Robert,
I also use haptic volumetric modeling, so this would simplify my process, but the reason for my strong feelings on this subject are more far reaching and more personal than simply convenience.
You might know that I was involved in a startup company that developed a revolutionary 3D display technology nearly a decade ago. As a computer graphics specialist in 3D visualization, I was the person who was interpreting our clients data and analyzing the suitability of our display for various applications. We had dozens of technology companies, mature industries, researchers, and governments coming to us with their massive data sets, and I was tasked with getting multiple gigabytes of every conceivable type of information into a form that could be quickly visualized. Coming from this background, you can see why I immediately recognize the potential of 3D printing technology to achieve much of this capability (albeit in a static form) without having to own a display with a five digit price tag.
The fact that so little progress has been made toward the goals I was pursuing is a great disappointment to me. If Shapeways were to assist in making true volumetric imaging achievable in a physical form for everyone with an internet connection, it would have wide ranging effects that are difficult to measure right now.
Most of the valuable 3D data in existence is in a volumetric form, not polygon meshes. I am including solid models which should logically be printed without an intermediate mesh stage. There are a number of issues related to formats and scaling, but the way forward is clear. The software is going to be complicated. A simple binary conversion will not do. The potential rewards are so huge, I am stunned that this problem has only barely been addressed by programs like Mimics, which are almost always used for only one simple function: Meshing volumetric data.
I realize Shapeways is a company targeted mostly toward consumer-level activities, but this is exactly what the advancement of technology should be doing, expanding the feasibility of the applications out of the research labs and into peoples hands.
In case these applications need to be spelled out, here are a handful:
Volumetric Scans- includes X-ray (CT) scan , PET scan and other types of tomography, usually for medical purposes and structural analysis.
Remote Sensing- for petrochemical and mineral exploration, underground mapping of infrastructure and satellite data. This also includes more abstract visualizations of multi-spectral and hyper-spectral imaging from all the new types of satellite sensor technologies being deployed for the study of earth and other astronomical bodies.
Computational Fluids Dynamics Simulations- These are now becoming a common part of the product development cycle as digital manufacturing focuses more on the virtualization of the earlier iterations of a product. Thermal, acoustic, and electromagnetic interactions in products are becoming so complicated they need to be simulated and visualized. Simulations are often combined with remote sensing in meteorological research.
How many people have held a hurricane in their hand? How many have have the opportunity to study the river-like sutures and porous crenelations of a mouse skull scanned with micro-CT and printed at 10x scale? I have and it's a mind expanding experience. Right now it takes incredibly expensive technology and expertise to accomplish, but if we were all to have access to it from a young age we would develop with an entirely different perspective. If Shapeways could bring that to the world, that would be a good thing.
The creative possibilities when designers are freed from the technological constraints of the current system are also hard to measure, but I know it would have huge benefits. We are sick of fixing meshes when there is no good reason the technology can't simply work the way one would expect it to.
This is a long post but it has been a long time in coming. Thanks for reading.