Formnext Shenzhen 2026: What the Conference Reveals About 3D Printing's New Markets
At Formnext Asia Shenzhen 2026, the most important signals weren't machine announcements. AI modeling companies, server cooling vendors, and smartphone production parts tell a different story.
Hi3D V3.0 Raises the Bar for AI-to-3D Conversion with 2048³ Resolution
Hi3D V3.0 hits 2048³ voxel resolution — 2.37× the previous standard — making AI-generated 3D models detailed enough to reduce manual mesh repair before production.
Desktop Filament Market 2026 Part 4: Bambu Lab's Bet on Becoming the OS for Reality
The final installment of the 2026 desktop filament market series argues Bambu isn't building a printer company — it's building the operating system for physical manufacturing.
Meshy Raises $400M at a $1.5B Valuation for Text-to-3D Printing
Meshy's Series B is the largest round yet for an AI text-to-3D startup, backed by 12x year-over-year revenue growth and partnerships with Bambu Lab, Creality, and Flashforge.
Claude Can Now Drive Fusion 360 Directly — Here's What That Actually Unlocks
A new MCP server lets Claude generate and modify CAD designs inside Fusion 360 — letting a non-engineer design a working 3D-printed part.
AI Research Missed the Biggest TPU Innovation in the Filament Market
3DPrint.com's filament report shows AI research tools confidently missing the market's actual leaders — a warning for anyone using AI for competitive research.
Can AI and 3D Printing Finally Deliver the Prosumer?
Forty-five years after Alvin Toffler coined "prosumer," AI design tools and 3D printing may finally let everyday makers create their own products.
Generative Design's Precision Problem: Why AI Parts Still Need a Machinist
AI generative design creates lattices no mill can cut, but 3D printing alone can't hit the ±0.005mm tolerances industrial parts need either. The fix is hybrid manufacturing.
Desktop UV Printers and 3D Printing Are on a Collision Course
UV printing brings full-color surfaces to objects 3D printing can't color. As desktop UV printers drop below $2,500, the two technologies are converging into a hybrid desktop manufacturing stack.
HeyGears G1X: The First Desktop Machine Combining Full-Color 3D Printing and UV
HeyGears' G1X does something no desktop printer has before — full-color 3D printing, 3D texture, and 2D UV printing in one unit, with 10M+ colors at 1440×2400 DPI.
Limitless Labs Raises $20M to Put AI Agents Inside CAD and CNC Programming
Limitless Labs' $20M Series A funds an agentic CAD/CAM platform that integrates with Creo, Siemens NX, and Mastercam — with a Physical AI Foundation Model trained on metal cutting physics and real machine constraints.
AI and a Hybrid 3D Printer Just Built Functional Blood Vessel Networks in a Lab
Researchers at Notre Dame and Harvard Medical School used Bayesian optimization and a hybrid extrusion/aerosol printer to build vascularized tissue scaffolds with channels as small as 5-6 microns. Endothelial cells attached, formed linings, and fluid flowed through.
Creality at 12: KliTek, AI Cloud, and the Ecosystem Bet
Creality's 12th anniversary marks a strategic pivot from hardware to platform. Here's what KliTek multi-material printing and AI-powered Creality Cloud mean for makers in 2026.
Flashforge + Meshy AI: From Text Prompt to Multicolor Print in One Workflow
Flashforge integrates Meshy AI into Flash Studio: text-to-3D to multicolor print in one click. What the workflow change means as Bambu competition intensifies.
AI CAD Tools for 3D Printing: What's Actually Worth Using
Text-to-STL, AI copilots, and workflow checkers are multiplying in 3D printing. Here's which categories are actually ready and what tools are worth evaluating.
3D Printing's Metal Problem: The First Steel Alloy Designed by AI From Scratch
Most metals used in additive manufacturing were designed for casting and forging decades ago. Researchers at Purdue and South China university used machine learning to design one that wasn't.
The Industrialization of CoreXY: Standardizing the 2026 Production Stack
How the convergence of servo-extrusion and AI-integrated CoreXY architectures is moving FDM from prototyping to high-uptime industrial manufacturing.