The Cloud Infrastructure and Benefits of 3D Printing
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The document discusses the cloud infrastructure of the 3D printing industry. It outlines how 3D printers can benefit from third-party content and apps in the cloud in the same way smartphones and their app stores drove adoption. The document also discusses open versus closed cloud platform structures and how content creators and end users could benefit from cloud-connected 3D printers.
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The Cloud Infrastructure and Benefits of 3D Printing
- 1. The Cloud Infrastructure of the 3D Printing Industry Drew Taylor Founder/CEO AstroPrint Drew.Taylor@AstroPrint.com @AstroPrint3D facebook.com/AstroPrint
- 3. OUTLINE ■Parallel Industries ■Benefits of Cloud 3DP ■Use Cases ■Cloud Platform Structures
- 5. 2D Printers ■Evolved pre-internet ■Have no need for 3rd party apps
- 6. Offline software, cords, and upgrades.
- 10. 3DP manufacturers are making hardware that is changing the industry, but their software is holding the industry back.
- 11. 2D printers do not gain value from 3rd party content
- 12. 3D printers DO gain value from 3rd party content
- 14. Content Sells the Printer
- 15. Smartphone Adoption Tech Trinity Optimized Hardware Simple to Use Software App Store
- 16. Content Sells the Phone
- 19. Why would a content creator use the cloud? ■ Major IP Portfolios ■ DRM/Security ■ Established Digital Distribution Network
- 20. Why Would an End User Want a Cloud Connected 3D Printer?
- 26. Structure of Cloud Systems Open vs Closed
- 29. The Cloud Infrastructure of the 3D Printing Industry Drew Taylor Founder/CEO AstroPrint Drew.Taylor@AstroPrint.com @AstroPrint3D facebook.com/AstroPrint
Editor's Notes
- -Intro - Hi, I’m Drew Taylor, most of you probably know me as a founder and the CEO of AstroPrint. - For those of you that are not familiar with AstroPrint, I’ll give you a brief overview so you understand why I’m talking on this subject today. - synopsis – we make software that runs on 3D printers, making them incredibly simple to use. In addition, we have a cloud based 3D printing app store that lets brands and developers distribute content/application directly to 3D printers and the printer owners. - There’s a motto that we use at AstroPrint that I would like for you to think about as I go through this talk…
- It’s “Simplicity + Content = Value (n)” whereas n= everyone. printer manufacturers, large content IP holders, and end users. - We believe that when 3D printers are made incredibly simple to operate, and are connected to the content that businesses and consumers wish to print, then and only then can massive adoption take place. - Today I want to talk about how the Cloud empowers simplicity and content distribution for the entire industry, including consumer, medical, and industrial 3D printing.
- In this talk today, the bulk of what I’m going to talk about is the lessons we can learn from parallel industries such as 2D printing and the smartphone industry and how these lessons can help us predict how the 3DP industry will unfold and even accelerate that unfolding. Next I’ll go over the primary benefits of using a cloud based 3D printing system over traditional systems. Then we’ll journey through a number of use cases in consumer, industrial, and medical cloud 3DP applications. Lastly I’ll discuss the structures of cloud 3DP platforms along with benefits and drawbacks of each. So, let’s go ahead and get started with parallel industries, with 2D printing first.
- - I’m sure everyone in the room has had a conversation at some point in time about the similarities and differences between 2D printers and 3D printers. Personally, I wish 3D printing was not the dominant term today due to the public perception that a 3D printer is similar in use to a 2D printer.
- There are some core differences that drive the need for a cloud in the 3D printing industry that did not exist in the 2D printing industry.
- 2D printers evolved pre-internet. - Offline drivers, cords, and manual install and upgrades made perfect sense then. - who remembers installing a whole software suite everytime you wanted to print from a different computer? Then if a driver were updated you would have to go find it, download it, and install it. It was a terrible cumbersome process, but made sense at the time.
- Well, times have changed! We are now in the age of IoT! The internet of things is being constructed as we speak. Now, the public expects connectivity. If a piece of machinery is sophisticated, it’s expected that you can interact with it via phone, tablet, and the internet. For Christ’s sake, I can interact with my Coffee Maker through my phone, but I can’t connect to a 3D printer without downloading software to a dedicated computer and keeping it tethered to that machine 24/7? That makes no sense.
- So, since the early 90’s, hairstyles have evolved, movies have evolved, but have 3D printing software strategies evolved? I do feel that in the last few years that have started to catch up to the hardware innovation, but only in the last few years.
- So, this is obviously photo-shopped, but I feel it exemplifies the status of the industry. Much of the 3D printing software out there follows the same strategies that were used when this computer was popular. BTW, that software program is pronterface and is still shipped with some 3D printers. People get that as the default way to interact with their hardware! And the users are incredibly disappointed. For mass adoption, even in the industrial and medical spaces, the software has to be more intuitive and user friendly than this. I don’t know if you know this, but engineers are notorious for developing the worst interfaces…
- Another difference between 2D and 3D printers is that 2D printers do not gain value from 3rd party content. So, what do you use a 2D printer for? Mostly I use a 2D printer nowadays whenever I need to print a legal document that can’t be e-signed, and that’s about it… At no point do I ever print 3rd party content. There is no value to Disney producing content you would purchase for a 2D printer.
- - 3D printers are completely different in this respect. There is extreme value in being able to 3D print content produced by a 3rd party. This could be printing Disney characters, tumors for medical testing, or even plane parts developed by a design house for an end client
- . Again, this could be printing content from design repositories, or custom developed content by 3rd parties. As a matter of fact, for many printer owners the sole value of the machine is that it can print items produced by others. A quote we’ve heard over and over from printer manufacturers is that “Content Sells the Printer.”
- This means that unlike 2D printers, a 3D printer that is connected directly to content holds more value than one that is not. How do you connect that printer to content, you ask? Well, the old way is to add some libraries of what you think they want to print into your offline software. However, the way users expect to interact now is via the cloud! You connect that 3D printer to a platform that opens up the machine to 3rd party content, which is then figuratively limitless. So we’ve now postulated that connecting 3DPs to the cloud will add value to the machines, but can we prove it? By looking at smarphones as a parallel technology, we can prove it.
- It might seem unusual to compare the smartphone industry to the 3D printing industry, but if you look at what really catalyzed smartphone adoption, you’ll see that they are incredibly similar. - There is a trinity of things that came together to spur massive smartphone adoption. - Optimized hardware (Samsung and Apple) - Samsung, Apple, and others made these devices incredibly intelligent and fast, opening the rest of the industry up for innovation. - Simple to use software (OS). (Android and iOS) - Do you remember what you went through to change a ringtone on an old not-so-smart phone? - App Stores -
- However, the biggest catalyst to the adoption of the smartphone was the 3rd party Content repository. (Apple App Store and Google Play) - The idea here is that Content sells the phone! Why in the world would you buy a smartphone, or an iPad for that matter, if there was no app store? You wouldn’t. An old flip phone would do the same thing, for a cheaper price. - What creates value for the smartphone is the developer ecosystem that is constantly creating new applications for the devices. And by the way, these new applications are being developed without any cost to the manufacturers.
- So, did it work? Did an open content ecosystem increase adoption in the smartphone market. It sure did. - Annual growth rate for Android phones from 2009 to 2013 was 54%! Software content really did sell the hardware. - And because content matters in the 3D printing world as well. I postulate that manufacturers that adopt a standard open software ecosystem for their machines will also enjoy a 54% CAGR. - It’s imperative to notice here that the open ecosystem, Android is has the lion’s share of the market, while the closed ecosystems do not. We’ll come back to this in a bit to talk about why this is the case and what it means for manufacturers.
- So, what are the benefits of cloud 3D printing for a printer manufacturer? Significant reduction in software R&D. They build the firmware, but do not have a need to develop interface, workflow software, file management software, IoT functionality, etc. Talk about Pirate3D and MakiBox. - 3rd party innovation/apps. - As a manufacturer you have to ask yourself, will you make the best applications in the industry? Probably not… Even if you make an amazing proprietary factory management system for your printers, I bet someone else can make one even better than yours… Direct connection to content. - A printer connected to content holds more value than a printer not connected to content. If that customer needs to print items from McMaster-Carr and they can do so with 1-click on a tablet, phone, or remote computer. They will buy the 3D printer that is cloud connected and can do this. As opposed to buying a dumb 3D printer that requires direct control and multiple steps to initiate a proper print.
- Already hold major IP portfolios – unlocks new distribution channels. DRM, security. Digital distribution network is established/controled. Basically, they do not need to optimize for different printers, they just produce content. They do not have to build out a distribution network. Can you imagine if Blizzard had to create a different app for every phone model on the market? They would not… A common cloud platform allow for standardized content distribution letting these providers create content and let the cloud distribution channel focus on quality control and distribution issues regarding all the printers on the market.
- - For end users - The printers finally live up to the industry hype. 3D printers finally match up with our mottos of Simplicity + Content = Value. Benefits to the end user have already been discussed in detail. A cloud gives the end user choices: - Choice – choice of software stacks and software features. Such as workflow management, slicing engines, and content repositories.
- - industrial - What happens when GE produces a design for a Boeing part and it needs to be 3D printed? Should GE 3D print it in their office then mail it to Boeing, when Boeing has 3D printers on their factory floor? Of course not… - The cloud enables GE to produce that part and distribute it directly to Boeing printer. They can even control the printer settings remotely, monitor the print, and determine success or failure before invoicing and billing for the part. And this can be done with full security of the file. - the reason that the cloud is necessary for this is that the expense to build a platform that can do all of this, for nearly every printer on the market, would be astronomical. However, having multiple parties building on a single platform allows the innovation to happen effectively and efficiently. - For example, a company such as AstroPrint may be handling the cloud infrastructure and wireless connectivity of the system, whereas a vendor like Identify3D may be handing file security and quality control, the printer manufacturer may be collecting data for analytics from every print, and another vendor may be running computer vision real time analytics testing for print failure. Use case 2: proprietary 3DP slicing engine used for competitors.
- - medical - We have already completed an integration with the NIH that is helping with medical education. The NIH has a design repository of models online, but had a major problem. Their users did not wish to learn how a 3D printer works in order to print these objects. They loved the fact that our system can optimize slicing and wirelessly distribute prints, so we created an integration that allows anyone to find a model on the NIH site, hit print, and have their file prepared for printing and sent wirelessly to their printer, without any technical skills necessary whatsoever, and this can be done right from a phone or tablet.
- - The next steps for the medical cloud is to focus on Bioprinting. Of course, we’re a few years away from being able to print kittens in the home, so we’re focused more on Bioprinting research…
- - Next steps for the medical 3DP industry is to move advanced machines into the cloud allowing for: - collaboration between professionals scanning, remodeling, and printing. - allowing researchers to share, distribute, and print proprietary models.
- - consumer - Consumer use cases abound, but I realize that most people here are focused on industrial and medical use, so I’ll keep it short. - Everything from using your phone to print Disney characters, to printing supplies for the office from Home Depot designs. The cloud allows this to happen with one click in a seamless user experience.
- - Structure of 3DP cloud platforms (7-10 min) - In discussing the structure of 3D printing cloud platforms, I want to spend my time today discussing open vs closed systems. Keep in mind this is not open source vs closed source, but rather open to multiple manufacturers, or closed to just 1. - For example, in the consumer space, MakerBot has a closed ecosystem… Their cloud can do amazing things, but it only works on MakerBot printers. should Stratasys build their own closed cloud that only works on Stratasys printers, and 3D Systems build their own cloud, and Carbon3D their own cloud? Or should they adopt a standard cloud to sync their printers with.
- - Well, if we use the computer industry and smartphone industry as analogues, we can speculate that after the dust settles in a software industry battle, many billions of dollars will have been spent, and there will likely only be 2 winners. - In the computer industry, we have Windows and MacOS that won. - In the smartphone industry, we have Android and iOS. - Why are there only 2 platforms? - There are only 2 platforms because developers only build for the top two platforms in an industry. It is simply not cost effective to make an application for the less dominant platforms, which leads to a two platform system. - In computers and smartphones, there are two platforms, 1 open and 1 closed. So, which is superior? - Let’s go back to the gartner slide to see.
- - Apple’s iOS platform is made to work only on apple devices, so it’s the closed platform in this scenario. - Although they apple has significant marketshare, growth is stagnant. - Android is the open platform in this scenario, since it works on most other smartphone models. - Obviously it shoots through the roof with adoption. - It’s important to take a look at the other ‘competitors’ on this list. - What happened to Symbian, Blackberry, and the Windows phone? They all died or are close to it. - The take away - end users will tolerate only 1 closed platform. If every printer manufacturer attempts to create their own cloud, only 1 will win. The others will eventually adopt the clear market winner for the open cloud. - I personally believe that the sooner a manufacturer adopts an open software platform, the sooner they can jump on this adoption curve. To continue the smartphone analogy: As soon as they give up on being Apple, the can get on with being Samsung (or HP) in the industry.
- Thanks for coming and feel free to reach out. Questions…
- So, since the early 90’s, hairstyles have evolved, movies have evolved, but have 3D printing software strategies evolved? I do feel that in the last few years that have started to catch up to the hardware innovation, but only in the last few years.