Effectively, this means that an individual or group has the ability – with minimal investment – to avoid the cumbersome task of purchasing expensive overseas technology and instead print their weapon. (Source)
In three years 3D scanners have gone from $30,000 to $3,000 to—$0.00?! AutoDesk’s free 123D Catch app is now available for the iPhone and iPad. Users can take up to 40 pictures, upload them to the cloud, and receive a digital 3D model. Simply, 123D Catch is a free handheld 3D scanner as mobile as you are. Coupled with 3D modeling software and 3D printing services, Autodesk aims to bring 3D fabrication to the masses.
If you’re an architect or manufacturer or computer animator, chances are you already know Autodesk. Their 3D modeling software AutoCad—first released way back in 1982—is near ubiquitous in the professional world. But not so much at home.
Autodesk hopes to change all that with its user-friendly, free suite of 3D modeling software.
The terminology often used is ‘contour crafting’ and this describes a system to treat buildings the same as manufactured parts today. That is, integrated design and production using computers and machines rather than design and artisan craftsman.
It is not completely ‘printed’ but uses 3D printing for some aspects of the build.
The video below is a TED Talk from Behrokh Khoshnevis, from the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies at the University of Southern California, supported by Caterpillar Inc.