The Printer
Working Group (PWG) and 3MF
Consortium, an industry consortium to develop a high fidelity
standards-based 3D printing file format, have agreed formally to
collaborate to simplify 3D printing across devices.
With printer industry members, PWG has developed and promoted the widely
implemented Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). A subgroup focused on 3D
printing has extended IPP to incorporate the requirements of 3D printing
to support data exchange and embedding within common 3D file formats
such as 3MF so that user intent is preserved regardless of the transport
or workflow use.
The 3MF
file format allows design applications to send full-fidelity 3D
models with all required information in a single file to a mix of
applications, platforms, services and printers. 3MF is extensible, free
and natively supported in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office.
The two groups will work together to ensure and enable standards-based
approaches to simpler 3D printing to any capable device, without
requiring the addition of vendor-specific software or drivers.
“Until the development of IPP Everywhere™, users had to install and
continually update software to their computers and other devices to
print. Printer makers had to develop, update and distribute a stream of
driver updates. With IPP Everywhere, a single universal driver supports
all IPP Everywhere certified printers. We are working with the 3MF
Consortium to bring that same efficiency and simplicity to 3D printing,”
said Smith Kennedy, PWG chairman.
“Our work here at 3MF has focused on making 3D printing easier and more
efficient for manufacturers, users and service providers, and the PWG
relationship reflects that mission,” noted Adrian Lannin, executive
director of the 3MF Consortium. “Supporting widely used existing IPP
Everywhere standards will make it easier for users to install and use 3D
printers.”
About PWG
The IEEE ISTO Printer Working Group (PWG) is a Program of the IEEE
Industry Standard and Technology Organization (ISTO) with members
including printer and multi-function device manufacturers, print server
developers, operating system providers, print management application
developers, and industry experts. Originally founded in 1991 as the
Network Printing Alliance, the PWG is chartered to make printers,
multi-function devices, and the applications and operating systems
supporting them work together better. The PWG enjoys an open standards
development process. More information is available at https://www.pwg.org.
About 3MF Consortium
Launched in 2015, the 3MF Consortium is a Joint
Development Foundation project with the goal to define a 3D printing
format that will allow design applications to send full-fidelity 3D
models to a mix of other applications, platforms, services and printers.
Founding members of the 3MF Consortium are: 3D Systems; Autodesk, Inc.;
Dassault Systèmes, SA.; FIT AG; GE Global Research; HP, Inc.;
Materialise; Microsoft Corporation; Shapeways, Inc.; Siemens PLM
Software; SLM Solutions Group AG; Stratasys, and Ultimaker. More
information about the 3MF Consortium and the 3MF specification is
available at http://www.3mf.io.
Social media: Printer Working Group #PWG
@IEEEISTO & 3MF @3MFconsortium
announce plan to work together to make 3D printing easier across devices
using existing industry standards #IPPEverywhere #3Dprinting #standards https://www.pwg.org
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