President Barack Obama is shown a 3-D printer by Andy Leer, right, during a tour of TechShop Pittsburgh, a community-based workshop and prototyping studio in Pittsburgh, Pa., June 17, 2014. Watching at left is General Manger Matt Verlinich. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

It’s usually never a bad thing to have the President associated with your industry and June was a big 3D printing month for President Obama.  Not only did he get a 3D printer demo at TechShop Pittsburgh (providing a great photo op), but he became the first sitting President 3D scanned and printed for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.Gone may be the days of a sculptor painstakingly creating a Presidential bust, replaced with digital perfection showing every wrinkle taking only seconds to acquire.  The Smithsonian is also putting much of their catalog online with the X 3D program where you can view and even print versions of artifacts for personal study.  It’s an exciting time for museums and technology!

President Obama 3D printed bust at Smithsonian.