Copyright battle of the future - 3D printing?

I keep hearing more and more about 3D printing. You know, those devices that can crank out essentially any shape object in the world made out of synthetics. It seems like it would only a matter of time before someone combines 3D scanning with 3D printing and then you have essentially the artist's problem, but for ANY product! It's not just going to be scanning photos. bootleg movies and burning CD's anymore

"Oh no, this car part is bad, I'll just scan it and print a new one!"

"Hey, Dad, Jimmy likes this lego set, can you clone him one, too?"

"Why buy the $50 lens hood when I can print one!"

The list is infinite.

I wonder what the anti-piracy techniques for real products are going to entail. Special reflective coating that jams scanners? special secret watermarking technology?

Like nearly everything else in life today, it will simply mean more work and more money for lawyers.

Currently not to big of an issue, 3D printers are very expensive and so is the media they use. 3D scanners are not much cheaper either. We are currently looking into both at my day job. A small desk top printer is still running several tens of thousands for a decent machine.

However I do expect to see prices coming down in the future. However until they are able to print a metal part, there will be tons of items that can be printed but not used without, molding and casting. A plastic shock brace is no better then a broken one. But it is only a matter of time.

As it is, the company I work for buys products exclusivly from places that wont release the 3D drawings .... guess what my job is, take apart the product and creat a 3D drawing (not for the purpose of manufacturing, but for customer support). A 3D scanner is just removes the guy with a computer and calipers

Yeah, I know it is a ways off, but I was just thinking about future implications. I can imagine a day where people can download 3D printer files for many bootleg products and home 3D printing is affordable enough to be in many upper-middle class homes.

Will be an interesting time.

tkbslc wrote in post #15609458
Yeah, I know it is a ways off, but I was just thinking about future implications. I can imagine a day where people can download 3D printer files for many bootleg products and home 3D printing is affordable enough to be in many upper-middle class homes.

Will be an interesting time.

You can already download tons of items for 3D printing, you just need the program to convert the file types. I work all day in Solidworks, I have also worked with Autocadd and Google Sketchup. All these put out a generic 3D file type which most 3D print programs can render and print. As soon as they figure out a way to print a metal part our company will be all over it for prototyping and test fitting, heck we are already thinking about it and they only make plastic parts.

Just think when you can download the file for a $1000 ball head and in a couple hours you have one sitting on your desk. For those of us that have or will have access to these at our work its already becoming a reality

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #15609644
Just think when you can download the file for a $1000 ball head and in a couple hours you have one sitting on your desk. For those of us that have or will have access to these at our work its already becoming a reality

Okay, so that's kind of where I am going with this. Manfrotto sells a $800 tripod or you can copy your buddies for $30 worth of composite refills for your printer.

I think it is going to get difficult to sell non-complex hardware in the near future.

tkbslc wrote in post #15609802
Okay, so that's kind of where I am going with this. Manfrotto sells a $800 tripod or you can copy your buddies for $30 worth of composite refills for your printer.

I think it is going to get difficult to sell non-complex hardware in the near future.

Yup as soon as the printing tech catches up, a tripod printed currently would not support a body without a lens, however its only a matter of time before we are able to print with media equal to CF. But by the same token you may find manufacturing prices come down when the companies invest in 3D printers and start making parts like everyone else.

Its kind of like a CNC Mill compared to a non CNC Mill you can get the same results but its a lot easier with the CNC version. I raced RC cars for a long time, and would make alot of my own parts on our CNC, would make 2 for me and an extra 6 and sell them to cover the material cost

I agree, Taylor... it's only a matter of time. And that amount of time is coming faster than most think.

At some point, 3D printing is going to dramatically change a lot of business models.

Until the government allows us to use wormhole technology, this is about as close to the proverbial Jetsons "buy it and it shows up minutes later" teleportation boxes, as we're going to get for awhile.

Hummm

Todd Lambert wrote in post #15609858
I agree, Taylor... it's only a matter of time. And that amount of time is coming faster than most think.

At some point, 3D printing is going to dramatically change a lot of business models.

Until the government allows us to use wormhole technology, this is about as close to the proverbial Jetsons "buy it and it shows up minutes later" teleportation boxes, as we're going to get for awhile.

I keep waiting for the teleportation box, would make getting ice cream in the evening much easier lol.

Copying is easy, structural integrity is the hard part. It might look good, just don't try to sit on it or drink from it. I've been to some seminars on Rapid Prototyping and the metal spray reproduction is available if you have the funds from what I gathered from the seminar about eight years ago. With CNC machine prices coming down it is getting even easier to re-fab structural copied parts. 3-D printing is nice for quick checks. And I can see a use for 3-D printing for photo shoot props where it doesn't need to be structurally sound. I believe a 3-D scanner and the appropriate softwares to run the data and convert it to 3-D printer or CNC usable formats is where you can really run into costs.

Day job is currently running Solidworks, but have used SDRC I-DEAS and some Catia and Pro-E in the past along with a lot of AutoCAD in the way past days.

Intellectual (sp?) property laws are fluid and active, along with Patent law, right along side of Copyright laws. Technology changes or advances and the relevant laws upgrade and advance as well.

treebound wrote in post #15609909
Copying is easy, structural integrity is the hard part. It might look good, just don't try to sit on it or drink from it. I've been to some seminars on Rapid Prototyping and the metal spray reproduction is available if you have the funds from what I gathered from the seminar about eight years ago. With CNC machine prices coming down it is getting even easier to re-fab structural copied parts. 3-D printing is nice for quick checks. And I can see a use for 3-D printing for photo shoot props where it doesn't need to be structurally sound. I believe a 3-D scanner and the appropriate softwares to run the data and convert it to 3-D printer or CNC usable formats is where you can really run into costs.

Day job is currently running Solidworks, but have used SDRC I-DEAS and some Catia and Pro-E in the past along with a lot of AutoCAD in the way past days.

Intellectual (sp?) property laws are fluid and active, along with Patent law, right along side of Copyright laws. Technology changes or advances and the relevant laws upgrade and advance as well.

3D scanners are not all that expensive, well I guess thats a relative term lol. And yes its the structural integrity part thats still missing with 3D printers. But its only a matter of time before someone figures it out.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #15609928
3D scanners are not all that expensive, well I guess thats a relative term lol. And yes its the structural integrity part thats still missing with 3D printers. But its only a matter of time before someone figures it out.

Structural integrity is relative.

SLMand EBMparts are pretty robust.

I can just see future advertisements:

"With strength to weight ratio that cannot be matched by home engineering devices!"

"Don't try to print this at home, folks."

"You've printed cheap knock-offs, now try the real thing to see what you've been missing!"

tkbslc wrote in post #15609962
I can just see future advertisements:

"With strength to weight ratio that cannot be matched by home engineering devices!"

"Don't try to print this at home, folks."

"You've printed cheap knock-offs, now try the real thing to see what you've been missing!"

LOL thats funny