3D Printing: History, Technologies and the Future
From its creation in the 80s to today's affordable printers: understand the evolution of additive manufacturing.
3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, is the process of creating physical objects from a digital model by adding material layer by layer.
How it works
- Modeling: you create or download a 3D file (.STL or .3MF).
- Slicing: a "slicer" cuts the model into layers and generates G-code.
- Printing: the machine builds the object layer by layer.
The two most common technologies
FDM (filament): melts a plastic strand and deposits it in layers. Popular, cheap and versatile.
Resin (SLA/MSLA): uses UV light to cure liquid resin, with far superior detail.
Want to know the cost of each print? Try our FDM cost calculator.
