The ability to rapidly produce accurate, tangible models of products designed on a computer aided design system.

The first RP system was introduced on to the US market in 1988 and gave the engineer the opportunity to produce 3 dimensional objects directly from Computer Aided Design (CAD) data.

The principle advantages of using this technology are: -

• Speed at which the solid model is generated.
• The complexity of the model does not form any limitations to its production.

The early use of these models was to assist the designer in determining fit and form. It also provided the sales team with a 3 dimensional object to show to a prospective customer, this being far better than the traditional orthographic drawing which many people find difficult to interpret.

The development of this technology has reached into many of the traditional fields, attracting the interest of artisans whose skill and knowledge has led to 3-D objects being used directly and indirectly as patterns and models for soft tooling.