What is 3D Printing – 3D Printing Defined

3D printing turns computer models into real physical things. It takes different materials, from biodegradeable plastic filament PLA to ABS plastic to Nylon, melts it into thin layers onto a surface, moves up and prints another layer. After layer upon layer, you are left with a physical object. You can use software to make these models. Some of this software costs money, (such as Solidworks) and some of it is free (such as google sketch up).

There are many market places where you can download free things that people have already created, and print them out in your own home or office or classroom.