The new technology that allows three-dimensional objects to be created from a desktop printer in minutes has arrived at DePaul. On May 13, the Driehaus College of Business’s “Center for Creativity and Innovation” acquired a Makerbot 2 Replicator, one of the first consumer model 3D printers to hit the market. The device is the first to be purchased by the college and was acquired as part of the center’s new innovation lab initiative.

The $1200 printer works with digital modeling software to create solid objects through a process known as additive manufacturing. Once a digital model is perfected, the software cuts it down into a series of 2D layers. The device then prints each of these layers slowly on top of one another until a solid threedimensional product is formed.

DePaul Center for Creativity and Innovation director Dr. Lisa Gundry believes the technology can serve as a teaching tool across a wide array of disciplines.

“It brings your imagination to life,” Gundry said. “Being able to show something physically is a very powerful way of communicating your idea.”

DePaul is one of many universities that has expressed interested in using the technology as a teaching tool. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign opened the nation’s first collegiate “MakerLab” in the spring of 2013. The lab features 12 MakerBot printers in addition to modeling software and 3D scanning devices, which turn physical objects into digital models for the printers to replicate. The school also offers a course titled “Making Things” in which groups of students use the printers to design, prototype and manufacture new products.

DePaul transfer student Emily Haas worked extensively with 3D printing while studying engineering at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

“I’ve seen people make entire chess sets and 3D puzzles, it’s insane,” Haas said. “It’s almost like when you build something with wood or clay, but this time you don’t even have to touch anything.”

An animation major at DePaul, Haas says that 3D printing is being used extensively for stop-motion films, including major Hollywood productions such as ParaNorman and Coraline. The devices allow filmmakers to create uniform designs for character’s heads and bodies rather than the crude clay models of the past.

3D Printing technology dates back to 1984 when inventor Chuck Hull created the first 3D printer while working for the South Carolina-based company 3D Systems. Nearly two decades later in 2009, MakerBot Industries was founded as one of the first 3D printer companies. The business sold starter kits that allowed knowledgeable users to solder together their own printers. In January of 2012, MakerBot introduced its first pre-assembled desktop 3D printer and continues to sell an entire line of the devices to this day.

DePaul entrepreneurship professor Dr. Javier Monllor is introducing a business class in 2015 that will utilize the MakerBot. Titled “Product Design for Business Students,” the course will function much like the one at the University of Illinois, where students are required to prototype a new product using the printer as their main tool.

“I think this 3D Printer will be a good test to see how students accept (the technology), how it gets used and how troublesome it will be,” Monllor said.

With thousands of free digital models available online, 3D printers are capable of printing just about anything. Earlier this year, doctors in the Netherlands successfully replaced the majority of a 22-year-old woman’s skull with one created by a printer. The operation is believed to have saved the patient’s life. Just months prior, the online organization “Defense Distributed” released all of the files necessary to create the first printable handgun. The State Department ordered the group to take the files down, but they are still freely available on popular peer-to-peer file-sharing sites.

The DePaul library has also indicated that is looking into 3D printers as part of the next phase of its renovation, but does not have any information or plans regarding how they will be implemented.

“I think it’s great for our students to get experience observing or using the printer, because we’re seeing more and more in the industry today,” Gundry said. “It’s simply another skill they can be adding to their repertoire.”