There's news of 3D printing almost every other day. This time, there's news of a 3D printer being the world's first continuous tone full color plastic printer.

Dubbed the ProJet 4500 and made by 3D Systems, specifics have not be revealed just yet, but it will produce plastic semi-rigid full color parts complete with gradient transitions between various tones.

That's a big deal, because imagine what you can do with this! The 4500 looks like it uses the laser-sintering approach to 3D printing. The process is where a laser is used to harden a powder like material layer by layer.



While extrusion printers may offer multiple color options, they lack the ability to print multiple colors at the same time. Watch the video of the printer working below:

[3D Systems via SlashGear]