Mimaki’s Full Colour 3D Printer Redefines Footwear Designing

Throughout the footwear design process, prototypes are a critical step in bringing shoes from concept to reality – but until now the step has been slow and costly. To overcome this challenge, Japanese digital printer manufacturer Mimaki has become an innovator in helping leading footwear brands expedite their design process with full-colour 3D printing.

The samples created by Mimaki are sturdy, purpose-built prototypes, featuring up to 10 million different colours and express a variety of textures from the Adobe Substance texture library. From shoelaces to the outer sole, the prototypes help brands get a hyper-realistic mock-up for their next big launch.

Importantly, the realism does not come at the cost of speed. The Mimaki 3DUJ-553 full-colour 3D printer can print a full-sized footwear prototype in less than a day, making it easy for brands to assess their prototype, make changes, and create another 3D model, ultimately saving brands months during the often long design process. Without requiring any significant changes to the workflow, the printer has the ability to turn wonderful, detailed designs into ones that can be held and felt in the hands.

Michael Sickels, 3D specialist at Mimaki Engineering, says, “Mimaki’s full-colour 3D printers add value to the design process in the form of speed, creativity, and ease of integration. Having the Mimaki 3DUJ-553 in the design room or design school removes the need to order early, nonfunctional prototypes to be made at a factory. That cuts months from the design process.”

The 3DUJ-553 can print in 10 million colours and can print shapes and patterns that are difficult to produce conventionally. The 3DUJ-553 can also print 3D models made using industry-standard software whether it is Adobe Substance 3D, Autodesk, Modo, Rhino, or ZBrush.

The printer’s UV curable inkjet method performs modelling with UV ink (CMYK+White+Clear) printing, curing, and layering. Since colouring is not by post processing but modelling while using colour inks, objects are produced with exquisite full colour representation. It is also the world’s first 3D inkjet technology to apply colour profile.

The simultaneous application of clear ink with colour inks produces glass-like transparency and translucency. Clear ink gives an additional effect to show a different image when the produced object is illuminated from inside, as in the case of lamp shades.

Traditionally, footwear designers in Asia send tech packs to factories to have prototypes made. From order to prototype delivery, it can easily take over a month before a physical prototype is in the hands of a designer for expert appraisal. If there are any major changes, another prototype needs to be ordered, which will eat up more of that already scarce time in the product development cycle.

Addressing this problem, Sickels offers a solution: “All you have to do is to install a full-colour 3D printer in the design room and rapidly produce the prototypes in-house. The Mimaki 3DUJ-553 can print a visually realistic men’s size 9 shoe in under a day. Footwear designers can then appraise the print, make changes to the 3D model data, and then print again. A process that normally takes months can be condensed into a few weeks, with all the magic happening in your own workplace.”

The Mimaki 3DUJ-553 is versatile and works well with 3D CAD, CG, and 3D scan software, enabling professionals from various industries to apply the 3D technology to their specialised needs. Toys, industrial products, architectural modelling, medical modelling, and sign graphics are some of the major markets making use of this technology.

“3D modelling is going to increasingly become the future of footwear designing. It offers designers so much more convenience and freedom in their creativity. Given that 3D printing goes hand in hand with 3D modelling and that 3D printers have achieved high level of print quality, it is only natural that there will be increased adoption,” says Sickels.