Thinking about printing processes

Not all 3D printers work in the same manner. The printers at the Service Bureaus, such as Shapeways, Sculpteo, and iMaterialise, use different types of technology than what is typically seen with at-home desktop printers.

All 3D printers will start with your 3D model and use an additional piece of software called a slicer to cut your object up into small cross sections, or layers. From there, all the printing processes will create your object one layer at a time. Different types of printing, however, add the material in different manners. Those differences in production processes can impact how you approach your design.