Three-dimensional printers tipped to become mainstream technology

Three-dimensional printers have been tipped to herald a new dawn for the print industry.

Following the introduction of some exciting new technology at New York's 'Inside 3D Printing' conference last week, many industry commentators have predicted that 3D printers will make their way into the mainstream sooner rather than later.

Although the technology has been available for some time, last week's conference debuted some truly impressive and affordable 3D printers.

Oliver Olmo, who is operations director of Switzerland's EPFL research institution, is one of many experts who was really excited with what he saw.

In an interview with arabnews.com, he said: "There are still limits imposed imposed by the technology available today - but I'm certain that within 10 or 20 years, we'll have a kind of revolution in terms of the technology being available to everyone."

This revolution should be able print companies to achieve everything they can with wide format printers plus a lot more. Businesses could certainly create some ground-breaking posters or banners using the technology debuted at the conference.

A report from yahoo.com has speculated on other uses for the technology, including the ability to print airplane engine mufflers, fabricated fuel tanks or artificial body parts.