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Sculptural Products
One of the things that motivated the earliest workers in the field - now dating back almost a hundred years - was the reproduction of sculptures and three-dimensional personal portraiture. The interest continues with groups pursuing these and many other market segments today. In fact, some of these businesses have already come and gone. Combining modern three dimensional scanning with additive fabrication is used for a host of applications in motion pictures and other entertainment media, and in the last few years it's become possible to have a personal portrait statue or doll made fairly inexpensively. There are now companies producing small portrait statues of celebrities and political figures, as well. Three-dimensional food objects have been proposed and special-effects printing offers other possibilities. Recently several companies have been started to make physical equivalents of avatars used in online worlds such as SecondLife. Fabjectory and Starbase C3 are two that are well-known.

At least one company is pursuing personalized bobbleheads. Other novelty images can also be created. For instance, a sports figure's face can be combined with a sports symbol such as a ball. One group has applied for a patent on a personalized sculpture as a cremation urn. The urn may be fabricated in the image of the loved one or a beloved pet, and the ashes of the deceased incorporated directly into the build material. Combining these ideas gives rise to the surprising possibility of making a bobblehead out of a loved one's ashes. This concept may be considered too advanced to gain wide acceptance quickly, however, despite the obviousness of its suitability in particular cases.

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