This commentary discusses current capabilities of vat photopolymerization, an additive manufacturing (AM) technique also known as VP, with recent advances in the literature, current challenges/limitations, and future outlook in novel materials design. Current trends and recent research advances are broadly discussed covering a spectrum of material classes such as performance, medicine, energy, and active materials in parallel to their importance in diverse technologies. Current challenges and limitations of VP are also discussed in terms of material properties, photo-degradation, and material toxicity with directions in future material design to overcome these challenges. This commentary paper is intended to be of broad interest to both chemists and engineers actively involved in the AM field, in terms of future material design and processing for further development of VP-based AM technology.