3D Printing

Basic Information

3D Printing is the technology of creating three dimensional objects through applying multiple layers of material through a printer array.

See Also

News: 'Organ Printing' Could Drastically Change Medicine

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia entry

Game and Story Use

• If this technology becomes effective in a Twenty Minutes Into The Future or science fiction campaign, it will radically change the way trade works. Physical products will no longer be needed to be transported from different continents (or different worlds) - all you need are the raw materials and the specific printer templates for the products in question, and the product can be created locally. As a result, raw materials are the only physical things that need to be transported at all - the templates can be moved electronically.
  • This will mean that copyright will be much more harshly enforced than it is now, and copyright protection schemes will be much more stringent, since the templates will often be the most expensive part of any product - and the only thing which will be profitable for the people inventing new products.
    • Some subcultures and countries might opt out of the international copyright system entirely so that they can create all those things for only the cost of the raw materials. If they are able to steal enough templates, they might even be able to give their members a very high lifestyle which otherwise wouldn't be possible for them.
      • These are the assumptions of the Transhuman Space campaign setting.
• A fantasy equivalent of 3D printing might be possible - perhaps it is possible to create almost any physical object if you just know the right ritual for it and have the necessary raw materials.