14 DAY TRIAL // We've been reporting on the steady introduction of 3D printing technology and lessons based on it in normal schooling, but the process is slow at best, which means that folks from around the world need some other way to learn all about it.
Trial and error is one way to go about it, but that's a long and involved process, not to mention expensive depending on how much filament you waste on failed attempts. Especially given the maintenance that some 3D printers need.
Signing up for college-level degrees might work, but only a couple universities offer it, and it's not something that will fit with a day job.
That leaves tutorials, and we dare say that one of, if not the most comprehensive one has come out on video. A series of five videos to be exact.
The 3Ducation video series
3D Printing for Everyone, or 3DP4E for short, is a company that produces educational materials aimed at anyone not familiar with 3D printing technology.
At the behest of 3DP4E founder Ron Rose, media studies graduate Noah Waldman produced a four-minute video which explains 3D printing technology and processes - 3Ducation 101: What is 3D Printing.
Waldman was then asked by the very impressed founder to create a whole series of videos for the classroom, and some just for people who want to learn in their own time.
Currently, there are five videos in the series, each delving into a different topic: the history of 3D printing, what it is used for, how digital manufacturing works and what materials can be utilized in the process.
The method, chalkboard animation, has proven quite popular and straightforward in the past, and it is proving quite useful here as well. Easy to follow too.
No more technobabble
The new videos are useful even to those well versed in 3D printing technology because they provide them with a way to concisely and intelligibly explain it to other people, like the folks at home. Below you will find the first video in the 3Ducation series.