I’ve been hearing a lot about 3D printing lately. It’s not been wholly clear to me, though, exactly what it is (especially after I read the Wikipedia entry). From a layman’s perspective, you tend to think about ink, paper and a printer and how on earth do you get three dimensions on that outside of augmented reality.

Then I saw 3D printing demonstrated in a video and in a way that instantly gave me the clear understanding of what it is and how it works.

(If you don’t see the video embedded above, watch it on YouTube.)

It’s a very good demonstration and presenter Joe Titlow of Z Corporation, manufacturer of the 3D printing equipment, knows his stuff and is able to explain it well in simple terms.

Look out for the "Holy cow!" moment by David Kaplan, the man who’s looking to have his wrench (that’s a spanner to us Brits) "printed." He’s a theoretical particle physicist and if he’s impressed by this technology, it must be something to pay attention to.