Career in 3D printing industry – 3D printing services have become the new rage with various industries needing 3D CAD modeling professionals
Are you captivated by the technologies, machines and creatures in movies like Iron Man and Hobbit? Do you have ‘a thing’ for the 3D images, 3D printed T-shirts, shoes and accessories and other such innovative, creative stuff that clearly shouts ‘the future’?
Do you think high-end 3D designs and models can solve problems related to human tissues or accentuate growth in the retail industry and even arrange for space food or improved defence equipment? Well, you can now make a career out of your passion and interests for the new dimensional items.
The 3D print industry is mushrooming even as you read this and if you are a job seeker, you can work in fields ranging from 3D designing to positions that are art-based and employ your creative skills more than your technical ones. You might remember the incident last year where pistols were created using 3D printing that could not be detected by any metal as they were completely plastic-made, yet had the same effect that a normal pistol would have!
Well, we are not asking you to indulge in any such criminal activity here, but take a look as to what all the 3D printing service has to offer.
All about 3D printing
3D printing basically comprises of enabling a digital file to make solid objects using additive processes that create layers of material until the final object is created. You can start with making a virtual design of any object you intend to make. The design can be created by using CAD (Computer Aided Design) file and/or Photoshop. You can alternatively use a 3D modeling program or make use of a 3D scanner. When you upload the digital file in the 3D printer, it will create the object layer by layer, where each layer is a sleek horizontal cross-section of the object as it turns out to be.
The layers are ultimately invisible and the object appears to be one unit, though the object is eventually made up of all these layers.
There are various methods or techniques of 3D printing viz. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and stereolithography (SLA) that are mainly different because of the way in which layers combine to form the final object.
USAGE
Not only does 3D printing useful for design visualization and prototyping/CAD, it is even applicable in metal casting, architecture, education, healthcare, geospatial industry and entertainment as well as retail market.
Let us consider in detail how can 3D printing be used for different jobs in varied fields.
Designing
3D designing has a bright future ahead if you know how to have an idea on building objects and make the idea come alive with different designs. You can work at 3D printing firms or in a creatuve department of a company or even as a freelancer, taking your own convenient time and space at home for building an innovative masterpiece.
You can either design products and medical devices, or build up a tool for the entertainment industry or keep in mind the architectural nuances to visualize and create something for the buildings and monuments of the nation.
You must have an insight into the 3D technologies and keep abreast of the latest trends in 3D printing in various companies.
Prototyping/CAD modelling
First-hand knowledge of CAD would let you make digital blueprints of simple product designs and well, you can get your 3D product using this blueprint in the 3D printer! You can create customized products and digital representation of the product you actually want to create through 3D printing. While your prototyping knowledge will put you in demand for designing models for mass 3D printing, your expertise as a 3D CAD professional will particularly come in handy when you construct custom products. The manufacturing industries provide several opportunities for 3D CAD modelling jobs but you are needed to have 3D print-specific modelling skills – how the geometry of the product can be shaped and reshaped, the feature size of the product you eventually want to create, and the knowledge of materials you can put to use.
Clothes and Accessory Designing
When you talk about dimensions, the affinity among children and the youth is all about 3D objects – be it 3D clothes, accessories, jewels, let alone the wearable tech products. If you are good with the research work and know how to fuse the consumer products with 3D designs, you are valuable for the creative, artistic professions that are directly linked to retailing of consumer goods. Fashion designing and Jewellery designing are two fields that are making extensive use of 3D printing systems and 3D visualization technologies. If you can design fashion and jewellery accessories using 3D designs and make way for less material usage but developing a quality product, companies are sure to employ you as you can boost the developmental cycles with cost-cutting yet quality enhancing methods.
Engineering the Sciences and Biological Modeling – Experiments in the Healthcare Industry
3D printing can save lives too! Human tissue replacement, prosthetics, medically advanced machines and technologies- all are possible with the usage of 3D printing. If you are a biomedical or science product, you can be in high demand if you have the ability to create innovative and useful 3D-printed products and can yield high-end technologies.
Not only the medical, but also the military and aerospace industries need engineers and scientists who can play around with 3D graphics to create something of their own that can benefit the society and nation.
3D architecture or construction modelling
3d printing architectural models not only save time in their design phase but offer architects a more effective understanding of how the building would look in the physical space through both having the precise computer visualization of models and simulating the same model in wood or foam board. You need to be well aware of the scale, form, proportion and structure of the architectural design to prepare the true-to-life models that represent exact structures in their look and construction. 3D printing enables you to design mock construction sites and maybe even eliminate any requirement of blueprints on papers and construction documents, thus streamlining the working process for the entire construction industry.
Apart from these, if you plan to teach about the technicalities of 3D printing and how it can take over the 2D CAD modelling industry and be successful for businesses, you can become an educator with knowledge of the current trends in 3D design processes so that you can provide for specialized lessons. In times ahead, we may view 3D educational programmes and laboratories made in three dimensions.
With the increase in 3D modelled designs, we may see the world copying each other’s designs and putting up cases against infringement of intellectual property (IP). If you have knowledge of the 3D printing technologies, and have studied law, you can solve the legal issues based on copying or producing similar parts of business models. Businesses and entrepreneurship ventures can thrive well too with new designs and technical advancements coming up and 3D printers being available anywhere between 2000 to 4000 dollars.
On-site 3D creations, website services or marketing and selling 3D designs through e-commerce websites will become commonplace gradually. You can also use 3D printing services in helping local customers by providing personalized options to them through service franchises.
3D printing industry is estimated to become a 5.2 billion dollar industry by 2020, according to MyCorporation and as US President Barack Obama once claimed, 3D printing service has the “potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.”
