Whether you have been making signs for five years or 50 years, you must have noticed how quickly things change in our industry. There are new fonts, materials and design trends to keep up with, and it seems like a new technology arises every few years that revolutionizes the sign making world. The advent of vinyl plotters 30-odd years ago wasn’t the first such ground-shaking event, and it won’t be the last. At that time, I witnessed the decline of many a talented sign painter who refused to embrace the vinyl age.
无论你在标识行业从事了五年还是五十年，你都会注意到，行业的更新换代的速度惊人。随着新的技术、新的材料和新的设计不断涌现，每一次的突破，都为标识行业迎来了一个全新的变化。就像30年前出现的乙烯基绘图仪一样，虽然新技术的出现不再让人感到非常惊讶，但是在标识设计方面，有天赋的设计师却在逐年减少。
More recently, LED lighting has largely displaced neon and fluorescent tubes, and dynamic digital is becoming more affordable and accessible, proving its place as an alternative to static backlit displays indoors and out. Once a new technology reaches an acceptable level of affordability, accessibility, and durability, it is almost guaranteed to be adopted by forward-thinking sign makers looking for new ways to save time and money while offering their clients the latest in advertising options.
现在，LED照明应用已经在很大程度上取代了霓虹灯和荧光灯，这使得动态数字化变得越来贴近生活，经济实用，同时也证明了它是室内室外照明应用的完美角色。只有这种新技术达到人们可接受的消费水平，加上它具有强大的实用性和耐久性，标识制造商就可以最大化节省时间和金钱，为客户提供最佳的解决方案。
I have noticed frequent references to 3D printing in the media lately, with stories of average people accessing online resources for designing and printing 3D objects in an amazing array of materials. I began to wonder if this might be the tip of a new technology about to explode and rock the sign making world once again. So I started investigating, and this is what I discovered.
近来，有关3D打印的信息量非常大，普通用户通过访问在线资源，就能使用一些新的材料来设计和打印3D物体，这也许是一个新技术的萌芽阶段，并将再次对标识行业产生重大影响。
Lots of Options
多样化的选择
There are quite a few manufacturers of 3D printers vying for market share, including Stratasys, MakerBot, Rep Rap, Ultimaker, 3D Systems, ExOne, Arcam, voxeljet, Printrbot and MarkForged. They offer models ranging in price from $350 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in size from desktop models to a small building capable of printing objects like furniture and auto parts.
不少制造商都在利用3D打印机争夺市场份额，包括Stratasys、MakerBot、Rep Rap、Ultimaker、3D Systems、ExOne、Arcam、voxeljet、Printrbot和MarkForged。设备的价格从350美元到数十万美元不等，从台式机到能够打印家具或汽车零件等物体的小型尺寸的型号。
There are four basic methods of printing:
以下是几种最为基本的打印方法：
Stereolithography, or SLA, starts with a pool of liquid photosensitive resin that is cured with a UV laser. The platform lowers micron by micron into the liquid, forming the shape in layers. Down-facing surfaces must have supports printed, or the layers will peel off. The liquid is drained to be used again. It can only print materials that are designed to be instantaneously hardened with UV exposure.
首先是立体光固化型。这种方法首先使用了紫外激光对液体感光进行固化处理，让平台一点点地降到液体中，形成层状。材料面朝下的表面需要能够支持打印，否则墨水就会脱离，液体被排出后才能再次使用。
Selective Laser Sintering, or SLS, spreads thin layers of powder that is melted with a laser, building the shape with the hardened material as it cools. The un-melted powder is reclaimed to be used again. Almost any material that can be powdered and melted can be formed with this method, and the model is supported by the un-sintered powder.
第二种打印方法是选择性激光烧结。这种方法是将被激光熔化的粉末铺平进行冷却，冷却的同时辅以硬化，将材料制成某种形状，再将未熔化的粉末进行使用。几乎任何材料都可以使用这种方法制图，但要注意的是，成型的模型是由未烧结的粉末制成的。
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) applies thin layers of melted material through a nozzle, similar to a tiny glue gun. A wide range of materials can be used, including plastics, metals, edible, organic and biological media. Hollow shapes must be supported while cooling, but this method also allows for multiple colors and even multiple materials to be printed simultaneously, depending on the number of nozzles employed.
第三种打印方法是熔融沉积建模，是将通过喷头熔化的材料涂抹在薄膜上。能使用这种方法的材料有很多，比如塑料、金属、有机物等。此外，这种技术可以同时打印多种颜色的多种材料，当然，具体的数量还得取决于喷头的数量。
PolyJet Technology is similar to inkjet printing, but instead of jetting drops of ink onto paper, PolyJet 3D Printers jet layers of liquid photopolymer onto a build tray and instantly cures them with UV light. PolyJet 3D Printing technology offers astonishingly fine detail, smooth surfaces, multi-material and multi-color options.
3D标识打印技术与喷墨打印技术有不同之处，它不是将墨水直接滴到材料上，而是利用3D喷射打印机将可固化液体聚合到托盘上，并立即用紫外线进行固化处理。3D标识打印技术可以提供精致的细节表面，也可以提供多种材料、多种颜色的打印选项。
I was getting pretty excited at the prospect of printing complex shapes out of plastic, wood and metal, possibly even in multiple colors and combinations of materials, with a printer similar to the inkjet printers that have become such an indispensable part of our business.I thought that it would be particularly useful for printing tactile ADA signs, considering how time-consuming it is to make even the smallest Braille sign.
对塑料、木材或金属等材料进行打印，对多种颜料和材料组合进行打印，都需要这种3D打印技术才能实现，此外，这种技术还可以打印出ADA标识，即使是最小的盲文符号也能精确地处理。
Too few colors, too much time
颜色单一，耗时较长
Many of the printers are only capable of printing one color of plastic material, which has not been tested outdoors. Stratasys released the Objet500 Connex3, which can incorporate up to 46 colors and multiple materials in one print, allowing you to combine rigid, rubber-like and clear parts in one model, with colors ranging from translucent to opaque.
近来，Stratasys公司推出了一款Objet500 Connex3系列打印机，这款设备可以在打印过程中，同时加入46种以上的颜料和材料进行打印，轻松组合一个兼有材料部分、橡胶材料部分和透明材料部分的模型，还能实现颜色从半透明到不透明的渐变效果。
The online “Batch Control” service by Sculpteo promises on-demand 3D printing of individual products as well as short-run manufacturing. They will analyze and repair your print file, produce it using more than 45 materials, colors and finishes with a fast turnaround and worldwide delivery. I can’t wait to try a test print of a Braille sign with that!
另一家Sculpteo公司的在线“批量控制”服务可以根据客户的需求，提供单个产品的3D打印服务和短期打印服务，他们能分析和修复你的打印文件，不仅周转速度快，还能全球交付。
Some of the more expensive printers are capable of high resolution, but most print rounded surfaces with “stepping” significant enough to be detectible in a Braille dot, so sanding and painting would be required to make it ADA compliant. However, the National Federation of the Blind uses the MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D printers very successfully for Braille and other applications for the visually impaired.
一些价值更高的打印机还能在打印的同时提供高分辨率的图像，国家盲人联合会使用了这款MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D打印机，为视力障碍者制作出了触摸标识，产生了极好的效果。
The most significant drawback to 3D printing, however, is the time required to complete a successful print. Some of these printers are likely to clog or delaminate, so even if you clean it religiously, there is no guarantee that it will make it all the way through the print. Especially when you consider that printing a single 12”x12”x 1/4” one-color Braille sign will take about six hours.
但是，3D打印有着明显的缺点——耗时长。由于打印机会出现堵塞或脱层的情况，即使你仔细地清理过你的打印机，也不能保证能顺利地打印出来。例如，打印单个12x12x1/4英寸的单色盲文标识就需要花上6个小时。
It is possible to print several signs in one session by laying them out side by side or standing them on edge like slices of bread, but this doesn’t save much time overall. The laser or nozzle moves slowly as it builds up a few microns of material on each pass, so the more surface area it must cover, the longer it will take. Six signs would take as much as 35 hours to print, and if the print fails, you have to throw them away and start over. The best way to shorten print time would be to print a thin background layer with the raised letters and Braille, then glue that to a piece of 1/8” acrylic.
激光和喷嘴的移动速度是非常缓慢的，它们每一轮的操作只能简单精细地处理几微米的材料，处理的表面面积越多，所需的时间就越长。通常来讲，打印6个标识需要花上35个小时，假若出现中途打印失败的情况，你将必须重新打印。
Most sign makers are familiar with 2D design programs such as Adobe Illustrator, FlexiSign or CorelDraw, but when you move beyond the XY axis into the Z, you enter a whole new world. The latest version of Adobe PhotoShop offers 3D printing capabilities, and there are quite a few other programs available, such as Autodesk, SolidWorks, SketchUp, Inventor, 3Dtin, Blender, OpenSCAD, Tinkercad, Rhino, Maya, 3DCrafter, Anim8or, BRL-CAD, Creo Elements/Direct, DrawPlus, FreeCAD, GLC Player, LeoCAD, Netfabb Studio, K-3D, and Wings 3D. They range in price from free to thousands of dollars, and they each approach three dimensional design slightly differently. I downloaded a few of the free programs and attempted to build what I thought was a simple shape, without much success. Even with 20 plus years working with a variety of design software packages, it is clear to me that moving into the third dimension will require some training.
大多数标识制造商只熟悉2D设计程序，如Adobe Illustrator、FlexiSign或CorelDraw，但是，当在已有的XY轴上再增加一个Z轴，那最初的概念将完全不一样了。现在能提供3D打印功能的应用程序非常多，如Autodesk、SolidWorks、SketchUp、Inventor、3Dtin、Blender、OpenSCAD、Tinkercad、Rhino、Maya、3DCrafter、Anim8or、BRL-CAD 、Creo Elements / Direct、DrawPlus、FreeCAD、GLC Player、LeoCAD、Netfabb Studio、K-3D和Wings 3D。它们的价格不等，对三维的设计也有很大区别。
Making it real
让3D打印贴近现实
Fortunately, there is help out there for the dimensionally challenged. There are several service bureaus that offer printing of your customized design and help with turning your idea into a usable file. Anything from a photograph to a .pdf file to a sketch on a napkin can be converted into a solid object—for a price, of course. Most of these services will print prototypes or short runs of small objects like jewelry, toys or novelties, and the price would prohibit using them to produce a large quantity of signs. But if you want to compare the cost of having a few dimensional logos printed versus the labor of fabricating them in-house, send your file to one of these online print services and test the 3D waters.
在实际应用中，一些标识服务商可以将你的设计提供打印服务，变成现成可用的文件，例如，他们能将一张照片转换成pdf文件，再作成白纸上的草图，转换成成品，如珠宝、玩具或新奇的物品等，由于价格的限制，生产大件的产品往往是比较难的。但是，如果你想了解市场上不同尺寸的标识价格，你可以将文件发送到一个在线的标识服务机构进行3D色域的测试。
Service bureaus: Shapeways, RedEye on Demand, Sculpteo, A&J Product Solutions, 3D ProParts, MetalTec Innovations, getitmade, GXSC, Moddler, Offload Studios, PartSnap, PrintTo3D, Ponoko, Cubify, Thingiverse, Materialise NV, 3D Printing Marketplace.
我们帮你列举了一些服务机构的清单：Shapeways、RedEye On Demand、Sculpteo、A＆J产品解决方案、3D ProParts、MetalTec Innovations、getitmade、GXSC、Moddler、Offload Studios、PartSnap、PrintTo3D，Ponoko、Cubify、Thingiverse、Materialize NV、3D打印市场。
The Makers movement has also adopted 3D printing in a big way, and they make the equipment available to anyone who is willing to attend some classes and pay a membership fee. There are several Makers Workshops around the San Francisco Bay Area, hundreds throughout the US and Germany, with more popping up all over the world.
现在，标识制造商开始大规模地应用起3D打印技术，并为此还成立专门的研讨会和讲习班，教技术人员更好的使用工具和设备来完成项目。
For those sign makers who are willing to invest the time and money, with a little dedication and training, you can be 3D printing in no time. In-house production may not be extremely profitable initially, but being one of the few in the industry to own a 3D printer when the technology takes off could be a very good move. With so many innovative minds involved, it is sure to become more affordable, versatile and applicable to the sign industry, and I will continue to report on the advances as they arrive. Get ready to take your printing to the third dimension!
想要开展3D打印业务,标识制造商需要投入精力和资金，也许业务在起步时没有太大的成效和利润的回报，但是技术在不断的成熟，这种创新的技术会给标识行业带来更加经济、多样化发展。
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