3D printing continues to evolve, and as it does, sign makers are figuring out ways to incorporate the technology into their business. Although the technology is exciting, it’s not always the most practical for signage applications. However, because of the crossover for architectural production and the graphics industry, there are some unique ways 3D printers can be used to create memorable displays.

随着3D打印技术的不断发展，标识制作商也在想方设法将这项技术融入到他们的业务中。尽管这项技术令人兴奋，但它并不总是标识应用中最实用的。然而，由于建筑生产和图形行业的交叉，有一些独特的方法可以使用3D打印机创建令人惊喜的产品。

One manufacturer that is having an impact on the signage industry is Israel-based company Massivit Printing Technologies, which offers two of the largest 3D printers in the industry, the Massivit 1800 and the Massivit 1500.

一家对标识行业产生影响的制造商是以色列的Massivit Printing Technologies公司，该公司提供业界最大的两款3D打印机，Massivit 1800和Massivit 1500。 

The founder of Massivit 3D started out in wide-format printing and eventually was involved with a company that operated in the traditional 3D printing space. He wanted to marry the two technologies, and Massivit 3D was born.

Massivit 3D的创始人从宽幅印刷起家，最终参与了一家经营传统3D打印领域的公司。他想把这两种技术结合起来，于是Massivit 3D诞生了。 

“The whole idea was that if you look at grand format, the large-format space today, it is very crowded and very commoditized,” says Kevin Sykes, president of U.S. operations at Massivit 3D. Companies come up with inventions, they mature and at some point, become commoditized where the margins are slim, and competition is high. That doesn’t exist yet in the 3D space, he says.

Massivit 3D美国业务总裁凯文•赛克斯(Kevin Sykes)表示：“我们的整个想法是，如果你看看现在的宽幅打印机的占用空间，非常拥挤，而且也非常商品化。公司发明出来的东西成熟之后，到了某个时间段，在利润微薄、竞争激烈的处境下就会商品化。不过这在3D打印的市场中还不存在。”

“Up until Massivit, no one in the visual communication space could print fast enough or large enough to address the needs of the market,” Sykes says. “The ultimate idea is to bring back the opportunity to differentiate yourself, command higher margins for products you provide and still fit within the needs of the market.”

赛克斯说：“在大规模印刷之前，视觉传播领域没有人能够以足够快的速度或足够大的尺寸来满足市场的需求。最终的想法是让自己重新获得差异化的机会，为自己提供的产品争取更高的利润率，同时仍能满足市场需求。”

He says that when Massivit 3D shows up at a trade show with its 3D-printed elements, they command four times more stopping power than traditional 2D and five times more staying power, engaging or interacting with whatever that 3D element is.

他说：“当Massivit 3D带着它的3D打印产品出现在贸易展上时，他们的拦截力是传统2D的四倍，保持力是传统2D的五倍。” 

Massivit customers say that they are not only selling 3D prints and 3D models, but their 2D business has grown as a result of having a 3D printer, says Sykes.

赛克斯说：“大型客户表示，他们不仅销售3D打印和3D模型，而且他们的2D业务也因为有了3D打印机而增长。” 

The Massivit 3D 1800 has a maximum printing volume of 57” x 44” x 70”.

Massivit 3D 1800最大打印量为57“x 44”x 70’’。

“For us, most of our work is a good bit smaller than that,” says Josh Hope, senior manager, engineering projects, for Suwanee, Georgia-based Mimaki USA. “We focus on photorealistic output.”

乔治亚州苏瓦尼市Mimaki USA工程项目高级经理乔希•霍普(Josh Hope)表示:“对我们来说，我们的大部分工作都比这小得多，关于3D打印，我们更专注于逼真的输出。”

But for other 3D printer manufacturers, the signage market hasn’t taken off like they thought it would. Mimaki USA, for instance, thought its full-color 3D printer was going to impact the signage market, but instead it found that signage is a secondary consideration for shops that are using it for completely different purposes than what Mimaki initially envisioned, like product prototyping and visual assessment of design.

但对于其他3D打印机制造商来说，标识市场并没有像他们想象的那样腾飞。例如，Mimaki USA认为它的全彩3D打印机将会影响标识市场，但相反，它发现标识是商店的次要考虑因素，这些商店使用它的目的与Mimaki最初设想的完全不同，比如产品原型和设计的视觉评估。 

“We haven’t seen much adoption of 3D printing in the signage market in the U.S.,” says Hope. The Japanese market has been much faster to adopt 3D printing, he adds.

乔希•霍普：“我们在美国的标识市场上还没有看到太多3D打印技术的应用，日本市场采用3D打印技术的速度要快得多。”

In the U.S. it comes down to the cost of equipment, cost of print and the amount of time it takes to make a print.

在美国，这取决于设备成本、打印成本和打印所需的时间。

“A lot of times people are looking at that and other technologies out there, whether it is CNC or styrofoam carving or things like that that might make more sense,” he says.

他说：“很多时候，人们关注的是数控或泡沫塑料雕刻等其他技术，这可能更有意义。”

Mimaki’s full-color commercial 3D printer, the 3DUJ-553, can output more than 10 million colors.

Mimaki的全彩色商用3D打印机3DUJ-553可以输出超过1000万种颜色。

As far as signage goes, Hope says that Mimaki’s machine works better when it comes to making scale models of a sign before working on the finished product. The company’s 3D printer is 20” x 20”x 12”, which means it can be used to make bigger 3D models but they need to be layered together.

霍普说：“就标识而言，在制作成品之前，Mimaki的机器能更好地制作标识的比例模型。该公司的3D打印机是20英寸x20英寸x12英寸，这意味着它可以用来制作更大的3D模型，但它们需要分层来做。”

“For the cost and time to do that, it is probably not, at this point, the most cost-effective way or the most efficient way,” he says.

他表示：“就成本和时间而言，从目前来看，这可能不是最划算或最有效的方式。”

Hope adds that everybody in the signage industry is looking at 3D. They want to see where it is going to go.

霍普补充说：“标识行业的每个人都在关注3D。大家都想看看它的走向。” 

“It’s definitely going to play a part in our future the same way LED signs crept in years ago. I expect 3D will be the same thing. We are very much on the edge of the adoption curve. People are interested and excited about the technology, but where does it make sense to use 3D as opposed to other technologies out there,” Hope says.

霍普说：“它肯定会在我们的未来发挥一定的作用，就像多年前LED标识悄悄出现一样。我想3D也是一样的。我们处在采用曲线的边缘。人们对这项技术很感兴趣，也很兴奋，但是与其他技术相比，使用3D技术有什么意义呢?” 

Jeff Burt, owner of Eclipse Corp. in Gahanna, Ohio, purchased his Massivit 3D printer at the end of January and it was up and running by the end of February. He wanted to make a splash at an upcoming trade show, so he 3D printed 7-foot-tall Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots to garner the attention of show-goers.

位于俄亥俄州市中心的日食集团（Eclipse Corp）的老板杰夫•伯特(Jeff Burt)在1月底购买了他的巨型3D打印机，并在2月底正式投入运行。他想在即将到来的贸易展上引起轰动，所以他3D打印了7英尺高的石头袜子机器人来吸引观众的注意。 

“We had five-to-one lead growth from our past experience at the trade show because of the 3D. We walked away with 400 qualified leads,” says Burt. “We have about 50 normally. We did really well.”

“由于3D技术，我们在展会上的领先优势是以往经验的五倍。我们带走了400个合格的线索，”伯特说。“正常情况下，我们有50个左右。我们做得很好。” 

Just having the 3D printer has brought in new work. Eclipse Corp. printed out a Throne of Fries for Burger King, modeled after the one in Game of Thrones. If clients want more than one giant 3D model, however, it makes more sense to make one on the 3D printer and then do vacuum forming and cast molding of that model to make the rest.

仅仅有了3D打印机就带来了新的工作。日食集团以《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)中的铁王座为原型，为汉堡王(Burger King)打印了一个薯条王座。但是，如果客户想要一个以上的巨型3D模型，那么在3D打印机上制作一个模型，然后对该模型进行真空成型和铸造成型，这样做更有意义。 

“We create the original, and from that we make lots of them for a cheaper price,” Burt says. “We do one-offs as well.”

伯特说：“我们制作了原版，并以此为基础以更低的价格生产了许多。我们也做一次性的。”

The robots took 40 hours to print on the Massivit 3D printer. They were printed in pieces: arms, legs, head and gut. Once they were put together, he had to sand them by hand and apply chemicals to the plastic to smooth it out. Then more sanding, priming and painting.

这些机器人用大型3D打印机打印了40个小时。它们被印成:胳膊、腿、头和内脏。它们需要放在一起依次手工打磨，并在塑料上涂上化学物质使其光滑。然后更多的打磨，底漆和油漆。 

“All of that takes time. It is a process, about 80 hours of work,” Burt says. The entire project from start to finish was about 120 hours. “It is not a quick process until you get into your molding. That is how we found we can speed things up. The molded copies only took about 15 minutes each using rotational molding in which a hollow mold is filled with material that then sticks to the walls of the mold as it is rotated, creating a quick model of the original subject. Roto molding creates a smoother subject so once the robot is taken out of the mold, it is ready for paint. For the most part, he uses the technology for retail spaces that need large quantities.

伯特说：“整个项目从开始到结束成型大约120个小时，这是一个漫长的过程。这就是我们如何发现我们可以加快速度。每一个模塑件只需要15分钟左右的时间，使用旋转模塑法，创建一个原始快速模型，在空心模具中填充材料，然后在旋转时粘在模具壁上。机器人的成型需要创造了一个更平滑的模具，所以机器人从模具拿出以后，就可以开始给它喷漆了。在很大程度上，他将这种技术用于需要大量供应的零售场所。” 

“The 3D world is pretty new, and it is definitely a game changer. One of the things we discovered in getting a Massivit is it is not just 3D images. We call it printing but it is 3D molding, and building whatever you put in there.”

“3D世界是全新的，它绝对是游戏规则的改变者。我们在获取海量图像时发现的一件事是它不仅仅是三维图像。我们管它叫打印，因为它是3D成型，里面放什么就做什么。” 

Burt points out that 3D opens up new ways of displaying and showing and doing things in a retail environment.

伯特指出，3D为在零售环境中为显示和做事提供了新的方式。

“It has led us into things we didn’t think we would be tapping into, and it is great,” he says. Like making tables, oversized tools and trade show display items. “My original thought was that it would complement what we already do for retail spaces and ignite that experience even more.”

他说：“这让我们进入了我们认为自己不会涉足的领域，这很棒。比如制作表格，超大尺寸的工具和贸易展览展示物品。我最初的想法是，3D打印将补充我们已经为零售空间所做的，并进一步激发这种体验。”

The biggest problem Burt encountered with 3D printing is that his customers didn’t know what to do with it when they were first shown the technology and their advertising budgets were already set around traditional marketing campaigns.

伯特在3D打印方面遇到的最大问题是，当他的客户第一次看到3D打印技术时，他们不知道该怎么做，因为大部分客户的广告预算是围绕传统的营销活动制定的。

“Once we get ideas in their heads, now it all starts coming in. From March to July, we didn’t see a lot of work. Since August, we’ve been running nonstop with it. We are getting close to having a backlog, which is a good thing,” Burt says.

伯特说：“一旦我们在脑海里有了想法，那么一切都开始了。从3月到7月，我们接到的工作少之又少。但从八月开始，我们就一直不停地接收到很多订单。我们正在不断积累，这是一件好事。” 

Mimaki’s 3D printer is a CMYK output device. It also puts out white and clear. It starts off as a liquid resin and then it is UV cured to a solid.

Mimaki的3D打印机是一个CMYK输出设备。它开始是液体树脂，然后经过UV固化成固体。 

“It is very inkjet-based technology,” says Hope. “That’s where we’re able to get really photorealistic output from our machine.”

霍普说：“这是一个非常依赖墨水瓶的技术，墨水瓶就是能够从机器得到输出产品的地方。” 

Mimaki’s first customer was actually a signage shop in Las Vegas. The owner was frustrated with having to compete with other sign shops in town. Everyone was competing on price which was driving their margins into the ground, says Hope. They ended up purchasing a 3D printer and are now trying to transition from a 2D print shop to a 3D shop, which offers “more potential to be a little more in control of the market,” he adds.

Mimaki的第一个顾客实际上是拉斯维加斯的一家标识店。店主一开始是很没有信心的，因为他不得不和城里的其他标识店竞争。霍普说：