Rapid prototyping is the production of a physical model of a design using three-dimensional CAD data.

The increasing effectiveness of rapid prototyping techniques in terms of both cost and speed enables designers to create complex physical models for testing.

• Stereolithography (SLA)

• Laminated object manufacturing (LOM)

• Fused deposition modelling (FDM)

• Selective laser sintering (SLS)

• Different types of 3D printing techniques

• Advantages and disadvantages of rapid prototyping techniques

The growth in computing power has had a major impact on modelling with computer-aided manufacture. Rapid software and hardware developments allow new opportunities and exciting new technologies to create dynamic modelling of ever-greater complexity. Models can be simulated by designers using software, tested and trialed virtually before sending to a variety of peripheral machines for prototype manufacture in an ever-increasing range of materials. The ease of sending this digital data across continents for manufacture of prototypes has major implications for data and design protection.