14 DAY TRIAL // Full-color 3D printing may be a very rare and expensive thing, but multi-color printing technologies are a bit more accessible, if not necessarily common yet. A new material that allows for the latter has been unveiled by i.materialise.
The material is a type of sandstone that adds a thicker UV coating to the traditional matte finish sandstone, giving all prints made from it a bright, shiny finish which, nonetheless, doesn't prevent the objects from being captured well in photographs. The attached photos should be evidence enough to that effect, if nothing else.
According to the company, the gloss finish actually enhances the colors, particularly the dark hues, and even makes browns a bit more organic and “woodsy.” At least there won't be any reasons to crack “bring my brown pants” jokes.
The material also has the advantage of being odorless, as well as resistant to chipping. It also won't warp if you squeeze it tight, unlike plastic. There is one disadvantage though: the object may shatter if dropped, again unlike plastic.
Then again, it's not like kids are all that tall, and you're not expected to use the multi-color sandstone to make toys for them anyway. More like it's intended for decorative figurines and baubles.
Then again, the substance will help produce some really good-looking cartoon character models, as well as architectural ones.
The only thing i.materialise really advises against is using the multi-colored sandstone to make objects you expect to leave lying outside, or places with extreme humidity.
All in all, the multicolored sandstone should have a very productive life, since it doesn't have many contenders. Sure, Shapeways unveiled a multicolored plastic material back in August, and it has its own sandstone distribution channel, but only some pilot designers have been testing it, so the head start is negligible.
The i.materialise multicolor sandstone material costs €0.55 / $0.72 per square cm, and ordering one model costs €8 / $10.5. Sets of two models will get you a discount to €5 / $6.56, which means €10 / €13.13 in total. You should eventually have the option to order the material itself and 3D print your own stuff, although contacting the company directly may enable you to make an order already.
“Multicolor can be used for models with more than one color, which don’t need to be functional. The technique allows a lot of freedom in design. Typically, these are models you put on your desk or on a shelf such as architectural scale models, figures, and awards,” the company says on its website.
