Stuart Brown started 3D Engineers (3DE) to save car restorers, enthusiasts and manufacturers considerable time, money and aggravation whilst improving the quality of the final product. Through his innovative processes and use of multiple 3D technologies, Stuart has more than 34 cars that have been made from 3DE body design work and bucks, created 11 unique car designs and designed and reverse engineered well over 5000 components.

Stuart has also won one Octane award and has been nominated for another, and continues to provide time and financial assistance to projects, organizations and University Students as part of the company’s philanthropy philosophy.

In anticipation of his upcoming talk at the REAL 2015 event in San Francisco, we asked Stuart a few questions about the future of 3D technology.  Here’s what he said:

Where do you think 3D technology will be in…

2 years? 3D printing will break into being used to make items in much larger volumes as a more mainstream activity, perhaps initially as kit created 3D printers. For example, car body molds being 3D printed.

5 years? Speed! Know Moore’s law is a bit broken, but the voids in a working day between pressing a button and something happening will decrease enormously as hardware speeds up and point cloud handling becomes more efficient.

10 years? It will become increasingly normal for micro factories based in the consumers locality to manufacture/3D print items designed by local businesses or large parts made to save delivery. Factories will have facilities for many materials, combinations of materials and manufacture processes.

What is the biggest opportunity for 3D technology?

Breaking through into traditional methods and processes to create businesses that never existed before.

What’s your take on Reality Computing?

We use a “mash up”/À la carte method of reality computing, utilising the strengths of different software and hardware to create processes that are unique and better in as many metrics as possible than could be achieved by using a smaller number of products. This will create specialists in many niche areas.

What will you be talking about at REAL?

My talk will be about the “mash up” method we use, how learning your trade is a way to earn more money and not a chore, dealing with pricing so you do not get sucked into the charging per hour trap and how to use the methods we embrace to further your career or business in whatever field you are in.

To hear Stuart speak in person, join us at REAL 2015.

The scan of the Corre shows an immense level of detail

3D Scan Points Video: