Jan 31 2014
Zecotek Photonics Inc., a developer of leading-edge photonics technologies for medical, industrial and scientific markets, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Zecotek Display Systems Pte. Ltd. is designing a unique 3D printing interface platform between existing and future generations of 3D printers and its own patented 3D display technology.
The 3D printing platform offers significant design, cost, and time advantages when Zecotek's glasses free, auto-stereoscopic, multi-view, HD 3D display is used with commercial 3D printers for the creation of solid objects used in rapid and manufacturing prototyping.
"Zecotek`s 3D display technology creates significant advantages in the design process related to 3D printing," said Dr. A.F. Zerrouk, Chairman, President, and CEO of Zecotek Photonics Inc. "By creating a user interface between the 3D printer and our own patented 3D display, we offer end-users the most realistic view of the solid object being created on the printer. Individual or multiple users will have the ability to view the object in full 3D, from all perspectives, and edit the object as desired. The interface will have a rich variety of interactive features and offer the ability to see a true 3D image during the design process which can save both time, material and cost."
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital model by laying down successive layers of material in different shapes. The first 3D printer was introduced in 1984, and it took approximately 20 year`s for the industry to grow to $1 billion in sales. It has taken another 5 years for total annual sales and service of 3D printers to reach $2 billion. Leading industry analysts predict significant growth with annual sales of 3D printing reaching $4 billion by 2015, and over $10 billion by 2021.
The reason for the rapid growth in the market is due to the improving performance of additive equipment and the expanding range of materials being used. 3D printing has now become cheaper and more customizable than regular manufacturing methods. Meanwhile, prices for both printers and materials are dropping to a point where rapid adoption by consumers is a distinct possibility.
Today, 3D printing technology is used for both prototyping and distributed manufacturing with applications in many industries including dental, medical, biotech, architecture, industrial design, aerospace, military, civil engineering, geographic information systems, and countless other fields.
Zecotek Display Systems commercialization program is to initially subcontract the production of the 3D display units interfaced with the 3D printers and with the associated software for sale to end users. Subsequent mass production and sales will be done through a strategic partnership.
About Zecotek's 3D Display System
Zecotek's 3D Display System is based on the auto-stereoscopic principle, but with substantial innovative and patented improvements and represents a new and unique generation of 3D displays. It has the capability of simultaneously presenting 3D and 2D images on the same screen, and for separate views at different viewing angles. Zecotek's true, auto-stereoscopic 3D2D display system requires no eyewear and has an effective viewing angle of 40 degrees with 90 concurrent perspectives allowing for multiple views at the same time. Another unique feature of the Zecotek system is constant motion parallax within the viewing angle. Motion parallax eliminates the sense of imbalance and dizziness during normal observation which can occur with polarized and shutter glasses used with other commercial systems. Furthermore Zecotek's 3D display features the preservation of the base resolution in every perspective view irrespective of the number of such views. This is not true for any other glasses-free displays where the base resolution is divided by the number of views. Zecotek`s white paper on 3D display technology is available on www.zecotek.com.
About Zecotek
Zecotek Photonics Inc (TSX-V: ZMS; Frankfurt: W1I) is a photonics technology company developing high-performance scintillation crystals, photo detectors, positron emission tomography scanning technologies, 3D auto-stereoscopic displays, and lasers for applications in medical, high-tech and industrial sectors. Founded in 2004, Zecotek operates three divisions: Imaging Systems, Laser Systems and 3D Display Systems with labs located in Canada, Korea, Russia, Singapore and U.S.A. The management team is focused on building shareholder value by commercializing over 50 patented and patent pending novel photonic technologies directly and through strategic alliances and joint ventures with leading industry partners such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Switzerland), Beijing Opto-Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. (China), NuCare Medical Systems (South Korea), and National NanoFab Center (South Korea). For more information visit www.zecotek.com, follow @zecotek on Twitter and "like" us in Facebook at www.facebook.com/zecotek.