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Courtesy of Print the Legend

Print The Legend: Life in the 3-D Printing Jungle

Idyll curiosity. That was the motivating force that caused this Netflix flick to stream on my TV. I simply wondered ‘what’s the deal with 3-D printing?’

Well, the deal—what caused the flick to be produced—is the technology’s inevitable arrival to our consumer market.

At an hour and forty minutes, the oddly-titled Print the Legend is about the social, political and economic dynamics of tech-based start-ups within the confines of what has been a below-the-radar birth and growth of ‘3-D Printing.’ Some call this new technology the next industrial revolution, one in which manufacturing, like shopping, is done in the home.

Filmmakers Luis Lopez and Clay Tweel have produced a compelling story of several stories. They follow the men struggling to become the Apple of 3-D printing, to become the next Steve Jobs. The two start-ups are Formlabs and MakerBot. The two established commercial companies in this story are Stratasys and 3-D Systems.

There’s a side-bar character who practically steals the show—Cody Wilson. He does the obvious. Wilson secures consumer-based hardware and software, makes guns of various ilks, and establishes instant infamy for himself.

An emblematic story of our times, I would not be surprised if Print the Legend replicates a Hollywood movie version of itself.

Tags

3-D printing, print the legend, Formlabs, MakerBot, computer, printing