, missing Tupperware parts or mobile-phone cases: the range of 3D printing is infinite. Professional sectors such as the automotive industry and medical technology have been using 3D printing with extremely expensive machines for prototypes for quite some time.
However, because more and more companies now offer affordable 3D printers for everyone, Microsoft has prepared for the home 3D-printing wave with Windows update 8.1. Prices for 3D printers are falling quickly, and various companies, such as Fabbster, offer products in the price range from 800 to 3,000 dollars.
Microsoft therefore believes that 3D printing will soon reach the mainstream and that we will all have a small 3D-printing factory on our desks. Features of update 8.1 include plug-and-play support for printers, Windows understanding 3D file formats, and connecting apps with hardware to deliver an end-to-end solution.
This is intended to make it easy for everyone not only to buy a printer, but also to print a 3D file. Perhaps this will soon create an entirely new market for VFX artists who can sell their 3D files to motivated do-it-yourself hobbyists.
Here is a video about the new 3D-printing feature in Windows 8.1
About the author
Redakteurin der Digital Production
Article details
- Published
- Author
- Mirja Fürst
- Reading time
- About 2 min
- Word count
- 219