After talking with Eric Dyer and some artists last night, we talked about people’s limited ideas on what 3D printing can do for you.  When introduced to the possibility of printing a 3D object, a majority of us, including myself, instantly think, “WOW!  I wanna print [insert some popular action figure or 3D figurine we made ourselves]!” While this reaction is completely understood (who wouldn’t want to have awesome comic book characters sitting on your window ledge or book shelf?), it shows the initial limiting factor of what 3D printers are capable of.

Just to inspire thoughts, I’ve thought about printing mathematical objects that would be otherwise impossible to build seemlessly or maybe an engine that’s printed with moving parts inside.  After all, this is all possible if you can design the 3D model yourself or find a skilled 3D engineer or artist to do it for you.

But this appears to be still a novelty idea, right?  Well, imagine creating a real-life sized car that’s not manufactured.  How about printing human organs?  Yes, it’s possible and being explored – and in these particular cases a reality:

Urbee Car’s body printed from 3D printer.  Link to Wired’s Article here.

Anthony Atala on Printing a Human Kidney.

 What would you print?  What do you see possible in the future?