I have a not quite off topic question: has anyone started 3D printing their own frames in-store?
I have this vision of the not too distant future:
Step 1) You measure a person's face with something like a Microsoft Kinetic (basically a two camera webcam that can use parallax to judge distances), and you have software that generates a 3D model of their head.
Step 2) It calculates the optimal temple length, total frame front size (eye size + DBL + whatever the temples add), optimal DBL, etc.
Step 3) You put in their prescription, allowing the software to modify the basecurve of the frame to be the same as the optimal basecurve of the lenses you're using, which allows the lenses to be a perfect match to the frame.
Step 4) It lets you search a database of frame shapes and temple types.
Step 5) The customer selects what type of front and temple shape they want from a database you have set up.
Step 6) Once the customer has selected what they'd like to have the information is fed to a 3D printer and *poof* a few short *mumble*hours*mumble* later you have a plastic frame that is custom made for the head shape and style of your customer!
Has anyone tried to do this yet? I estimate that the current setup costs for such a system would be between 50 and 200 thousand dollars right now, but that cost is mostly because you'd have to have custom software made. The printers and dual parallax webcams themselves are now off the shelf items, and they're rapidly coming down in price (and improving in quality).
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