The Wall Street Journal Online: Last year, Alias was just a videogame character known for stabbing monsters in the back. Today the bald-headed rogue has come to life on a bookshelf near Seattle as a four-inch-tall figurine with emerald dagger in hand.
Bringing such fantasy characters to life is possible thanks to the technology of 3-D printers, which turn three-dimensional computer images into three-dimensional objects. The statue of Alias was created courtesy of a start-up called FigurePrints LLC, which is opening for business this week. The company was founded by Ed Fries, a former Microsoft Corp. executive who is taking advantage of a shift in the 3-D printing industry to populate the world with trolls, gnomes and other fantastical creatures from the online game World of Warcraft.
The 3-D technology combines computer software and specialized "printers," which are copier-size machines that sculpt objects using a tool akin to a set of high-tech glue guns. Following a 3-D design on a computer, the gun nozzles squirt layers of material that harden into a porcelain-like object.
For 20 years, 3-D printers have primarily been used in labs and research groups at auto makers, aerospace companies and other design-intensive businesses. But during the next 12 months, 3-D printing will move closer to the mainstream, thanks to some entrepreneurs and consumer-focused companies like FigurePrints that are building businesses around the machines.
The expansion by 3-D printers into manufacturing is happening thanks to a steady drop in the price of printers, improvements in the materials they can handle and a proliferation in the amount of 3-D data that can be turned into objects.
How 3-D Printing Figures To Turn Web Worlds Real [The Wall Street Journal Online]
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