3D printing: you can print with chocolate, too

When my friend James OReilly in Second Life asked me to join a group called "Immersive Worlds & 3D Printing" I asked "so what's this about 3D printing...and why should I care?" As usual he immediately threw 3 URLs at me in rapid succession:

What is 3D Printing? http://ow.ly/aZuSk

Immersive Worlds & 3D Printing
   In Facebook http://ow.ly/aZuaK
   In Scoop.it http://ow.ly/bakid

Solid Learning http://ow.ly/aZudy

DIY 3D Printer & Crowd Funding
http://ow.ly/aZuiI

 O.K., maybe it was more than three.  Wikipedia has a good article on it too. You can even build your own printer or buy a kit for one.

With a 3D printer, the proper materials and a 3D drawing, you can print objects like these at Shapeways.  This site also has lots of information and offers the materials you need for forming objects.  

Services to do the printing for you are available as well.  Stratasys Learn category has good information.

If you want to do the whole thing yourself, you'll have to buy (pricey) and learn (steep learning curve) a 3D application, sometimes called CAD/CAM (computer-aided design, computer-aided modelling).  At Shapeway's site you can find a list of supported applications. 

Kinda brings to mind StarTrek's replicator.  "Earl Grey tea, hot."

-- Marge