Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Innovation in Three Dimensions

  • By Ohad Meyuhas
  • 09/01/17

Additive technology is changing the world. For researches engaged in fabrication-aided design, additive technology it is not just a 3D printer. It’s an idea engine. No longer does thinking, designing or fabricating need to happen in one dimension, color, texture or material. No longer will researchers be held back or encounter complicated roadblocks to proving hypothesis or bringing new ideas to life. Traditional manufacturing is centered on fabricating with homogeneous materials, but today, with additive technology, we can think about materials in a completely different way.

Imagine if you could design and fabricate from the bottom up, with pure control over the microscopic properties of the materials you are using. In the world of painting, this might be pixel by pixel, in biology it is cell by cell and in 3D printing this is voxel by voxel, allowing researchers to create almost anything. From art with photorealistic color, to biomimics of the body that look and feel real, to 3D printed materials that mimic traditional building materials of brick or wood, we can draw on those strengths with a new aesthetic that put CGI to shame. Multi-material machines, like the ones academic researchers and developers use to create new design parameters, are changing the way we design, fabricate and manufacture today.

So, the advice we have for you — think smaller; voxel small — and stop letting layers or CAD hold you back. Let your fabrication-aided design be your guide and let your ideas be your only limitation. Many leaders in innovation, including those at Columbia, MIT, Fraunhoefer Institute, Singapore University of Technology and Duke University, are already using this new design consideration.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Ohad Meyuhas is the director of Academic Research and the resident thinker/tinker at Stratasys, partnering with global researchers who are changing the world one voxel at a time. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.

  • FGCU Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has launched construction on a major new academic facility that leaders say will reshape healthcare education in Southwest Florida for decades to come, according to university news.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.

  • Ohio State University Opens 26-Story Hospital

    The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center recently opened in Columbus, Ohio, standing 26 stories and covering 1.9 million square feet, according to a university news release. The project marks ten years of effort and is the university’s largest single-facility construction project ever.