Before the Rapid prototype technologies made its appearance in the market, the traditional CNC had the sway. However, with the coming up of the new technology the older one is now on the wane.

It does not mean that the new technology does not face criticisms or there are no such people who even today prefer subtractive CNC methods. The main criticism leveled by such people against rapid prototyping is that it is never a solution to each and every fabrication problem faced by the manufacturing industry.

Proponents of CNC claim that the older technology was easily comprehensible. It offered you the scope of selecting materials from a host of items. It is also excellent for accuracy though may be lagging behind the prototyping system in terms of speed. However, even the best proponents of CNC agree that when it becomes necessary to produce some part or the object with even moderate complex geometry, prototyping is perhaps the better technology.

The reason is that CNC is neither suitable to address complexities nor it is as fast as the rapid prototyping method. With CNC you cannot expect migrating from STL to part in 24 hours that fast as is possible with rapid prototyping. Moreover the accuracy in case of rapid prototyping is as good as that of CNC. Therefore the methodology is quite adequate for a large and wide range of applications for exacting them.