The next generation 3D printer...

...is here.

3D printing is great. I've used it to make cosplay props, I know people who use it to make miniatures. Even better, how about cheap prosthetics for kids who otherwise wouldn't qualify because they'd only outgrow them? Medical gear for small clinics in the third world?

But they have one large downside.

They are slow. In many cases you start your 3D printer running in the evening and go to bed, and maybe in the morning your print will be done.

Now, the University of Berkeley has created what might be the start of the next stage of the technology.

Their new printer is highly limited. It can only print very small objects and only in one material, but it can print them quickly. It scans an object, then projects the image into a special resin. The resin solidifies only where the light hits it, with the rest of the resin simply going back into the reservoir.

So far, it's useful for, well...custom minis. And presumably the first ones will be very expensive. But it is a step closer to the replicator.