Back in 2015, a collective of industry figures got together to put forward a modern file format that would better support the current and next generation of 3D printers and ultimately replace STL. Dassault Systèmes, FIT AG/netfabb, Microsoft, HP, Shapeways, SLM Solutions and Autodesk established the 3MF Consortium to deliver a new interoperable file format, of the same name, that would be information rich and capable of supporting new innovations in 3D printing.
Adrian Lannin 2016
Adrian Lannin, executive director, 3MF Consortium
Speaking back then, Adrian Lannin, executive director, 3MF Consortium, said the 3MF specification (3D Manufacturing Format) would “empower people, maximise productivity, and unlock the full capabilities of 3D printing.” Two years on, an A-team of industry leaders, including 3D Systems, GE, Materialise, PTC, Siemens, Stratasys, Ultimaker and EOS, have joined as founding members to develop and promote this new full-fidelity format. But has it had the impact it set out to achieve and is there still a place for old faithful, STL? I caught up with Adrian to get an update.
Laura: At TCT Show in 2015, it was said that the goal of 3MF was to become ubiquitous - is that still the case? If so, how far away are we from this becoming a reality?
Adrian: Becoming ubiquitous remains our vision. We are seeing the most interest in 3MF from industrial applications, where several of our members have released products that work well with 3MF. For example, HP has included the 3MF file format as a native format in their 3D printers. Of course, since 3MF is free to download, there is no requirement to join the consortium to use the standard, so there is an active ecosystem that’s developing 3MF solutions outside the core consortium members. When people are focused on looking at the best solution for their business, we believe, the answer is 3MF, and we certainly have examples where 3MF support has been added due to customer requests, which we’re glad to see.
Does that mean there is still a place for STL right now?
3MF is a complete functional replacement for STL, and it does more. The only reason to use STL is to get access to models that already exist in STL, and to use workflows that support STL. So it’s all completely backwards-looking, which is a peculiar approach for building a modern manufacturing system to build a forward-facing manufacturing technology on.STL does not contain colour or other material/property information, and has no extensibility mechanism to add it. STL does not save mesh topology, leading to larger file size, loss of manifoldness due to rounding errors, resulting in ambiguity. 3MF solves all of these problems. People should use 3MF.
Have you come across any challenges since founding the consortium?
Focus. This is an exciting time to be in 3D printing. It's a new frontier with lots going on. It is easy to become distracted. Without focus and discipline one can be pulled in many different directions. At 3MF, we are focused on additive manufacturing in the industrial space right now. We intend to become the leading file format in this market before moving to other areas. In parallel to this market focus, we will endeavour to maintain the discipline to keeping 3MF a simple, easy-to-use and lightweight software available to all.
There has been an influx of new technologies on the market in the last two years - how are you approaching these companies?
We've been selective in accepting companies into the 3MF Consortium. Members are required to contribute to the continued improvement and proliferation of the software. In order to make the 3MF file format the best it can be, we look for leaders in the industry that can provide insight in all areas of 3D printing.
3MF Logo
Since its inception, the format has grown to include two file extensions - Production and Slicing. Is there a roadmap to expand this further?
Yes, we do have additional extensions under active development. This work is specifically underway to meet the needs of products that are planned or already shipping.
What role have the founding members played in shaping the development of 3MF?
These companies have been actively involved in the original software and format extensions.In order to continue in our progress, we meet a handful of times per year to further processes.The benefit of having access to a talent pool that is deep and broad is having a truly industry-lead organisation. In addition to consortium expertise, we’re privileged to have had some industry experts recognise the importance of this work, seek us out, and contribute ideas and advice.
