Volumetric 3D Printing Creates Objects Faster Than Brewing Coffee
In this overview Action Lab explain how volumetric 3D printing is rewriting the rules of additive manufacturing. You'll discover the ingenious science behind this layer-free construction, the unique advantages it offers over conventional methods, and the challenges that still lie ahead. From its ability to create seamless, highly detailed objects to its potential for transforming industries like healthcare and aerospace, this technology is more than just fast—it's a glimpse into the future of production. As we unpack its possibilities and limitations, one question lingers: could this be the tipping point that redefines how we make and design everything? Volumetric 3D Printing Overview The Science Behind Volumetric 3D Printing
Volumetric 3D printing is powered by computed axial lithography, a process inspired by tomographic reconstruction, a technique widely used in medical imaging such as CT scans. This advanced method adapts the principles of imaging to manufacturing, allowing the creation of intricate 3D objects with remarkable speed and accuracy. Here's how it works: A projector emits carefully calibrated light patterns into a rotating vial filled with a specially formulated resin.
These light patterns intersect at precise points within the resin, causing it to solidify and form a 3D object in a single step.
The resin is engineered to harden only when exposed to a specific intensity of light, making sure that only the desired structure solidifies while the surrounding material remains unaffected.
This process eliminates the need for layering, a hallmark of traditional 3D printing, and instead creates objects as cohesive, unified structures. By using the principles of tomographic reconstruction, volumetric 3D printing achieves a level of speed and precision that sets it apart from conventional methods. Key Advantages of Volumetric 3D Printing
Volumetric 3D printing offers a range of benefits that make it a standout technology in the field of additive manufacturing. These advantages include: Layer-Free Construction: Traditional 3D printing relies on layering, which can result in visible striations and weaker structural integrity. Volumetric printing forms objects as a single, cohesive unit, producing smoother surfaces and stronger components.
Traditional 3D printing relies on layering, which can result in visible striations and weaker structural integrity. Volumetric printing forms objects as a single, cohesive unit, producing smoother surfaces and stronger components. Enhanced Customization: This technology allows for overprinting, allowing you to add features or repair existing objects without starting from scratch. For example, you can enhance a pre-printed part with additional details or fix damaged components, making it ideal for industries requiring iterative design or customization.
This technology allows for overprinting, allowing you to add features or repair existing objects without starting from scratch. For example, you can enhance a pre-printed part with additional details or fix damaged components, making it ideal for industries requiring iterative design or customization. Microscopic Detail: Volumetric printing excels at creating intricate, microscopic structures that are challenging to achieve with traditional methods. This capability opens up new possibilities for applications in fields such as healthcare, electronics, and advanced manufacturing.
Volumetric printing excels at creating intricate, microscopic structures that are challenging to achieve with traditional methods. This capability opens up new possibilities for applications in fields such as healthcare, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. Time Efficiency: By forming entire objects in seconds, volumetric 3D printing significantly reduces production times, making it a valuable tool for industries that demand rapid prototyping and high-speed manufacturing.
These advantages position volumetric 3D printing as a fantastic technology with the potential to redefine how objects are designed and produced. What Is Volumetric 3D Printing?
Watch this video on YouTube.
Unlock more potential in 3D printing by reading previous articles we have written. The Role of Specialized Resin
The success of volumetric 3D printing is closely tied to the development of advanced resin materials. Unlike standard resins, which harden inconsistently and absorb light unevenly, the resin used in volumetric printing is specifically engineered to solidify only when exposed to a precise intensity of light. This ensures that the desired structure forms accurately while the surrounding material remains unaffected and reusable.
Standard resins are unsuitable for this process due to their inability to meet the stringent reactivity thresholds required for volumetric printing. The specialized resin overcomes these limitations, allowing the creation of complex, high-fidelity structures that were previously unattainable. This advancement in resin technology is a critical factor in the success and future potential of volumetric 3D printing. Challenges and Future Prospects
Despite its numerous advantages, volumetric 3D printing faces several challenges that must be addressed to achieve widespread adoption. These include: High Material Costs: The development and production of specialized resin materials remain expensive, posing a barrier to broader use.
The development and production of specialized resin materials remain expensive, posing a barrier to broader use. Complex Equipment: The machinery required for precise light projection and resin rotation is intricate and costly, adding to the overall complexity of the technology.
The machinery required for precise light projection and resin rotation is intricate and costly, adding to the overall complexity of the technology. Limited Accessibility: The current reliance on proprietary systems and materials restricts the availability of volumetric 3D printing to a select group of users.
Researchers and industry leaders are actively working to overcome these obstacles. Efforts include developing cost-effective resin formulations, simplifying equipment design, and exploring open source solutions to provide widespread access to access to the technology. As these advancements progress, volumetric 3D printing is poised to play a fantastic role in industries such as aerospace, healthcare, and manufacturing.
By addressing these challenges, volumetric 3D printing has the potential to unlock new possibilities for innovation and efficiency across a wide range of applications. Its ability to produce highly detailed, customized objects at unprecedented speeds makes it a promising solution for the demands of modern manufacturing.
Media Credit: The Action Lab Filed Under: Technology News, Top News
Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals
Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Musk says xAI to take legal action against Apple over App Store rankings
Aug 11 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday his artificial intelligence startup xAI would take legal action against Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, accusing the iPhone maker of breaching antitrust regulations in managing the App Store rankings. "Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action," Musk said in a post on his social media platform X. Musk did not provide evidence to support his claim. Apple, OpenAI, and xAI did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. ChatGPT currently holds the top spot in the App Store's "Top Free Apps" section for iPhones in the U.S., while xAI's Grok ranks fifth and Google's Gemini chatbot sits at 57th. ChatGPT also leads the rankings on the Google Play Store, according to Sensor Tower data. Apple has a partnership with OpenAI that integrates ChatGPT into iPhones, iPads and Macs. "Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your 'Must Have' section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps? Are you playing politics?," Musk said in an earlier post Monday. Musk's comments come as regulators and rivals intensify scrutiny of Apple's control over its App Store. In April, a U.S. judge ruled that Apple violated a court order requiring it to allow greater competition in its App Store and referred the company to federal prosecutors for a criminal contempt investigation, in a case brought by 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games. Apple was handed a 500 million euro ($587 million) fine by the EU antitrust enforcer in April, saying its technical and commercial restrictions prevented app developers from steering users to cheaper deals outside the App Store in breach of the Digital Markets Act.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Meet the British teenager who's taking on the porn industry
When porn is an industry worth tens of billions of dollars, the anti-porn business can also be pretty lucrative. That becomes clear when Alex Slater turns his camera around to show me where he is living. The 19-year-old from southwest London is the co-founder of an app designed to help young men wean themselves off their porn-watching habit. The app has quickly become popular enough that he and his team have moved into a rented home in south Miami. During our video call, a quick scan with the camera from the terrace where he is sitting with Connor McLaren, his American business partner, reveals a pool, lush lawn and a substantial, gleaming white mansion. 'It's a $10 million house,' says Slater, an astonishingly self-possessed teenager who is confident that he will become a billionaire and describes himself as 'Future Prime Minister' on Twitter and LinkedIn. His inventiveness, he suggests, derives from his mother, an artist, and his father, a DJ, producer and musician who had a hit in the 1990s with a track entitled Passion. 'I used all of that creativity from both sides of my family to design and build apps. I always had a lot of drive because I notice many things about society and the world that I want to improve upon and don't want to sit around waiting for other people to solve it for me.' He went to a state school in Epsom before college and has a younger brother and sister. Slater designed the app, Quittr, which promises to help Gen Z men 'regain control' and stop watching porn. He claims the app, which costs £44.99 a year, has been so successful that they have had a million downloads and are making $500,000 a month. Slater grew up in Worcester Park, near Wimbledon, but felt 'very confined in classrooms'. He dropped out of Kingston College, a sixth-form college where he was studying business, to start building apps after having taught himself to code. 'British culture is very closed-minded. I took a visit to the States when I was 17 on my own and my mind got opened so much, I was like, OK, I'm dropping out of school, I'm going to do this full time.' • The startling truth about Spotify — it's got a porn problem He fell down the 'rabbit hole called self-improvement'. Here he listened to messages that have convinced many young men to hit the gym, go on diets and engage in abstinence of different kinds. 'Things that are so normalised are actually really, really bad for us. Like overconsumption of social media, sugar, food, porn. What I found in my journey in self-improvement is porn is the hardest to fight because it's so accessible. It's free, everyone has a phone. Instinctively we want to go out there and find a girlfriend because that's what humans are built to do but, because we have phones in our hands, we just access porn instead because it's easier.' Did he have a problem with porn? 'I definitely did use it. Just like everyone else did. People use porn to fill a void in their life, but actually it's porn that creates the void.' Our media and social media have become 'oversexualised', he says. 'That's what gets the clicks, that's what gets the likes, and that's what feeds the algorithm. That's why Bonnie Blue is so successful.' Ah yes, Tia Billinger, aka Bonnie Blue, the woman who arranged to be filmed having sex with, she claims, more than 1,000 men in 12 hours and was the subject of a controversial recent Channel 4 documentary. These two Gen Z men look distinctly unimpressed. McLaren is disgusted by all those involved. 'It's sad, to be completely honest with you. It's sad the amount of men that lined up and it's sad that she was willing to do that.' I report that Tia/Bonnie recently told Janice Turner in an interview in The Times: 'Each day I wake up so excited. I can't believe this is my life.' McLaren shakes his head emphatically: 'She has to be lying.' McLaren had the idea of helping men to stop using porn because his peers told him how they were feeling. 'We saw a shift with Gen Z expressing the fact that porn's bad, it's not good for you, you should quit watching porn. It wasn't really cool to watch porn any more, it was kind of just like: you're a loser if you watch porn,' he says. 'Once you put it into perspective, it's like, 'Really? That's disgusting!'' McLaren mentions some of the 'big guys' of the manosphere, including Jordan Peterson, the psychologist, Andrew Huberman, the neuroscientist and podcaster, and Joe Rogan, the king of the podcast bros. Slater says that while he was down his rabbit hole he watched some of Andrew Tate's videos. 'While I didn't agree with everything, some of his messaging around discipline, masculinity and quitting porn aligned with the changes I was trying to make in my own life. The stuff around women I don't stand behind.' Tate, a self-professed misogynist, is facing charges in the UK that include rape, which he denies. His message about porn is, to say the least, very confusing. He has called pornography 'a plague' but profited from a webcam sex business. 'Yes, it's extremely contradictory. That's why I try to separate the message from the messenger. The truth about porn being harmful stands, regardless of who says it,' Slater says. • After I lost my job, porn and gaming kept me sane Slater and McLaren had connected online when exploring another project and discovered they had both had the same idea for an app that would become Quittr. Similar apps were aimed at older men. 'There was a massive underserved community of young guys who were just struggling, had no one to talk to because it was embarrassing, and were fighting this on their own,' Slater says. Those planning to subscribe to the app are asked about how they consume pornography, and how often, as well as whether it has an impact on their mood, concentration and motivation. They are told porn is a drug and it reduces hunger for real relationships. Subscribers are asked to pledge not to watch porn again and recommit to this every day. They choose goals such as stronger relationships, more energy, improved self-control, focus, clarity and a better sex life. The app offers a 'panic button' that users press when they think they are about to relapse. Your phone will vibrate and the camera will come on so that you see yourself, as if to say, Slater explains: 'Look at you. Why are you doing this? You have goals you need to fight for. You have your family to feed. What is jerking off going to do for you? Nothing.' The app can also block access to porn sites. It offers an AI chatbot and exercises that claim to be able to rewire your brain and rebuild dopamine receptors. A forum enables discussion with other subscribers about a subject they may not have felt comfortable exploring in real life. 'It's very taboo. You don't want to speak about it with your friends. It's awkward. This is a community of people all struggling with the same thing because they never got to speak about it,' Slater says. The pair launched the app with $3,000 of McLaren's savings and made $30,000 in the first month. And now? 'Half a million dollars a month,' Slater says. They promote the app through influencers and social media, including a viral post claiming they planned to buy OnlyFans, the subscription site known for its adult content, and close it down. Perhaps because of where the duo are marketing themselves, very few subscribers are over 40. But, they say, 50 per cent of those downloading the app are under 18. 'You're still very fresh to the earth when you're under 18. So the fact it's already a problem in people's lives, to the point where they download a whole app for it and even pay for it — that's insane,' Slater says. Many people appear to be downloading VPNs (virtual private networks) to circumvent the new age verification requirements for accessing porn sites in the UK. Slater and McLaren (a grand old man of 23) plan to build more apps in the men's health sphere. A few months ago Slater said he envisaged selling Quittr for $50 million or more, but for now they are reinvesting most of their earnings in the business, while paying themselves enough to drive flash cars and rent their fancy pad. Even that, Slater insists, is part of selling their brand: 'The point is to get more views on YouTube. It feels great, because not only do we have a successful business, but we're also helping thousands and thousands of people.' There is no doubt Slater is very focused on making money. In one YouTube video he boasts that he will be a billionaire in ten years or so. 'I think it will come naturally as a result of everything I do,' he says matter-of-factly when I bring this up. He certainly has the supreme confidence of youth. On Twitter he has said: 'End goal is my last name being ubiquitous and associated with greatness.' And when he has that fame and fortune, the crusade against porn will just be part of a CV for a political career. 'New people bring fresh ideas and we need a lot of fresh ideas in the UK right now,' he says. 'I think my stint in the US and building businesses and building a social brand for myself will be great in politics and I can bring this energy back to the UK and transform it to its former glory.'
Finextra
2 hours ago
- Finextra
BBVA wins plaudits from OpenAI for ChatGPT5 tests
During the global launch of its new language model, OpenAI has identified BBVA as one of the first institutions to adopt the technology in the financial sector, cutting weeks off the time to conduct technical tasks. 0 The collaboration between BBVA and OpenAI began in May 2024, and since then, 11,000 licences have been deployed across the Spanish bank. Over 80% of users use the licenses daily and report saving nearly three hours per week on routine tasks. The latest iteration of ChatGPT represents improvements in accuracy, speed, reasoning, contextual understanding, structured thinking, and problem-solving. Speaking at the ChatGPT5 launch, Olivier Godement, global head of the platform at OpenAI, explained how the bank has been testing the functionalities of the new model, which has enabled it to complete highly strategic financial analysis tasks in just a few hours — tasks that typically require two to three weeks of work. Elena Alfaro, BBVA's global head of AI Adoption, comments: 'GPT-5 marks a significant leap forward for us at BBVA, not only in how our people interact with AI thanks to deeper responses that are more useful, but also in advancing our aspirations toward multi-step agent automation. 'The new model is demonstrating great potential, especially in writing code and handling technical tasks.' Alfaro also highlighted its ability to handle the Spanish language, which he describes as a major milestone in a context where language models are typically trained primarily in English.
