‘3D what?’

I know now to check for the look.

I had lunch with a colleague today and was talking about working with a 3D printer. I looked over and noticed she looked puzzled.

“Do you know what a 3D printer is?” I asked.

I’m surprised how often it happens, but there are still a lot of people – smart people – who don’t know what 3D printing is.

It seems surprising, since someday in the not-too-distant future, most of us will have a 3D printer in our home. It’ll be a lot more sophisticated, of course, although it’ll be interesting to see what features eventually win out.

Will the ability to print metal be important?

How large an item will we be able to print?

What sorts of things will we print?

Where will be get the files? Will Amazon have a “Files” section?

Time will tell, but it won’t be long before we don’t have to explain to people what 3D printing is.