CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, October 07, 2014

3D Printing: What Does It Mean To Our Industry?

News content from Live Design: I'm seeing more and more practical uses for 3D printing in the news these days. Clearly, this is not new technology, but how it's being applied could have implications to how we build sets, advance tours, and more.

7 comments:

Kimberly McSweeney said...

This is amazing! I can't believe 3D printing has gotten to be this accurate and applicable to so many different fields. I am excited to see what designers and other technicians will do with 3D printing technology. My only concern with it is the materials used in 3D printing may not yet cater to what designers need in their pieces. However, I'm sure with new research in innovation we will soon be able to 3D print many materials in an effective and accurate way.

Unknown said...

This title of this article addresses a very important question about a very new, relevant technology. I personally have never used 3D technology, but it seems to be clearly tied now to our industry. I think the use of 3D printing technology when producing music is an intriguing one to study. Music, specifically instruments, one thinks of being a creative, organic, natural process of creation. But now with 3D printing, it becomes very industrial, specific, planned process. While although it is not necessarily a bad thing, it provokes an interesting thought. When does 3D printing become artistic and when does it become productivity?

Unknown said...

I think the 3D printer is a great invention and will definitely enhance technology. There are endless possibilities in the designs created on the 3D printer. There is not a wide range of materials that the printer can create with. In time it may be possible to make anything out of a lot of different materials. 3D printing has a good start with what it can do. I think it is really cool that they were able to make a whole band of instruments all from a 3D printer. The guitars were one of a kind and very cool looking.

Olivia LoVerde said...

3D printing is becoming more and more popular and doing more and more creative things. It seems like every week there is a new article about some crazy thing 3D printing is now doing. This is probably one of the more interesting ideas I have seen though. The ability to create instruments in a new way and make them just as good as they were before is incredibly impressive. I really like the fact the instruments can be so personalized because of the ability of the 3D printer. You can get intricate details that you never would have been able to before and that makes for some unique products.

Paula Halpern said...

3D printing is definitely going to be incredibly helpful in the future for so many different issues. I don't believe this video accurately shows the amazing qualities of 3D printing. What was mentioned in the end of the video, hearing aids and hip replacements, is where 3D printing will help human kind. This seems to be more artistic than innovative in nature. It seems as though that professor created custom guitar frames for different musicians, but that could have been done in many different ways, and none of that impacts humanity in the same way a artificial hip or heart would.

AAKennar said...

Ok yes 3-d printing is kool and did I say 3-d printing is kool. Yes it is very kool and yes the instruments are pretty kool. The design of them is interesting. I do not feel like you can argue against that.

I guess no one has actually printed anything actually interesting on ours at school. Last year some chain was printed and worked pretty well. We have most definitely not put our printer to the test yet. Lego blocks and chess pieces are really anti climactic in the big picture of things. Some maybe just something more impressive.

Also we our time frames, printing is just not that practical. 12 hours to print something and then another 4 to 6 in the bath to make it useable. When in 16 hours on the shop floor the challenge is solved and we are 4 challenges down the line. I guess our time frames do not match the speed of 3-d printing. It is kool however for gadgets and personal projects that do not have such a time line.

seangroves71 said...

I think that this is a great idea, but I am curious to what difference the plastic makes in the sound of the material. Yes with an electric guitar the sound taken through the pick up but I find it hard to believe that the open structure of the guitar doesn't affect sound. Same line I am curious to hear a recording of the drums in use.
All in all I think this is a brilliant example of a real world use of possibilities for 3D printing and one that gets around material limitations. The ABS plastic most common and readily available for 3d printing, has a lot of down falls (that all of course vary across machines and drawing capabilities) I frequently run into problems with the resolution of the prints that I use but there are lots of simple alterations to make to final printed objects. My favorite has to be the gear driven steam punk guitar.