ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
But standards should be written carefully so as not to
restrict the evolution of the format, he said. “You don’t want to write standards to create handcuffs. There’s no way to tell whether in five years, someone may come out with a way that is absolutely the best way to do it. But have you eliminated the ability for that to come forward because the standard was written in such a restraining way?” Users like AMF. But adoption has not been widespread. “Feedback from some potential users was that AMF is
great, but it’s almost too sophisticated and too broad to adopt in a change perspec- tive in a relatively short pe- riod of time,” Picariello said. “It scared some people off.” Meantime, 3MF is “more
focused, more scaled down, more readily accessible” and yet “not meant to replace AMF,” Picariello said.
3MF work began in 2011 3MF was inspired by AMF
and is focused on quickly getting a simple but exten- sible format in widespread use and moving toward standards later. Microsoft began working on 3MF in 2011 with the goal of creating a format to work in Windows that was easy to use, unambiguous and com- plete in itself, Lannin said. Microsoft originally offered the file format as licensed software that people had to pay to use, but the cost was a stumbling block to wider adoption. In 2014, Microsoft began offering the software as open source. The 3MF consortium
worked on its specs for about six months, first pub- lished initial file specs in 2015 and is focused on getting 3MF in play this year and next, Lannin said.
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Software firms are taking note. 3MF Consortium member companies are implementing
extensions and adding capabilities to their software pack- ages, which then may be published by the consortium, Kidder and Lannin said. One 3MF extension in particular, for 2D slice data, means that instead of using slicer software to represent the object in the final steps before an object is printed, the slicing could be done earlier in the work flow, Kidder said. That eliminates a step, reduces the probability of error and defines slicer data within the file itself, he said. As for standards, the 3MF
Consortium recognizes that at some point, 3MF should become an official stan- dard, Lannin said. “We have worked with ASTM to discuss what kind of standardization we want to go with in the future. For now, we want to be a bit more nimble.”
‘Coopetition’ seen on horizon Developers of both file
formats also are working to foster collaboration. ASTM in 2013 agreed to
develop standards needed for projects funded by Amer- ica Makes to move forward, Picariello said. The 3MF Consortium and ASTM also agreed to enable a pipeline for ideas between the two formats, he said. Major software firms
“You don’t want to write standards to create handcuffs. There’s no way to tell whether in five years, someone may come out with a way that is absolutely the best way to do it. But have you eliminated the ability for that to come forward because the standard was written in such a restraining way?”
Carl Dekker of Met-L-Flo
are working to ensure their offerings integrate with at least one or both of the for- mats. For example, the next version of SolidWorks will support 3MF, Rushton said.
Software another big issue Software challenges are also holding AM back. Current CAD system
Fall 2016
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