(Blue) Prints For The Future

We take it for granted, but the lowly printer is actually quite an extraordinary machine. We’ll save you the historical references to the printing press and the way printing revolutionized mass communication (one might even say it enabled it for the very first time) and suffice it to say that the ability to print is in no small way responsible for ushering in modern civilization as we know it. I mean, think about it — you conceive of something in your mind, hit a few keystrokes on your computer, and with the click of a button you automatically produce a physical representation of that thought. We decided to take a look at printing technology today to see if it holds the key to the future once more.

Graffiti Printers
First, there’s the graffiti printers. We’ve seen a whole slew of them lately, as street art and culture seem to be driving much innovation these days (or maybe innovation is particularly strong in the street art scene? we don’t know, but we approve the mutually beneficial relationship whichever way the inspiration flows). There’s been the much-covered EyeWriter project, and projects like the SMSlingshot and LASER tag. Much of the work in this field is being spearheaded by Creator James Powderly and his FAT Lab crew, who created such printing inventions like the PrintBall gun.

TEMPT + EyeWriter + PrintBall from recyclism on Vimeo.

But the rigged paintball gun as graffiti printing device has thus far been perfected in the Facadeprinter, a more refined version of the PrintBall created by German duo Martin Fussenegger and Michael Sebastian. Dubbing this software controlled robot “an inkjet printer in architectonical dimensions,” the Facadeprinter was designed to shoot out large-scale graphics on to walls at a distance of up to 12 meters, and is capable of creating works as large as 8 by 10 meters.

facadeprinter.org – 5°Asalto Zaragoza from Facadeprinter on Vimeo.

Will this technology be a game changer? The kind of thing that changes the course of history? Probably not. But aside from being used to create nifty large-scale artworks or as part of a live street art performance, the creators of the Facadeprinter do envision a more noble application for the device — as a way of creating large visual communication displays useful in disaster relief work, where the signage could be used to signal shelter, medical aid, or food and water to wandering victims and refugees.

3D Printing

3D printing, or rapid prototyping, fabbing, desktop manufacturing (it has many names) is a process by which a three dimensional object is created from a virtual model. The object is printed through an additive manufacturing process where layers of material are added on top of each other, layer by layer, to create the form. The technology has been in development for some time now, since the early 1990s, and has endless uses for industries as varied as fashion, architecture, medicine and more. Basically, any industry that requires a physical product to be manufactured can look to 3D printing to change the way it will produce items in the future.

Why is 3D printing so incredible? Well, imagine being able to shop online for an object, say, a new coffee table, being able to customize your table and then sending it to your desktop printer, or your local Kinkos, to be printed according to your specifications. Granted, we’re not there yet. We’re still a long way from being able to print objects at will both in terms of the technology and the cost involved, but the technology keeps getting better and cheaper, and it’s foreseeable that within our lifetimes the above hypothetical example may in fact become feasible.

While the ZPrinter 450, above, will run you a cool $40,000, models for less than $5,000 are currently in the works. Then there’s the DIY community that’s leading the charge. Just this week Wired featured an article about a young NASA research engineer who created a 3D scanner with nothing more than a webcam and a laser. Pair that kind of homegrown technology with the open source MakerBot, a desktop printing robot, and you’ve got a recipe for accelerated innovation.

Will printers once again usher in a new age of modernity? That remains to be seen, but the outlook is certainly positive.