Forget everything you know about 3D printing – the ‘replicator’ is here

Researchers have unveiled a 3D printer that creates an entire object at once, rather than building it layer by layer as typical additive-manufacturing devices do — bringing science-fiction a step closer to reality. The team realized that the process could be reversed: given a computer model of a 3D object, the researchers calculated what it would look like from many different angles, and then fed the resulting 2D images into a ordinary slide projector. The process is more flexible than conventional 3D printing, Taylor says; for example, it can create objects that enclose existing ones.

Source: www.nature.com