3D Printing

I spent a portion of last week viewing things through 3D glasses. Today, I saw an article from the Daily Commercial News titled Loughborough University researchers in England work on 3-D printing app.

It’s not really printing, of course. But it works somewhat like the inkjet printers used in many homes and offices. In an inkjet, the printhead, containing black and coloured inks, moves back and forth across a sheet of paper. As it moves, tiny nozzles spray droplets of ink, forming printed words and pictures.

But it turns out that the “ink” can be many things.

There have been a few mentions about this technology on Slaw, but my question today is, has anyone used a 3D model in litigation in Canada? There is a company based in Toronto that will create 3D models with nylon or rubber like material from a 3D CAD file or a CT or MRI DICOM data scan.

Medical modelling is available that will “clearly communicate the injury or issue even to those without medical training”. Apart from diagnostic or educational value, there may be viability for the litigation context.

What do you think? Will this be the next big thing for demonstrative evidence?