A couple of years ago, many people who should have known better seemed to think that there would soon be a 3D printer in every home. Disregarding the difficulties of 3D modeling, the hassle of setting up, operating and maintaining printers, their low speed of production, the space they take up and the fumes they emit, and the lack of a compelling need to produce lots of little plastic parts oneself, they figured these machines would follow the trajectory of the home computer and the 2D printers that accompany them. But while everybody wants to communicate with others, and often needs to print out documents and pictures, only a few of us really have a compulsion to produce 3D objects ourselves. Those people bought printers, and then the sales curves tended downwards.

3D Systems threw in the towel about a year ago, closing down their consumer-focused Cubify division. Other companies have similarly refocused their efforts on the businesses which have always been the foundation on which this industry is based; it's not really surprising.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com