Stratasys, a 3D printer marker focused on manufacturing, on Monday launched a color system that can use multiple materials. The name of the printer, Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer, doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but could have implications for design, engineering and manufacturing. While 3D printing is capturing the imagination of consumers to some degree, the real action in the sector revolves around manufacturing and the supply chain.
Stratasys‘ has a new $330,000 3D printer, but this one has the potential to do a whole lot more than monochrome figurines. In fact, the company says it’s the first machine able to create objects in colored, flexible materials. The Objet500 Connex3 3D printer uses rubber and plastic as base materials, although according to Stratasys (the company which now owns the MakerBot series) material combinations will be able to offer different levels of rigidity, transparency and opacity. Colors, meanwhile, are produced by the same mix of cyan, magenta and yellow you’ll find on your inkjet printer at home — it even comes with six palettes of rubbery “tango” colors, if you’re perhaps looking to channel your ’90s tastes into some tasteful flexible booties, as seen above.