Complexity and Design Freedom of 3d Printing

My computing innovation is 3D-Printing. This is the process of making three-dimensional objects from a digital file with a 3D-printer. Its purpose is to allow users to produce complex objects in a precise and repeatable way. With my computational artifact, I show how 3D-printing works; a 3D-Printer prints layers on layers of material until the object on a digital file is physically made. My artifact also expresses the complexity and design freedom of 3D-printing with examples of abstract shapes, animals, and prosthetic limbs. Furthermore, the shadow effect on my title “3D-Printing,” represents how 3D-printing is a repeatable process.I created my computational artifact using the graphic-design tool website, Canva.

On the website, I clicked the button “Create My Own Design” and used a blank template. Then with a handful of searches on Google for the perfect stock-photos expressing 3D-Printing, I saved the photos and uploaded them onto Canva. After uploading them, I needed to rearrange as well as crop some of these images. During this rearrangement, I also added text to bring everything back to my computing innovation of 3D-Printing. In the end, I created a clean, refined poster complimenting this written response. One beneficial effect that 3D-printing has on culture is with its design freedom. There is little to no limit in the complexity of an object that a 3D-printer can make. Since objects are constructed one layer at a time, design requirements such as draft angles, undercuts and tool access do not apply, when designing parts to be 3D-printed [3]. Not only this, 3D-printing files can be shared and open-sourced, thus, spreading the art of 3D-printing and adding to the 21st century culture of technology. However, one harmful effect that 3D-printing has is on the environment, with the materials/filaments that it uses to print its objects.

Although there are green materials such as PLA (Polylactic Acid), which is biodegradable, filaments like ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) are more commonly used simply because plastic is cheaper [1]. The plastic waste that this leaves on landfills add to soil pollution, hence negatively effecting the environment. The data 3D-printing most commonly uses is STL file formats which is the standard file type that interfaces between CAD software and 3D-printers. Other file formats include OBJ, FBX, COLLADA, and much more. File formats depend on the data you want to store in your file. For example, STL is the most basic and if you wanted a multi-color or multi-material print, you would need a different file format. [4] Here is the procedure of a basic print from input to output: 3D-printing starts with an input of a 3D model design using a design software such as CAD (Computer-aided Drafting). This model is then converted into a STL (Stereolithography) file format for the 3D-printers. After that, a 3D-printer requires an additive, the filament. With the filament installed, the 3D-printer begins printing the object. The final output would be a tangible 3D-printed object. [5]

However, a data privacy concern related to 3D-printing is that hackers can obtain digital design files to unlock key design features or even tamper with design layouts in an unauthorized manner [2]. This is made possible because of the rise of cloud-based computing technology, meaning, many big companies share data with each other, because work is distributed and not just done by one person [2]. Therefore, this sizable cloud-based sharing system could allow hackers access to 3D-print files. This is a data security concern related to where 3D-print files are stored and shared within companies.