New design tool offers simpler customisation of 3D-printed designs

US scientists have devised a new design tool that could make the customisation of 3D-printed items simpler and more accessible.

A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a system that automatically turns CAD files into visual models that users can modify in real time, simply by moving virtual sliders on a web page.

Dubbed Fab Forms, the tool also runs a battery of tests to evaluate the design for structural stability. Typically, all of these processes would take many hours, but this system can accomplish it must faster through the use of cloud computing.

This could allow designs for 3D printing to be adjusted without the need for expertise with computer-aided design applications, in a fraction of the time.

Masha Shugrina, an MIT graduate student in computer science and engineering and one of the new system's designers, said: "We envision a world where everything you buy can potentially be customised, and technologies such as 3D printing promise that that might be cost-effective."

3D printing has a wide range of potential future applications, including in the field of medical devices, where the technology could be used to create customised prosthetics for patients, among other uses.