It has been used to reconstruct a centuries-dead king's face, is a player in the gun-control debate and can be used to make your kids' favorite toy -- or your own likeness in chocolate.
Three-D printing has been heralded as the "next industrial revolution," capable of changing the way we do things in just about every industry, from manufacturing to medicine to space travel. But what makes this year an inflection point for the technology is a combination of affordable printers hitting the market, consumer-adoption readiness and a maturation of the ecosystem needed to support 3-D printing.