I remember when Radio Shack started selling hobbiests something called a micro
computer.
It couldnt do much except play a game or 2 and allow for some programming and
everyone thought it just a rather expensive toy.
Then came Apple and IBM and Microsoft and today the world depends on that toy.
With blueprints you can create just about anything if you had an advanced 3d
printer that could print using several diferent materials at the same time.
Want to send a Christmas present to your mephew in Tazmania?
Send the blueprint and his printer prints it out. Want a new set of pots and
pans for the kitchen or new silverware or plates and bowls, buy the templates
and print your own.
Also, for those who can see they can customize the designs to fit your
particular desires.
Need a new part for your car, boat or airplane, print one!
What about Coats, Shoes, slacks, Glasses and perhaps even food products some
day?
Buy the template or lease it and no more stores as we now know them.
Perhaps transmitting goods will become more a matter of transmitting patterns
and templates rather than shipping goods as we now do as well except for raw
materials for creating objects.
Take it to the next level where the scanners and printers use a single, or few,
raw materials to create many, many materials on the fly and how far is that
from StarTrek replicaters and that may not be many years off at the speed
technology develops when big money is involved.
Hopefully the blind organizations and screen reader companies will stay on top
of accessibility possibilities and not drop the ball while the rest of the
world moves on.
There will be new Microsoft(s) growing out of this technology unless I am very
much wrong about it's possibilities and I think I am right - looks very similar
to the beginnings of the micro computer technology in my early years.
Rick USA
----- Original Message -----
From: David
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Yeh, and I think the real benefit won't come, until they make available good
and reliable 3D scanners. Or, if they will make ready for download the
blueprints. Yet, maybe still a few years of dreaming. Some manufacturers may
simply prevent such blueprints from being too easily available.
Just for the fun of it, they did a program on the radio over here, a little
while back. The guy from the radio, wanted a new cover for his cellphone. First
he went to a company, who had specialized on the 3D printing. He had to pay a
fair amount, and came out with a cover that did not exactly look much nice, and
definitely did not fit.
Next, he decided to go to some hobby computer club, and have one of the
people there do the job. This time, he ended up only having to pay the material
- something like a couple of dollars - and walked home with a brand new cover,
that fit just fine.
And, this is where I think one of the biggest issues will be, for a
non-sighted user. Basically, if it was just to get hold of a blueprint, and
then send it to the 3D printer, well then it may be fully possible to work
something basic out for the screen reader. But from the program on the radio,
it seems as if you have to perform a good amount of modification on the screen,
before you can send it to the printer. I dare say, all of that is done
one-hundred percent graphically, and hence will likely never be possible with a
screen reader. So, unless you can get hold of perfectly exact blueprints, or
they would let you have access to a fully reliable 3D scanner, I'd say chances
for the low-vision user will be rather small. At least the way technology
stands for now. Yet, what did they say back in the 80s?
Many of the things we are using today, and even relying our very independency
on as disabled people, would be told to be silly dreams, only a few years ago.
20 years ago, noone would have thought that cellphones would ever be accessible
in full. When I started to operate a computer, things like OCR and scanners,
was something only the people in the labs had fancy ideas about. And, I still
do remember the day when the CD was introduced to the market. Even, a couple of
decades ago, I knew people that told Windows would simply never be accessible
for anyone who could not see the fancy graphics of the screen. So, who knows,
one day you and I will be printing all our 3D gadgets. Once the manufacturers
realize it is much cheaper to release a blueprint, and then let you do the
"production" - or, should I say printing - the market will see a boost. And,
likely it will be fully possible for us to send a blueprint to the printer,
just as well as you are able to send a downloaded document to your standard
printer today. In one way, both exciting and interesting thought. Yet, I don't
really know. Maybe starting to get a bit too old for all that fancy fun. Smile.
----- Original Message -----
From: RicksPlace
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Hi: Allot of the things rely on cad type software, likely not accessible.
Most of the cool stuff requires blueprints to make parts for things like
screws and other parts that require exact fitting based on the design.
Anyway, it may become a means of building things like replacement parts for
objects you have and dont want to lose and much more me thinks.
Rick USA
----- Original Message -----
From: David
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 8:48 AM
Subject: Re: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Don't think there will be much for 3D printing - at least not if you
don't happen to have a fair amount of sight left. I have never touched a 3D
printer, or any of its software. Yet, I do know, they are slowly coming down in
price, and also becoming available for the general user.
Yet, the whole nature of 3D, may not be much easy to produce in a way
that makes any sense to a person with little or no vision. Of course, you could
have the speech tell you a good amount of information, or the Braille display
throw a number of messages on your fingers, to let you know what you are about
to do - or even, what has already started to take place. :) Really, we are
already working with 2D. And see how much chatter the computer is throwing at
us already. Not sure, if I want to try imagine - based on a chattering
synthesizer - what my end product will look like. it is kind of hard enough
with the two dimentions, leave the third one alone. :)
OK, if you, or anyone else want to shoulder the task of making something
work for me, then I am quite interested in seeing your results. I just have my
doubts, if it will be much convenient to work with. Of course, one way to get
around it, would be to use certain sound effects along with the speech, to
illustrate the things taking place in the different dimentions. Just don't know
really... :)
----- Original Message -----
From: RicksPlace
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Thanks and Merry Christmas Bruce to you and your family big time!
Rick USA
----- Original Message -----
From: LB
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Hi Rick,
Yea, I was hungry and made a slice of pizza with it!
Just joking, got to leave, but want to wish you and everyone a
Merry Christmas.
Besides, I think our government spent millions using or trying to
use a 3D computer to make pizza for the astronauts, or Washington D.C. Astro
nuts!
Merry Christmas
Bruce
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 6:08 AM
Subject: Anyone working with 3D printing software Apps
Hi: 3D printing is nuts futurable and will, I think, get tied into
the internet for communications, transport, of items between home computers
some day (Can you say StarTrek?) if not today.
I started looking into 3d printing but it seems to use allot of cad
type software among other styles of designing objects along with scanning.
Has anyone started playing with a 3d printer / scanner and is there
any potential of using a DeskTop App or even mobile App with WindowEyes to have
accessibility to template design software?
Rick USA
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