FYI: 2d printers deliberately place microscopic yellow markings on every page to identify the printer used.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Time to go back to 1d printers then
To create the AI model, the team fed it 9,192 photographs of parts. These parts were printed on 21 machines, which were collectively built by six brands and with four different fabrication processes. The team then gave the AI an image of a square millimeter of a printed part, and it managed to pin the print to the machine with 98% accuracy.
I wonder what the accuracy is like with a lot more machines, all of the same brand, model, and fabrication process.
Even 98% accuracy is not very good if we start talking about using this for evidence against someone in court.
Furthermore, this (probably) only works if you setup the printer in an at least similar way. You can re-level the bed, tighten or loosen any belts, change the nozzle (wear level, material, diameter), change slicer settings, use an entirely different slicer, change the room temperature, humidity, use different filaments, shake/vibrate the printer during the process etc.
At least I find it very unlikely that a 3D printer's fingerprint wouldn't be impacted by any of these.
Gunna have to 3d print a 3d printer so that it can't be tracked.
They're looking at a square millimeter of print, which means they're reading the edge profile of the nozzle, in a small sample set. Similar to barrel markings on bullets.
On other words, not very accurate.
Despite decades of seeing this stuff on TV, bullet casing "fingerprinting" isn't
Yeah, it never proves that was the barrel a bullet came out of, just that it came out of a barrel just like that one.
Takeaway: if you print anything that could land you in legal trouble, destroy and replace the nozzle when you're finished.
Reminds me of Sherlock Holmes' treatise on typewriters
"Now we'll find out who printed this ghost gun!"
"P...C...B... way?"
"Fuck."
Good bye raid shadow legends as the "meme sponsor", there's a new meme sponsor in town