With 3D printing, it has finally become possible to make just about any kind of item with amazing complexity — and produce just one unit.

The peak of what's possible with 3D printing may be in the medical and prosthetic fields — with 3D scanners, it's possible to craft prosthetics that almost perfectly mould to a wearer's body.

Industrial designer Scott Summit works on making 3D printouts of legs for those who have lost their own, both in plastic and metal. Summit's 3D-printed legs are even dishwasher-safe and curb-side-recyclable materials can be used in the production, he says.

And it's not just artificial limbs that may be going through a design renaissance: because of the infinite flexibility of digital designs, almost any kind of physical product could find new styles, aesthetics and custom models with new machines that can quickly, cheaply and efficiently produce anything that can be imagined and crafted in a 3D modeller.

Read more at the Geek Gestalt blog.

Via CNET News.com