HP on Wednesday announced its Blended Reality ecosystem, consisting of HP Multi Jet Fusion, an advanced 3D printer; and Sprout by HP — a combination scanner, depth sensor, high-res camera and projector that provides 3D images of items and enables real-time remote collaboration. The ecosystem might revolutionize manufacturing, sharply reducing the design-to-prototype cycle and making it easy to customize products. It also might let individual entrepreneurs — the traditional backyard shops — carve a niche for themselves in the market.
That HP Sprout thing is gimmicky at best. It's like the whole laser keyboard thing that nobody wants, where you can't see what you're pressing, because your hand is in front of the laser and you can't feel which key you're typing. It's like the 3D film junk the industry tried to convince us we wanted and needed, but very few actually care about. If you want to be able to draw on a screen, get a Cintique or a touchscreen monitor. If you want to scan an image, use a scanner. This isn't earth-shattering stuff or even very useful.
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HP May Sprout New Manufacturing Techniques
Posted by: Richard Adhikari October 29, 2014 01:44 PMHP on Wednesday announced its Blended Reality ecosystem, consisting of HP Multi Jet Fusion, an advanced 3D printer; and Sprout by HP — a combination scanner, depth sensor, high-res camera and projector that provides 3D images of items and enables real-time remote collaboration. The ecosystem might revolutionize manufacturing, sharply reducing the design-to-prototype cycle and making it easy to customize products. It also might let individual entrepreneurs — the traditional backyard shops — carve a niche for themselves in the market.