Flying Buttress

So many of the great churches of Europe are supported by massive flying buttresses. Not much to look at themselves, they support objects of great beauty and intricacy.

That’s how I think of Virtual. We support objects of extraordinary achievement. Two new groups we’ve started working with are particularly intriguing.

The first is 3MF. This will be the first truly end to end single file format for 3D printing. It represents a dramatic leap forward for revolutionary technology. I’ll confess, I didn’t quite “get” 3D printing until CES, when I saw the opportunities for prototypes, replacement parts and more first hand.

The other is the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance.This stuff sounds like science fiction. But the (augmented) reality is that this technology is changing the way we work today—from physicians able to check drug interactions to pilots wearing AR enabled helmets.

Cool stuff—it’s not bad being a buttress!