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- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -1/+46Any one with a PC and.... a million dollar piece of equipment could press print. The rest of us will get a b&w draft printout on A4 paper.
- cr125er, on 10/12/2007, -1/+35There was a funny SomethingAwful article on this awhile back. Can't seem to find it. Basically it was about a printer that could do this and it ended with the writer questioning the designer with "So what's to stop people from using this machine to print out copies of itself and sell them on ebay?" Followed by a "*****, brb"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32Tea; Earl Grey; hot.
- xyritheon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29"Want a new dining room chair? You'll design it on a PC and press PRINT, and your personal fabricator will create it for you right before your eyes."
is it really so odd to think that one can build his or her own furniture? - NomenNescio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+27So... we be able to illegaly download hamburgers?!
- vegasmacguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Why wash dishes when you can print a new set
- pintomp3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18finally, i can have my very own kelly lebrock.
- MrSunshine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Yeah, but if you were naughty, you just get the giant black dildo.
- LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17The question is would you really need a computer to build your own furniture? I guess it would be more convenient, but where would your sense of pride and accomplishment go?
Although, this would be pretty damn cool though. - MOGua, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12"Want a new dining room chair? You'll design it on a PC and press PRINT, and your personal fabricator will create it for you right before your eyes."
WTF? Imagine the price of "ink" then:
let's see, I just need another tube of pure iron 23 and a couple more cartridges of pure carbon 78. Oops, almost forgot that new ink-duo of pure hydrogen 1 + oxygen 13...wait a minute, isn't that free from the air?
uh...no thx, I'll stick to IKEA for now. - ZippidyDoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Giant black DILDO.
- drawkbox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Since this will wipe out entire valleys of industry and economy from the market, that printer cartridge is gonna cost some cash!
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10*****.
This premise completely forgets that you need to make products from multiple materials. You can't make everything from plastic resin. - rompom7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10LoungeActx: I think thats what xyritheon was getting at...
- thomashallock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"the digital revolution is over, and the good guys won" who made that call and why? Have I been asleep?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Santa Claus uses ones of these, doesn't he?
- BasouKazuma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9The only problem with is that not everyone has an eye for fashion. So you go and design your own furniture, but it looks like crap.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9You think waste is a problem NOW?
"No! *****! I only meant to send ONE house to the printer" - Etaoin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9From the article: "Imagine a machine with the ability to manufacture anything. Now imagine that machine in your living room. [...] Would you ever buy anything retail again?" Of course you would.
Look at it this way - right now, anyone can download a compiler for free, and have any program they want just by hitting "Compile". Does that mean nobody buys software retail? Of course not. Manufacturing isn't the only problem - it's also design. This would eliminate the manufacturing half of the equation, but there's still going to have to be lots of time and skill poured into design - and people are going to be willing to pay money for that, I'd bet. I would rather have an attractive, sturdy chair designed by a professional than a crappy-looking one I, an unskilled layman, did my best on.
So what you're going to end up with is a system where you're not paying for an object, but rather for a creative work: the design itself. After all, why buy a chair and have to carry it home, when you could just buy the design and "print" it out when you get back to your computer? So what you're buying is no longer physical property, but rather intellectual property - exactly the same shift we're seeing with music, where you're not buying the physical CD but the data on it.
As I see it, the bottom line is that when your money is buying bits instead of atoms, whether those bits are music, software, or a dining room set, the current retail model just doesn't work. One way or another, the economy is going to have to be reorganized to make this kind of thing feasible. - Intrepion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8And then use Google Ketchup to build your own condiments.
- iFrank, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Yeah, okay. Have you seen MySpace lately? People can't even do something as easy as copy and paste some Javascript and HTML color codes on a template in an aesthetically pleasing way. Do you really expect them to one day be able to design a "desk mod?"
The point is, most people are like Helen Keller when it comes to design of anything. If you think MySpace is bad (and I know you do), wait 'til people start designing and "printing" MyHouse. That'll be interesting. - rodrigo74, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The sense of accomplishment and the pride for the job well done will go to whatever new possibilities and challenges this new technology will bring.
Creative and skilled people will find new and exciting challenges on it, as usual, while most people will find the nearest IKEA store, as usual.
Just see what happened with film vs digital photography. - stevesearer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I would pirate a double double from in-n-out.
- Lane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7if this thing will print on silicon wafers at 65NM i think im in business!!!!!
- axiomflash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7hate to be the skeptic since this is great technology, but i am very familiar with it and the ideas expressed here are bunk. this is THEORY in the most abstract way possible.
- Daedalus17, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Sweet an a story that was on Slashdot in 2003. It's like using a time machine! ;)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6But you could just copy the design of a good chair and print that out.
One could also make their own movies or music. But most don't. And many don't pay retail either. They copy it from others.
People will stop going to IKEA and start using Bit torrents for their furniture.
If that happens, then The Pirate Bay will REALLY get harassed. It will start hurting their own countrymen. - garethevans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It would be kind of funny to see people's homes be representative of their intelligence, I'd think. Albeit very shocking (much as your average MySpace design is)
- polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6LoungeActx
Crack open Maya and try modeling out a chair....It's not as easy as you may think..... - waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If you print out enough valuable stuff, the $2 Million dollar piece of equipment might be worth it.
- NIUGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yes, but if you can pirate the design... Well you still have to buy raw materials.
- foxhoundadmin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"in soviet russia, computer build you!" :D
- donte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Seriously, he's talking about a personal fabricator and the best thing he can come up with is a dining room chair? Make my Weird Science dreams come true. After all, isn't that why most of us geeks got into computing... to have women come to you in droves?
- Moosebern, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@ShiverMeBoner
Good ***** point.
I think Ferrari would have a little problem if I just printed out one of their new models.
Sweet idea though. - ShiverMeBoner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You get DRM attached to your music downloads, pretty soon DRM will be attached to your furniture and whatever else you decide to "print".
Like MOGua said, just think about how inflated ink prices are right now. These "printouts" won't be free ya know. - ricree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The guys at http://reprap.org/ have been working on building a rapid prototyper that can build almost all of its own parts. It should be out within a year, and the entire design and software is GPL, so you can get one from anybody you know who has one.
- kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would imagine, after buying your own personal fabricator, buying the fabric needed, and the cost on your electric bill to use it. You could buy 10, tables chairs or couches, from the store.
- marlintehrani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2could it print business cards?
- cupevampe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The singularity is near....
- timko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just hit print and all I got was a piece of paper. Seriously.
- bantamw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hold on - this technology's been around for ages. A laser which focuses on a liquid resin which hardens the point of focus.. I saw that 15 years ago and even then it was meant to revolutionise the world. Now all it does is make horrible 3D representations of your unborn baby if you want to spend thousands.
So you can make anything? Nah. Just a chair or a cup will probably be as mass market as it's gets - it's like 21st century pottery. As others have said - anything more than that and you're needing a production line (more than one component).
Now I want to see the microwave thingy like hypothesised in the Fifth Element - 'Chick--ken'. A couple of what look like peppercorns into a full sunday roast - now that would be amazing.... :) - ator1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If that weapon is a knife, then yes.
- harpreetgiani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Would a virus be able to replicate rude objects off the printer by itself?
- iLEZ, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3A routine with Eddie Izzard came to mind. It is about how it is convenient to be like Shiva, The god of destruction AND creation. Seeing how being the god of JUST creation is just not practical: "*Wooosh* -You like that chair? No? Allright, i'll put it over here..". Being the god of destruction as well helps a litte in doing away with the crappy things you create.
- chriscoolc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3PC LOAD LETTER? What the f**k does that mean?!?!
- HaltingPoint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For those saying that going to Ikea will be easier than designing your chair, you're not thinking in context of todays media technology. Hello, P2P! Expect all of your favorite torrent sites to add a section for these 3D blueprint files once this gets big. Yeah, I'd be seriously concerned about printing a Mercedes or other highly complex technological device from a P2P network, but for simple items that won't be immediately lethal should they fail, this could be amazing.
I fully expect the world of copyright and IP to have a seizure as soon as this goes mainstream. - Ascus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Imagine all the copyright infringment possiblites. and since I can make anything with this machine, can I make another personal fabricators for a "backup" in case something goes wrong with mine. And can I let my friend use one of my backups since I am not using it right now.
- OwdenBowden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can I build me a Hot Super Model?
- fantasticjon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a friend who works at a cad/cam place. They have a printer there that makes 3d plastic models from cad designs. It is slow, and only made out of one material, but I don't think his idea is that far fetched. My friend told me they have one on the space shuttle that is much faster and the parts made are much more durable, but it cost $60,000 just for the printer.
I think it will be tough for a printer to make anything that has moving parts, but for static objects it is plausable and likely. - aposter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, there is the new version of the old model. Once they develop the technology enough where the fabricator can assemble atoms and molocules...The printer is cheap, but the Bose-Einstein condensate "ink" is expensive, and due to the laws of thermodynamics you can't just have a printer "print up" more condensate than it uses to make it. You can "print" anything you want except more "ink". Now they have you by the short and curlies.
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