My father was an industrial design professor and I remember him showing me a 3D printed element in the early 00’s. He explained at the time that it’s the future

My father was an industrial design professor and I remember him showing me a 3D printed element in the early 00’s. He explained at the time that it’s the future but just way way too expensive and unstable for actual use cases. Chicken or egg sort of thing - I agree that it took the internet to exist