THE development of the local 3-dimensional (3D) design and fabrication industry is hobbled by costs, according to the local executive of Autodesk Inc. Teddy D. Tiu told the BusinessMirror in an interview via e-mail that he sees costs as one of the major challenge in the adoption of 3D in the Philippines.
“Most would say cost is a barrier to adoption, but we’re working to change that,” Tiu, Autodesk Philippines country manager, said. He explained the company’s current business model makes “it easy for [our] customers to benefit from our design technology and thrive in this new era of how things are designed and made. Traditional models of software ownership don’t work anymore.”
Tiu cited the subscription model for software acquisition as an example. According to him, customers can avail of “pay as they go” software and access the latest 3D design software tools from any device, and at any time and without geographic restrictions via the cloud.
“This means there is no upfront cost to acquire a technology, and they can ‘turn off’ your subscription after the project is over [and] thereby lowering their capital investment.”
According to Tiu, on the hardware front, many lament the high cost of a 3D printer, which each operate using their own proprietary software platforms.
“Autodesk is thinking differently about 3D printing because we have a vision for providing an extensible platform and sharing the source of our work to inspire others to create new approaches to 3D printing software, hardware and materials.” Tiu’s views complement that of International Data Corp., which said the landscape for printing, scanning and document management is in the midst of profound and significant change, driven by an explosion of smartphones and tablets.