BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, USA, October 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Top-of-the-line offering sets industry bar for build size, quality, colour and speed

Z Corporation, maker of the world's fastest 3D printers, today took a major leap forward in multicolour 3D printing with its unveiling of the ZPrinter(R) 650, which delivers the industry's biggest models, highest-quality colour and finest resolution.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040630/ZCORPLOGO)

The ZPrinter 650 is engineered specifically to satisfy the most demanding requirements in engineering, education, AEC, GIS and entertainment. With the largest build volume of any 3D printer, it enables users to print very large, high-resolution, multicolour models in hours or to make many smaller models at once.

Z Corporation remains the industry's only maker of 3D printers capable of printing in multiple colours and has raised the industry standard once again. For the first time ever, the ZPrinter 650 adds a dedicated black print head to the standard cyan, magenta, yellow and clear colours to deliver richer and consistent colour from part to part, build to build. Superior size and colour come with more than double the resolution of other devices: 600 x 540 dpi. The ZPrinter 650 combines these qualities with Z Corporation's documented speed, automation and office compatibility.

The ZPrinter 650 is the machine we've been waiting for, said beta user William Effrece, Laboratory Manager of Stanley Tools, which uses 3D printing for concept prototypes from initial idea through to the unveiling of products at its annual sales meeting. Z Corp. has listened to our opinions and delivered on all of our requests, resulting in a fantastic improvement in 3D printing performance. Our various engineering and executive teams demand fast turnaround on an ever-increasing quantity of models, and we are all sticklers for quality. The large build volume, colour quality, resolution and automation make the ZPrinter 650 our preferred method for delivering full-scale multicolour concept prototypes on deadline every time without much user interface with the printer.

We're making a greater quantity of better footwear models with the ZPrinter 650, said beta user Toby Ringdahl, CAD Manager, Global Footwear Product Development at Timberland. All the new automation reduces touch time and keeps our work area tidy, and the new black really makes our footwear concepts pop. The large build volume significantly improves our productivity, which is critical for a busy company like Timberland.

Key firsts include:

Biggest models: No other 3D printer can match the ZPrinter 650's 10 x 15 x 8 inch (254 x 381 x 203 mm) build size, which prints very large models in a single piece. The large build size also enables users to produce multiple models at once, which is virtually impossible with competing technologies that rely on cumbersome structural supports.

Best colour: The ZPrinter 650 employs full-spectrum 24-bit colour and five print heads - clear, cyan, magenta, yellow and black - to simultaneously print in multiple colours, delivering the highest colour quality and consistency across hundreds of thousands of possible colour combinations. Competing 3D printers can print only in monochrome on one of five coloured materials, one colour at a time. This approach requires separate builds, repetitive manual material loading and painstaking assembly to create multicolour models.

Highest resolution: The ZPrinter 650's 600 x 540 dpi resolution is the highest resolution in a 3D printer, producing models with the finest detail and accuracy.

Speed: The ZPrinter 650 is five to 10 times faster than other systems, enabling model production in hours, not days, to support engineering departments and classrooms with ease.

Ease of use: The ZPrinter 650 is the easiest-to-use large format 3D printer ever with fully automated set-up and monitoring, no-touch powder and binder loading, and automatic powder recycling.

Office Suitability: The ZPrinter 650 is quiet, safe and clean with an all-in-one self-contained design compatible with other equipment in the professional office environment.

Other 3D printers in the Z Corp. product line are the ZPrinter(R) 310 Plus, a monochrome entry-level rapid prototyping system, and the ZPrinter(R) 450 and Spectrum Z(TM)510 mid-range multicolour printers.

Our customers want to quickly and easily produce big models in high volumes with the highest resolution and most realistic colours, said Z Corporation CEO John Kawola. These are exactly the capabilities we've delivered with the ZPrinter 650, part of our ongoing commitment to raising the bar on 3D printing quality and automation in the industry and throughout our entire product line.

Pricing, Availability

The ZPrinter 650 is available now through Z Corp.'s worldwide reseller network for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of 38,525 GBP.

About Z Corporation

Z Corporation makes products that enable users to capture, edit and print 3D data with unprecedented speed, ease, versatility and affordability. These products include the world's fastest high-definition 3D printers - machines that produce physical 3D models from digital data in full colour, and uniquely portable 3D scanners - handheld machines that digitise 3D surfaces in real time. Z Corp. technology is enabling a wide range of applications in manufacturing, architecture, civil engineering, reverse engineering, geographic information systems (GIS), medicine and entertainment.

Contact: Julie Reece Ed marshall Z Corporation Beaupre Co. Public Relations +1-781-852-5058 +1-603-559-5816 jreece@zcorp.com emarshall@Beaupre.com www.zcorp.com www.beaupre.com

Web site: http://www.zcorp.com

Julie Reece of Z Corporation, +1-781-852-5058, jreece@zcorp.com; or Ed Marshall of Beaupre Co. Public Relations for Z Corporation, +1-603-559-5816, emarshall@Beaupre.com; Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040630/ZCORPLOGO, AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com