HP Innovation Journal Issue 03: Summer 2016 | Page 6
Break-even point for fabrication, no design changes
$/part
Digital
Traditional
Number of parts
Break-even curve assuming no design changes for short run opportunities
at reduced operating cost, for parts which
offer an unprecedented combination of both
fine detail and end part strength. End part
production requires a seamless hand-off
3D is more than competing for cost and
speed optimizations of the same product.
The true potential of 3D is realized when
one can develop products which cannot be
within one object, enabling changing colors,
textures, transparency, strength, elasticity,
and more.
Imagine an industrial designer, who could
tell the printer which contrasting colors
and textures to apply to the knobs of a car,
while the mechanical designer could define
different levels of strength and elasticity
to the same part, all while the design tools
assure that these design intents can be
printed. Enabling professional designers to
easily specify the design intent that takes full
advantage of the voxel printer, the first step
towards the transformation of manufacturing
and ultimately towards the democratization
of design.
For this to happen, the printer’s capability
needs to be communicated upstream from
the design tools to the designers. This will
also require that the design software and
3D parts shown were printed using (in order from left to right): HP Jet Fusion 3D printer; HP Multi Jet Fusion technology; HP Jet Fusion 3D printer.
Center image ©Emmett Lalish, Thingiverse.
between the design and intended printer
or information can be lost, and the design
intent and quality expectations may not be
met by the printer.
User interface
manufactured today. The seamlessness of
the interface between design tools and 3D
printers becomes even more important as
our future printers enable multiple properties
Design
intent Design
generation
Optimized
designs Simulation
for printer
specifics
Designers can create customized predictable 3D-printed products when printer capability is communicated upstream
6 Innovation Journal · Issue 3 · Summer 2016
the printer speak a common and enriched
volumetric language that can be translated
into volumetric pixels or voxels at the printer.
HP Multi Jet Fusion
platform