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3D printers make things by building them up, one layer at a time, from a particular ma- terial, rather than removing it by cutting, drilling or machining. For this reason, the process is also called “additive manufactur- ing.” Despite all the fuss over the wonder of 3D printing, the technology itself is far from being new. In fact, industrialized 3D printing has been in use for over 20 years. Daniel Tomsen, Korea Territory Manager at Stratasys, points out that 3D printers are similar with ordinary two dimensional inkjet printers in how they work. “Instead of adding ink on paper, 3D printers build up an object one layer at a time,’’ he said in an interview with S Plus. “Over the last decade, however, the range of materials that can be used on 3D printer has expanded,’’ he continued. 3D printing commonly uses polymer ma- terials, but laser-melted titanium and nick- el-chromium powders are now being used to build stronger components. Stratasys is the world’s leading 3D printer manufacturer, with 53% of market share in the global 3D printer industry. Tere are a variety of materials available to creators, and Stratasys’ range of over 130 3D printable ma- terials is the most in the industry Douglas Austin Crone, CEO of Brule, also agreed that an increase in the number of 3D printable materials is at the center of the so- called “3D printing revolution.” “In many diferent ways, 3D printing reminds me of the early days of the PC back in early eighties,” he told S Plus. “3D printer prices will decrease C o v e r s t o r Y during the next fve to ten years, and more and more people will use 3D printers at home in a similar manner they use PCs these days,” he added. Founded seven years ago in Japan, Brule is the sales representative of American 3D printer manufacturer Makerbot (Makerbot was merged into Stratasys in June) both in Korea and Japan. Te price of low- and mid- dle-cost 3D printers Brule sells ranges from $700 to $5,000, with the plastic materials used by the printers costing around $700. Ac- cording to Crone, the raw materials are pret- ty afordable, considering how many iPhone cases he can print with 1kg of plastic. Of course, the use of 3D printing does not stop with making smart phone cases. Since the technology allows users to reduce the