Paul Hanaphy – 3D Mag

Bio

Paul is a technology journalist and marketing content writer for 3D Mag and Artec 3D.

Since graduating from Kingston University with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, he has reported on everything from local news, finance, and sport, to advanced manufacturing.

Over the course of nearly three years at 3D Printing Industry, Paul covered all the latest goings on in 3D printing, 3D scanning, and other adjacent sectors. This saw him interview industry leaders at IMTS, Formnext, and Rapid+TCT, get hands-on with the latest innovations on the factory floor, and report live from events where they’ve been put into practice.

Drawing on his knowledge of 3D technologies, Paul now writes news and analysis pieces designed to illustrate their true potential, and help bring them closer to readers than ever before. As he has a strong interest in automotive and aerospace, much of his reporting revolves around the role of advanced technologies in these areas.

But, with 3D printing and scanning continuing to fuel breakthroughs in other highly regulated industries like medical, construction, and energy, as well, it’s clear that the future of the technologies is bright – and he can often be found reporting anywhere they’re making ground!

Paul’s publications

What’s inside the latest version of the 3Dfindit online CAD model repository?

Manufacturing software developer CADENAS has rolled out a new version of 3Dfindit, an online repository where users can download CAD models for millions of parts. Essentially a search engine for engineering components, 3Dfindit brings together CAD and BIM models from hundreds of manufacturer catalogs in a single platform, giving engineers, architects and buyers access to…
Northwestern State University awarded $1.5m to fund 3D scanning for heritage preservation

Northwestern State University (NSU) has been awarded $1.5 million by the National Park Foundation to fund the conservation of historic buildings and landscapes. Over the next two years, NSU will work with the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) to develop a tool for assessing the level of risk facing…
Student Wins James Dyson Award With Prosthetic Designed Using 3D Scanning

Laura Echeverri Giraldo, a design student from Pereira, has won the Colombian edition of the 2026 James Dyson Award with Encaja, a system for producing custom sockets for upper-limb prostheses. Using smartphone 3D scanning and generative design, she managed to produce a digital file that a local workshop could turn into a socket using 3D printing…
Free 3D platform launched for ‘virtual fire door testing’

Fire doors are one of the most important forms of passive fire protection in any building, yet much of the training around them still happens on paper. UK Fire Door Training is hoping to change that with Fire Door Anatomy, a free online platform that presents a complete fire door assembly as an interactive 3D…
Hornbill recovers its beak thanks to breakthrough 3D printing procedure

For birds, their beaks almost function like our hands. They gather food, preen feathers and, in many species, help raise their young. When a southern ground hornbill at ARTIS, Amsterdam’s zoo, broke both its upper and lower beak, it was left with two little stumps. After the accident, it was no longer able to pick…
3D scanning India’s 16th-century Bull Temple in under an hour

India is home to some amazing religious architecture. Several major faiths originated there, and the country has dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, many of which are places of active worship. It’s important to keep accurate records of these sites. Age, pollution and extreme weather all take their toll on centuries-old stonework, and storms or…
Rebuilding Lemmy’s hometown theater with Artec 3D scanning

Musicians who leave a lasting mark on popular culture are usually remembered with a statue, a plaque or a street bearing their name. In Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, the hometown of Motörhead founder, frontman and principal songwriter Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, the people behind his memorial have set their sights considerably higher. The town already has a bronze…
Bambu Lab to enter the 3D scanning industry with S1 in November 2026

Shenzhen-based desktop 3D printer manufacturer Bambu Lab has announced that it will release its first 3D scanner in November 2026. For now, details around the “S1” device remain scarce. Though it already has its own page on the Bambu Lab website, this only offers a sign-up form for launch updates. The company has published neither…
YouTuber builds AI robot cameraman with Artec Studio photogrammetry

Believe it or not, all solo content creators share the same problem: there is nobody behind the camera. YouTuber WhippetInTech, has gotten around this issue by building a machine capable of doing the job for him. The result? A custom robotic arm carrying two cameras, one to record footage and another to follow him around the…
How a US Police Force is using 3D scanning for courtroom evidence

Police in Illinois, USA have revealed how they use laser scanning to record crime scenes, with the county’s chief prosecutor explaining why the technology carries so much weight in court. A crime scene rarely stays intact for long. Once evidence has been collected, crime scenes are cleared away and, within hours, life carries on as…
Penn State Harrisburg brings 3D scanning into the classroom for VR

Last autumn, students at Penn State Harrisburg were shown images of a painting few of them would have come across before. Completed in 1850, the “Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley” stands 7.5 feet high and runs 348 feet in length. Unrolled scene by scene, it was an early attempt at an immersive visual…
Artec 3D launches new software for digitizing large-scale environments, Artec Twins: The world is your dataset

Luxembourg | October 08, 2026 – Artec 3D, a world-renowned developer and manufacturer of professional 3D hardware and software, has officially launched Artec Twins, a new platform for working with massive 3D environments at a previously impossible scale and speed. Artec 3D has spent twenty years building precision into 3D capture. Artec Twins applies this approach…
SKYLANDX launches MetaCam Air 3 handheld LiDAR scanner

Reality-capture specialist SKYLANDX has launched the MetaCam Air 3, a handheld 3D scanner built around an in-house developed LiDAR sensor. Unveiled at INTERGEO 2026 in Munich, the device is designed to help surveyors gather measurement-grade spatial data from buildings, sites, and other infrastructure. The Air 3 is the latest in a line of products that…
What is LiDAR? How laser scanning works in practice

So, what is LiDAR? LiDAR stands for “light detection and ranging,” and depending on how it’s deployed, the technology can record anything from elevation changes, pits and vegetation to individual buildings and entire cities. Resulting 3D models can then be rotated, examined, and explored. Popular mapping services like Google Earth allow users to navigate incredibly…
Certified 3D scanning accuracy: Artec 3D metrology calibration laboratory achieves ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation

World-renowned 3D scanning hardware and software developer Artec 3D is delighted to announce that its in-house metrology calibration laboratory has received ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from OLAS, the Luxembourg Office of Accreditation and Surveillance. Calibration certificates issued by the Artec laboratory now carry the OLAS accreditation mark and are accepted worldwide. This is expected to be…
Artec 3D launches Artec Neo and introduces tolerance-driven 3D scanning

Global 3D scanning hardware and software leader Artec 3D has announced the launch of Artec Neo, the first tolerance-driven wireless 3D scanner, unlocking a new approach to dimensional control and reverse engineering. Artec Neo delivers metrology-grade accuracy of 0.025 mm and volumetric accuracy of 0.025 mm + 0.035 mm/m where the design demands it, while capturing…
Artec 3D launches Artec Point II, the next generation of its metrology-grade laser scanner

Global 3D scanning hardware and software leader Artec 3D has announced Artec Point II, the successor to Artec Point, its target-based handheld laser scanner for industrial metrology. With an expanded laser configuration, Point II captures up to 5.8 million points per second — more than double the original — letting operators gather denser, more detailed 3D…
Showcasing the future of AI at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026

Dassault Systèmes hosted the ever-popular 3DEXPERIENCE World (3DXW) in the USA recently – and this year’s conference didn’t disappoint, seeing the introduction of many next generation, AI-powered 3D modeling tools. Less of a traditional trade show, more a 3D design community event, 3DEXPERIENCE brings together designers, engineers, and manufacturers from all over the world. Dassault’s…
Formnext Awards 2025: Find out this year’s winners

Formnext celebrated its tenth birthday with a bang at this year’s event. The showfloor was full of new products designed to inspire fresh solutions to long-standing engineering problems. To shine a spotlight on the technologies that truly capture the show’s pioneering spirit, Formnext once again held its annual awards ceremony. This year, there were six…
Formnext 2025: All the 3D printing news live from the showfloor

Many of the industry stalwarts I spoke to at this year’s Formnext admitted to being a bit anxious in the run up to the event. Some big names are no longer present – the likes of Markforged, Desktop Metal, and Nexa3D come to mind. Macroeconomic headwinds continue to prevail. However, when we arrived on the…
Best 3D Scanner Apps in 2026

Compare the best 3D scanner apps in 2026 for LiDAR rooms, textured objects, photogrammetry, splats, and exports like OBJ, STL, and GLB.
INTERGEO 2025: 3D scanning showstoppers at a geospatial technology expo

When it comes to 3D technologies, most people think of two different types: 3D printing and 3D scanning. But there are actually many adjacent technologies, like SLAM – a mobile scanning process that’s fantastic at recreating scenes Google Earth-style with incredible realism. Though SLAM isn’t as accurate as professional 3D scanning, it’s relevant to many…
Who really invented 3D printing – and why it matters

3D printing is more accessible than ever. Nowadays, anyone can order a desktop 3D printer, grab some filament, download the right software and get started. But it wasn’t always this way. Initially, the technology was relatively expensive, large, and technically complex, making it difficult for the general public to access. It has progressed in leaps…
Artec 3D launches Artec Studio 20: an all-new 3D data capture and processing software, now with workflow automation

Luxembourg, Sep. 03, 2025 – Global 3D scanning leader Artec 3D has announced the launch of its latest 3D data capture and processing software, Artec Studio 20 (AS20). Already an all-in-one software for 3D scanning, photogrammetry, reverse engineering, and quality inspection, Artec Studio has now received further upgrades. Brand new Workflows allow for the creation…