Description
Book SynopsisFabricated tells the story of 3D printers, humble manufacturing machines that are bursting out of the factory and into schools, kitchens, hospitals, even onto the fashion catwalk. Fabricated describes our emerging world of printable products, where people design and 3D print their own creations as easily as they edit an online document.
A 3D printer transforms digital information into a physical object by carrying out instructions from an electronic design file, or ''blueprint.'' Guided by a design file, a 3D printer lays down layer after layer of a raw material to ''print'' out an object. That''s not the whole story, however. The magic happens when you plug a 3D printer into today's mind-boggling digital technologies. Add to that the Internet, tiny, low cost electronic circuitry, radical advances in materials science and biotech and voila! The result is an explosion of technological and social innovation.
Fabricated takes the reader onto a rich an
Trade Review
'It's well-written, and with chapters like "Digital cuisine", "Ownership, safety and new legal frontiers" and "A factory in the classroom", the book holds much promise. I put it like that because I haven't actually read it yet! I've literally just started on it, and thought I would take the opportunity to give you the heads-up on it. (ICTinEducation.org, June 2013) 'This engaging book takes the reader on a journey that explores how 3D printing will impact our lives. Fabricated is ideal if you re interested in integrating 3D printing into your work, but are not experts in design software.' (Design Talks, August 2013)
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Chapter 1: Everything is becoming science fiction 1
Chapter 2: A machine that can make almost anything 7
Printing three-dimensional things 11
The ten principles of 3D printing 20
Chapter 3: Nimble manufacturing: Good, fast, and cheap 25
Somewhere between mass production and the local farmer’s market 27
The blank canvas of the 21st century 35
Chapter 4: Tomorrow’s economy of printable products 45
Like ants with factories 46
The experience economy 51
A future economy of printable products 56
Chapter 5: Printing in layers 65
A manufacturing process at heart 65
Two families of printers 68
Cleaning up design files 77
The raw materials 81
Chapter 6: Design software, the digital canvas 85
A word processor for drawing 85
Today’s design software 91
What you design is not (necessarily) what you print 100
The next generation of design software: digital capture 102
Chapter 7: Bioprinting in "living ink" 105
The printer of youth 105
Tissue engineering 111
CAD for the body 120
The future 124
Chapter 8: Digital cuisine 129
Digital gastronomy 130
Feeding the quantified self 142
Processed food 144
Chapter 9: A factory in the classroom 153
Make to learn: Children's engineering 154
Not a national crisis. . . but learning should be enjoyable 161
Now let's see you draw that abstract equation on a graph 166
Barriers to classroom adoption 171
The road ahead 173
Chapter 10: Unleashing a new aesthetic 175
Computers that act like nature 176
Printing wavy walls and custom gargoyles 191
Chapter 11: Green, clean manufacturing 197
A tale of two plastic toys 200
Greener manufacturing 202
3D printing a more beautiful landfi ll 206
Chapter 12: Ownership, safety, and new legal frontiers 217
Printing weapons, drugs, and shoddy products 218
Rip, mix, and burn physical things 224
Exclusivity vs. the freedom to innovate 230
Chapter 13: Designing the future 241
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. 241
A bicycle for our imagination 243
The language of shapes 252
Changing the shape of design tools 260
Chapter 14: The next episode of 3D printing 263
The three episodes of 3D printing 265
Cofabrication of multiple materials 266
Moving from printing passive parts to active systems 271
The final episode—from analog to digital 275
Machines making machines 280
References 283
Index 291
