14 DAY TRIAL // A stylus might be easy enough to envision in a device or software that relies on handwriting recognition, or electronic drawing for example. It's not the first thing that comes to mind when 3D printing comes up though.
Nevertheless, 3D Systems decided that customers should at least have some way to use a stylus in their virtual design activities, so it went ahead and created the Geomagic Sculpt 3D Modeling Software.
Accompanied by the Haptic 3D Stylus, the software allows you to create curvy, natural designs by using the stylus / arm peripheral to control the design process literally by hand, instead of just relying on the mouse and numerical values.
The stylus and associated stand simulate the force that would work against you if you were actually working on a sculpture. It's like a chisel but whose effects are on the virtual space. You'll literally feel like you're manipulating the “material.”
Perhaps it's not quite the same as wearing a pair of gloves that let you go “hands-on”, but you can be sure that 3D Systems will be all over that as soon as someone perfects wearable technology to the required extent. No clue on how long it will take for that to come about though.
