The question has arisen whether or not 3-D skills are becoming a mandatory skill in today’s world. Are 3-D skills becoming essential?
This discussion started recently on the popular 3-D printing blog Fabbaloo.com and Buddy Byrum, 3D Systems’ director of global marketing, has already weighed in on the issue. Buddy says:
“Anyone using visualization software will be moved toward 3-D tools as the software improvements adopt 3-D capabilities. The same statement was probably made 35 years ago about people and personal computers.
One goal of software (e.g. simulation) is to closely mimic the real world. Well, the world is 3-D and anything designed to simulate the real world will better do this in 3-D.”
Marc Tarplee, associate vice president at York Tech, says:
“People who use CAD and/or CAD/CAM now can benefit from a move to 3-D modeling because so much of what they work with is actually three-dimensional. This group of early adopters includes scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors, architects, designers, and artists.
The majority of current college students are concentrated in just four programs: history, psychology, education, and business. Many of these students will go on to careers that will be interesting and rewarding, which will require neither a knowledge nor the application of 3-D printing.
This does not mean that there won’t be a 3-D printer at FedEx-Kinko’s, but rather that the guy who comes in to use it on a Tuesday evening is an engineer, an orthopedic surgeon, or a model railroader, not an economist or a history teacher.”