Stock-Based Compensation Plans (Narrative) (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares item
Granted Before November 13, 2015 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	3 years
Granted After November 13, 2015 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	3 years
Granted After November 13, 2015 [Member] \| First Year [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award vesting rights, percentage	33.33%
Granted After November 13, 2015 [Member] \| Second Year [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award vesting rights, percentage	33.33%
Granted After November 13, 2015 [Member] \| Third Year [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Award vesting rights, percentage	33.33%
Stock Options [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Stock compensation expense	$ 15,213
Stock Options And Restricted Stock Awards [Member] \| 2015 Plan [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of market conditions for stock award vesting \| item	2
Trading price for stock award tranche one \| $ / shares	$ 30
Trading price for stock award tranche two \| $ / shares	$ 40
Stock award tranche granting period	90 days
Restricted Stock Awards [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Stock compensation expense	$ 5,624
Weighted Average [Member] \| Stock Options [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	4 years
Weighted Average [Member] \| Restricted Stock Awards And Restricted Stock Unit Awards [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	1 year 6 months
Stock compensation expense	$ 34,859
Weighted Average [Member] \| Restricted Stock Awards [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Vesting period	4 years

Number of market conditions for stock award vesting.

No definition available.

Name:	ddd_NumberOfMarketConditionsForStockAwardVesting
Namespace Prefix:	ddd_
Data Type:	xbrli:positiveIntegerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Stock award tranche granting period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddd_StockAwardTrancheGrantingPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	ddd_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Trading price for stock award tranche one.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddd_TradingPriceForStockAwardTrancheOne
Namespace Prefix:	ddd_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Trading price for stock award tranche two.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ddd_TradingPriceForStockAwardTrancheTwo
Namespace Prefix:	ddd_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of equity-based compensation, related to restricted stock units or restricted stock awards, recognized as expense or an asset, if compensation is capitalized.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AdjustmentsToAdditionalPaidInCapitalShareBasedCompensationRestrictedStockUnitsRequisiteServicePeriodRecognition
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingPeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of vesting of share-based compensation awards.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SharebasedCompensationArrangementBySharebasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingRightsPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardDateAxis=ddd_GrantedBeforeNovember132015Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardDateAxis=ddd_GrantedAfterNovember132015Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VestingAxis=us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationAwardTrancheOneMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VestingAxis=us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationAwardTrancheTwoMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VestingAxis=us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationAwardTrancheThreeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_EmployeeStockOptionMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=ddd_StockOptionsAndRestrictedStockAwardsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PlanNameAxis=ddd_TwoThousandFifteenPlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_RestrictedStockMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_WeightedAverageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=ddd_RestrictedStockAwardsAndRestrictedStockUnitAwardsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: