Today, Hewlett Packard changed everything. This is the end of hype in the 3D printing industry. 3D Printing Industry was invited to attend their event entitled, “Reimagine Possibilities” at 9am today in New York. HP delivered multiple technologies that are as transformative as any Apple technology of the last 10 years.
The presentation began with Dion Weisler, executive vice president, Printing & Personal Systems (PPS), talking about a new approach called “Blended Reality”. He talked about the familiar Jobs-ian paradigm of man as a tool builder, with computers being the ultimate tool.
According to Dion, “Our ability to deliver Blended Reality technologies will reduce the barriers between the digital and physical worlds, enabling us to express ourselves at the speed of thought – without filters, without limitations. This ecosystem opens up new market categories that can define the future, empowering people to create, interact and inspire like never before.”
Then he started talking about 3D printing.
The excitement in the room went sky high as he began to talk about how HP wants to solve the big three problems of current 3D printers: “speed, cost and reliability”.
Talking about HP’s dominance in 2D printing, he talked about a new technology called “Multi Jet Fusion” a tool to trigger the next industrial revolution. To introduce the printer, he introduced Steve Nigro, the Senior Vice President of the Inkjet and Graphics businesses within HP’s Printing and Personal Systems (PPS) group. He and his team provide the leading ink- based printing solutions on the market that connect to mobility, cloud, and social media trends.
Right after stepping onstage he addressed the rumors that have been going on for a while in the 3D printing universe about Hewlett Packard. “A new approach to 3D printing. I’m saying a breakthrough. How do we define a breakthrough? First. Speed. You can print 10x faster than any 3D printing. We are going to show you how we have broken through the limitation of speed, quality and cost. Finally it was time. They unveiled the machine.
And it’s a game changer! Here are the incredible details and specs of the new Hewlett Packard Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer:
It’s built with HP Thermal Inkjet technology, and features a unique synchronous architecture that significantly improves the commercial viability of 3D printing and has the potential to change the way we think about manufacturing.
· 10-Times Faster: Images entire surface areas versus one point at a time to achieve break-through functional build speeds that are at least 10 times faster than the fastest technology in the market today
· New Levels of Quality, Strength and Durability: Proprietary multi-agent printing process utilizing HP Thermal Inkjet arrays that simultaneously apply multiple liquid agents to produce best-in-class quality that combines greater accuracy, resiliency and uniform part strength in all three axis directions.
· Accuracy and Detail: Capable of delivering fully functional parts with more accuracy, finer details and smooth surfaces, and able to manipulate part and material properties, including form, texture, friction, strength, elasticity, electrical, thermal properties and more – beyond other 3D print processes.
· Achieves Break-through Economics: Unifies and integrates various steps of the 3D print process to reduce running time, cost, energy consumption and waste to significantly improve 3D printing economics.
HP is set to bring its 3D printing platform to commercial reality in 2016 (which could be in 14 months time, or 26 months time …)
When I saw the prints up close, the detail was more precise than laser sintering prints, and I found out from Ramon Pastor, the Vice
President & General manager of Large Format and 3D Printing, that it uses less energy and it doesn’t cook the plastic like SLS, allowing for more recycling of unused material. Truly phenomenal.
Of course the Multi Jet Fusion had to print a part of itself first. Of course.
CEO of Shapeways Peter Weijmarshausen stopped by to endorse HP’s new 3D Ecosystem.
The next announcement (still on the 3D printer) was equally staggering:
“We are also going to be announcing an Open Platform Technology. This means that others can come to HP and work with us, if they have an idea about a new material for example.”
What this means: Through this program, HP will continue to extend the capabilities of the HP 3D print platform throughout development and will provide a certification process for partners to drive materials innovation.
By inviting open collaboration, HP and contributors will be able “to achieve greater
flexibility and versatility with 3D printing materials beyond the current use of thermoplastics, which will enable new solutions in segments such as additive manufacturing and will expand applications for engineering, architecture and consumer goods. HP will also bring its color science expertise and the full-color capabilities of traditional HP printing to the 3D world in future-generations of its 3D print systems.
Next up, was a video featuring a rousing endorsement for the new technology ecosystem from Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and Terry Wohlers. They talked about how Hewlett Packard’s new 3D printer will help actually usher in a new age of 3D printing manufacturing.
Blended reality and the multi-jet fusion technology isn’t all.
Sprout was next. Sprout is a new category of technology. It’s absolutely unbelievable. Except I saw it!
Introducing Sprout:
Ron Coughlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager Consumer Personal Systems, Printing and Personal Systems Group, was introduced next to do the unveiling.
First, he talked about how the genesis of Sprout began in R&D by some visionary engineers who wanted to create a system for people to create using their hands on a highly evolved technology. From the HP calculator, to a laptop to mobile, HP is a legendary innovator. The vision of Sprout is to “democratize creativity.”
To be more precise, sprout is “a first-of-its-kind Immersive Computing platform that redefines the user experience and creates a foundation for future immersive technologies.” The first product available in HP’s Blended Reality ecosystem, Sprout by HP combines the power of an advanced desktop computer with an immersive, natural user interface to create a new computing experience. Combining a scanner, depth sensor, hi-resolution camera and projector into a single device, Sprout by HP allows users to take physical items and seamlessly merge them into a digital workspace. The system also delivers an unmatched collaboration platform, allowing users in multiple locations to collaborate on and manipulate a single piece of digital content in real-time.
“We are on the cusp of a transformative era in computing and printing,” said Dion Weisler, executive vice president, Printing & Personal Systems (PPS), HP. Then he made a remarkable statement: “Our ability to deliver Blended Reality technologies will reduce the barriers between the digital and physical worlds, enabling us to express ourselves at the speed of thought – without filters, without limitations. This ecosystem opens up new market categories that can define the future, empowering people to create, interact and inspire like never before.”
This of course immediately reminded me of the Autodesk term “Reality Computing” which I’ve been writing about for the last few months. It’s basically a way to describe a new ecosystem where physical and digital reality are altered, designed and played with in an entirely new way.
Sprout is incredible. You can capture 3D objects with the state of the art camera system. You then use your fingers or a stylus to create, and manipulate these objects on a 23” touch HD screen (vertical), and a touch screen projector (horizontal).
A brand new innovation is real-time collaboration, where they can manipulate the same object in real time. It’s powered by an Intel core processor. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! I have to say, this was quite a stunning series of announcements. Oh, Sprout is also a full powered PC as well, with windows 8 (oh well).
So can you have and make apps for Sprout? Yes! They have first party apps, where you can edit vertically and horizontally. First up? A Martha Stewart Design App, which she endorsed by video at the event.
Here are all the specs in one place:
Dual-screen Experience: A workspace designed for creative expression and human interaction with an integrated vertical HD touch screen coupled with a 20 point capacitive touch mat.
· The Sprout Illuminator: A projection system that scans and captures real-world objects in 3D, allowing the user to immediately interact and create.
· HP Workspace: A software platform built expressly for Sprout to take full advantage of the dual-screen experience to make working and creating seamless, intuitive and engaging.
· True Remote Collaboration: The way collaboration should be. An interface that advances how users work, collaborate and share, with simultaneous visual and workspace connectivity, allowing concurrent creativity and content manipulation.
· Advanced Platform: A next-generation computing platform featuring a powerful 4th generation Intel i7 Processor, 1TB of storage in an easy-to-use dual-screen interface, and a Windows 8.1 multi-touch experience.
The potential of Sprout by HP’s unique configuration is fully realized through the Sprout Marketplace, an application marketplace that contains a growing suite of applications that are optimized to take advantage of the Immersive Computing platform to enhance how users work, play and engage with entertainment.
The Sprout Marketplace currently contains a suite of Windows-based applications
designed uniquely for the dual-screen environment including the Martha Stewart
CraftStudio, DreamWorks Animation Story Producer, Crayola’s Draw & Sing, GestureWorks age 4 of 5 Gameplay and first party experiences from HP including Create, Collaborate and Capture, enabling users to easily capture physical objects, manipulate them in a digital environment, and collaborate and share their creations in new ways.
Another great announcement: today the HP Software Development Kit (SDK) is released. Sprout has 71 patents. Remotel collaboration, flow between 2 screens. New applications, including a range of creative applications for professionals, families, gamers and beyond, will continue to be added to the marketplace regularly. Sprout by HP is available for pre-order at hp.com today and will be available for purchase from November 9th. It’ll be in stores for Christmas. Oringinally available at Best Buy in an “amazing curated experienced” and Microsoft Stores on November 9th and then extended to SMB, Commercial and Education.
Giving Sprout to Creatives:
Next up, was artist Joshua Davis, who works with technology to make art. Focusing on the convergence of design and technology, a video showed him using the projector/scanner to create art that is both digital and physical.
Todd Selby, another artist, talked about a “knockout function” where you can take a picture and “knock out” a shape to play with.
This was hands down the most exciting press conference I’ve ever been to. There were so many gracious and hyper-informed HP staff on hand, and everyone had something amazing to contribute.
I was really struck by the great presentation, the great products and the restoration of innovation at one of America’s greatest companies of the 20th and now, 21st century.
The amazing new 3D ecosystem is a phenomenal addition to Hewlett Packard, and will change our industry forever.
And, like HP itself:
“It started with a vision of a few engineers.”
Now to get it to the people and not industry.
Nothing stopping a group of people putting their money together and getting a printer that they themselves couldn’t afford alone.
Hmm. Is this not high speed sintering developed and patented by Loughborough university in 2008. Looks very similar to the Factum technology now being developed as part of a UK government funded program. You guys covered it earlier in the year
http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/03/28/additive-manufacturing-hss-replace-injection-moulding-thats-factum/
They wouldn’t tell me or let me look inside the machine, believe me, I tried. So at this point, yes, it’s possible it’s a variation on HSS technology. They did mention R&D began about 5 years ago, but they didn’t say HSS for sure.
Official HP Quote: “Regarding your question, there are many 3D printing technologies that use inkjet to print onto build material, dating back more than 20 years, to some of the original technologies researched at leading American universities. HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology is very unique, with the use of a multi-agent system and synchronous architecture.”
I asked them specifically if it was HSS technology.
Wow, talk about marketing double-speak. I don’t see anything that makes this new printer worth that level of hyperbole. It looks like yet another commercial refrigerator sized monstrosity which will probably be priced at $50,000+. I’m sorry to disagree, but the “actual” 3D printing revolution started when the average person could buy one for under $1,000. Selling high end printers to high end clients with deep pockets has been done for 30 years without ever triggering a revolution in our daily life. I had hoped for more from HP, since they’re the biggest makers of inexpensive printers for ordinary people.
I’m not marketing or paid by HP BillD. I’m genuinely excited about what I saw, and the fact that they’ve advanced past SLS, which I saw with my own eyes is exciting. We don’t know the price yet, but like I said, a whole new way to print is revolutionary at this point vs the same machines and technology in the witness protection program that have the same limitations of speed, price and quality that have been surpassed here. Why segment a revolution? They are all connected. Also, they announced no price.
I guess I wasn’t clear. I was speaking specifically about HP’s printer announcement, not your coverage of the announcement. The quotes from Dion Weisler were full of invented terminology and nebulous claims. Nothing says “marketing was here” like a quote filled to the brim with nebulous rhetoric and absent of any real specifications. If I had a dollar for every product announcement I’ve seen which claimed their printer was 10 times faster than any other, I’d be very rich. Show me unbiased test data to support this claim, then I’ll buy into the rhetoric. As users, many of us have been burned by unsubstantiated marketing claims before and are therefore justifiably skeptical of these carefully crafted product announcements.
In all honestly, I really wanted to be excited about this printer announcement, but we didn’t get any real information to get excited about. What we got was a bullet point list of marketing claims with zero actual numbers to back them up. As a geek, I find the new technology interesting. As a 3D printer user, I care more about the costs, real world utility, and usable size.
I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned for more information 🙂
I’m an optimistic skeptic, Bill, and HP historically has a great track record as an innovative company, versus a lot of untested hype companies that definitely exist in the 3D printing industry today. Whether or not you trust the endorsements of 3D Systems, Stratasys, Terry Wohler’s and Peter Weijmarshausen of Shapeways is up to you. My point of view is that you don’t have to be pessimistic in order to be skeptical. You can allow yourself to enjoy the thrill of technology progressing, because it will. And it will alter what is valuable knowledge, which is an understandable concern to those who’ve spent a significant investment in developing a high skill level in technologies which could all of the sudden be rendered obsolete.
Ok Andrew ok.
In the words of Michael Winner “Calm down dear. it’s just a commericial”.
It does look different to HSS in the sence of multimaterials and multicolour but as with all such things I will believe it when I see it.
We need to remember that there is a huge difference between a press conference and a working tried and tested product. Having said that if hp deliver what they have promised here then I want one of everrything please.
I’ve seen it. I believe it. The cognitive dissonance is something I can’t relate to. HP is definitely going to deliver, I’m sure of it. Sorry industry, change is on the way.
It looks absolutely awesome and hp have clearly done a fantastic job. it’s great to see a slightly new approach rather than a direct rehashing of existing technology. My reservation is that as a product it is still on the product development lifecycle path so no you haven’t seen it Andrew because it doesn’t exist yet. What you have seen is a technology demonstrator. The good folks at hp still have a lot of work to do on this.
I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the parts. I spoke to the engineers. It exists and it needs work. It was a technology demonstration of existing technology that will get better.
Ok Andrew you obviously don’t understand new product development at all so fine.
It’ll be great and change the world and be just like star trek and we’ll all make whatever we want at home so won’t need money and world hunger will be ended because we’ll be 3d printing our our food and it doesn’t matter if the the food is unhealthy because we’ll be printing our own replacement body parts and we’ll 3D print world peace.
Now that I have told you all of the things above you can compile it all in an article and say that it’s true because somebody said so and you’ll look awesome.
Wow, Jeremy, I should have sent you my extra ticket to the launch 🙂 Now, I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
Looking forward to it. By the way I do like it when a writer puts something of their personality into their writing so well done for that.
It was a very slick press conference and it pressed all the right buttons on the excitement front. As ever I got over-excited by it all, and I was only watching the live stream. Managed to dial it back a bit over night! Andrew was actually there and he was buzzing — nothing wrong with that. Lots of hyperbole from the Autodesk peeps, that often strayed into cliche, but if they scale this up AND it does everything it says on the tin, (faster, better, cheaper) with strong parts and multi-materials — then you are talking about a process that will compete with existing prototyping and production tech. It’s a huge leap forward for inkjet tech in the 3rd dimension. It won’t have much impact on the desktop 3D printers IMHO, but it will almost certainly make 3D printing for the consumer, via 3rd party services, much more exciting. Looks as though Shapeways is buying in to it at least.
Also – while the 3D printer is very impressive, in terms of driving the ‘ecosystem’ everyone is banging on about these days, Sprout is a really interesting proposition. This will have an impact on the desktop 3D printers, in that it will likely make them more accessible to more people via a very nice, intuitive interface. And with Autodesk involved, it’s only going to grow.
Thank you for injecting the voice of reason into this overly giddy celebration of HP marketing prowess. Like you, I don’t see this printer impacting the fast-growing desktop 3D printing market for years to come.
The printer will cost only $500, but the proprietary cartridges will be $1000 per ounce…and it will go through an endless start-up routine… and… OK you get the point.
Yeah, there’s no way HP could make an affordable printer that everyone ends up using all the time for years and years.
It would be nice if new 3D printing tech involved material that’s not so self-contained or prepackaged. When a shop buys a new CNC lathe, they’re not forced to buy their materials from the lathe manufacturer in tiny packages. It seems to me these companies don’t really have a manufacturing perspective. I understand the whole consumables, residual income thing; it’s just a drag that’s all.
A CNC lathe is a very different machine. And where does it say you will be forced to buy materials? In fact, the open platform mentioned in the article is an invitation to collaborate on materials innovation. And HP doesn’t have a manufacturing perspective? HP invented it’s first resistance capacitance oscillator in 1938! They are one of the classic “started in a garage” manufacturer stories. I understand being suspicious of big companies with a lot of capital, I really do, but there’s nothing they can do to stop someone from using a CNC lathe or any printer you want to make at home.
I would hope that others can compete to supply material for these machines. I was talking about machines for manufacturing not their inability to manufacture machines (Of course they can manufacture machines themselves as they’ve proven).
Ah ok. I agree, I hope they don’t make that an impossibility regarding materials. We’ll have more details about the technology in the coming months.
Btw, people are pretty happy with their vinyl cutters, which is a machine that manufactures. It is a staple of many digital fabrication labs around the world.
Oh come on, when was the last time you purchased 3rd party ink for your HP Plotter or Printer with an HP endorsement? That’s what I thought. It will be a closed box.
Open materials collaboration! It’s not hard to understand. HP is openly collaborating with Autodesk. Maybe it will be, but nobody knows for sure.
Sorry to spoil the party.. The HP, Autodesk Video showing Mr Terry Wholers holding my design – Voronoi Sea Stars Lampshade – without permission nor attribution to designer!
as per Creative Commons – non commercial – Attribution – license !
We took it down. Let us know what happens 😉
HP/Autodesk have edited out the parts in the video where Mr Terry Wohlers holds my design in his hand.
Was it so hard to add a credit to designer than to cut all scenes of his grin face holding my design in his hands?..
Shame.
Asher, maybe you should have specifically said that they can keep your design in the film if they just give credit. I agree that would have been a much nicer solution for everyone, but your original post made it seem like you preferred to have it removed completely. Your work is the best, I want to see it out there with proper credit!
I agree it would have been good to keep it in with the proper credit. It looks great.
Always good to see the bar raised and I expect we will see this happen regularly. I’d like to see an independent review from actual users of existing technology both for printing finished designs to developing new designs.
They wouldn’t let us use or see inside the machine. I really want to see if I can get them to let me use it and write about it.
In order to really believe the hype, these systems need to be independently tested and evaluated. Easier said than done! In the meantime, they are all pretty cool 🙂
What a great article!
Thanks!
Ha!
Jez, as always sensible to the last.
I agree, it is a commercial and people (especially the media) should calm down. In reality it is just another process to add to the arsenal of existing processes. are the parts transparent (No), translucent (No), bioresorbably (no), conductive (No), resistant to oils, acids, alkaline s (?), can they be used as patterns for casting (?), can the process be used to make large flat surfaced objects (?), can the process build multilateral functionality (?), is the material flight certified with zero flame and smoke emission (?)
So in short – the King is dead – long live the king………
There is of course the issue of part / process validation. It is hard enough to get a laser sintered nylon into a supply chain. Now imaging a propitiatory polymer power that has been infiltrated with ‘multi-agent’ additives using synchronous architecture. I am happy that the developer of the process in the promo video hung his car from a chain link made using the process but my land-yacht is staying at sea level.
PS – I did see some parts earlier in the year (Hush….) and they do make SLS look like the poor orphan relative. But as you say – lets wait until the machines are out in the open and the users can decide on how good they really are.
You may be totally bonkers when you present on stage my friend, but you are honest to the last about technology capabilities. I cant wait to heat the Pullin review in a year or two’s time.
It’s ok to get excited, everyone. I’m against hype, which is why I was so excited. And you can tell a lot by the parts of a 3D printing machine, no? The actual product that the machine produces? They added a different category of technology that outdoes SLS and invited people to collaborate on translucent (yes) bioreabsorbable (yes) conductive (yes) and other materials in their Open Platform, an invitation to everyone. I respect Jeremy’s opinion as much as anyone, and I agree with his position on hype, and worries about the industry. But this whole ecosystem, sprout, open platform and multijet is a big deal for the industry. It’s worth being excited about. That’s my opinion, I’m excited for it, and I encourage others to enjoy the announcement. Also, I’d rather hang my car with HP multi jet fusion print than an SLS print, because the cross-section of layers that absorb the torque of twisting force would snap the SLS link, bringing the car crashing to the ground.
Roll on 2016, by which time we will no more…..