A band plays the 3-D-printed instruments of the future
At first, I thought the band was just a way of getting the attention of passersby. But then, I took a closer look at realized all of the instruments—drums, guitar, and keyboard—had at least some element 3-D-printed. The components were very detailed and complex, which the creator, Olaf Diegel says, is only possible with a 3-D printer. I'm no discerning ear, but it sounded pretty good to me.
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CES was chock-full of 3-D printers—some big, some small, some for food, and some for prototyping outdoor gear. More exciting to the casual passer-by, the booths were chock-full of printed wares. Take a look at some of our favorites in this gallery.

Popular Science is covering the coolest, most futuristic, and strangest gadgets and technologies at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Catch our complete CES 2015 coverage all week long.

A 3-D-printed nylon dress shows the power of printing fabrics.

Nervous System’s Kinematics Dress At The Autodesk Booth

It may look like just a pretty dress, but it was far from simple to make. Design studio Nervous System used a system called Kinematics to compress the project by 85 percent. The dress came out as one single folded piece of fabric, with 2,279 unique triangular patterns.
This 3-D printed suture device could save a lot of pinpricks

An Automatic Suture Device from Formlabs

3-D printing is known for its frivolous plastic trinkets, but it’s also a powerful tool for innovators to rapidly prototype. Formlabs had one pretty amazing example at its booth this year. An engineer named Alex Berry had an idea to build a device that can insert sutures during medical procedures in order to cut down on pinpricks and unnecessary punctures. To quickly and cheaply validate his designs, Berry used the Form 1+ printer.
XYZprinting's food printer makes strange looking treats

Food, from XYZprinting

Here’s hoping the 3-D-printed food of the future doesn’t look quite so, well, strange. XYZ demoed its latest suite of 3-D printers, including a food printer. The results were neat dino shapes, but odd colors. The printer essentially squirts dough into pre-programmed shapes, which you then need to pop in the oven. The company claims the printer will cost less than $2,000 and is slated for release later in the year.
A band plays the 3-D-printed instruments of the future

3-D-Printed Drum Kit From 3DSystems

At first, I thought the band was just a way of getting the attention of passersby. But then, I took a closer look at realized all of the instruments—drums, guitar, and keyboard—had at least some element 3-D-printed. The components were very detailed and complex, which the creator, Olaf Diegel says, is only possible with a 3-D printer. I’m no discerning ear, but it sounded pretty good to me.
This dino skeleton shows off Makerbot's new composite PLA filaments

A Limestone And Maple Stegosaurus

Makerbot announced its new Composite PLA Filaments this year, and had plenty of examples to show off the capabilities. This stegosaurus skeleton was printed using a limestone composite, and it sits on a maple composite base.