Until very recently, 3D printing in an everyday context, outside of research facilities and tech companies, was used primarily to build items such as 3D trophies and other specialised gifts and awards. With the spreading and progressive commercialisation of the technology, however, new fields have started to pop up, ready to be explored by willing parties within the industry.
Fortunately, there were plenty of willing parties eager to see the limits to which the available technology could be pushed. In recent years, the field of 3D conceptualising and printing has moved far beyond the creation and commercialisation of 3D trophies, and a brief flick through a science magazine or website will show as much.
Areas in which the potentialities of this field are being put to the test range from medicine to architecture, commerce to sport, and automotive engineering to science. Some of the most impressive achievements to come out of a 3D printer in recent times include prototype bionic arms for disabled African children, lifelike images of unborn babies, models of prototype cars, artificially created ice caves and even, in at least one instance, a full-blown model house.
That is not to say, however, that the use of 3D printing for the creation of 3D trophies and other such novelty items has been completely discarded. In fact, not only is that particular sector of the market still booming, it, too, has shot in different and more ambitious directions. A good example of this is the recently created replicas of Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford, which are almost 3D trophies in themselves and no doubt made for an excellent gift for a sport aficionado. iPhone cases and model robots are other examples of objects that have been created using 3D printing technology in recent years.
All in all, then, 3D printing technologies seem to slowly be permeating all different sectors of western society. A future in which these processes are available to everyone and for any purpose, and are an integral part of everyday life in developed countries, should therefore not be too far off.