Custom optical elements have traditionally been expensive
and impractical to produce due to the manufacturing pre-
cision and finishing required. Recent developments in 3D
printing technology have enabled the fabrication of high res-
olution transparent plastics with similar optical properties to
plexiglasTM. One-off 3D printed optical elements can be
designed and fabricated literally within minutes for signifi-
cantly less cost than conventional manufacturing; greatly in-
creasing accessibility and reducing end-to-end prototyping
time. 3D printed optical elements also afford new optical
form-factors that were not previously possible, such as fab-