Shawl Every Day 2021 - Day 6 - 3D printing vs 3D modeling

3D printers have been around for several years, but a lot of people still aren’t sure what they’re all about. I’ve been printing for 3 years and the biggest confusing people have is the difference between just 3D printing and 3D modeling.

I like to think of 3D printing as making a discrete instance of a thing. I didn’t design the thing, I’m just printing it. I download a model to my computer, and use a piece of software to translate the model into instructions that the printer can understand. The printer does its thing and I end up with the finished product.

3D modeling is the process of creating that design. Some people design from scratch using a CAD program or simpler ones that can make basic shapes and merge them together. Some people also use a 3D scanner to get the information about an existing object, so they can take that model and turn it into instructions for a 3D printer.

I liken it to a knitting pattern. I didn’t create the design, I am just following the instructions the designer wrote to make a discrete instance of the design.

So when someone asks, can you print this? Well, it depends on if a model already exists out there, because in general, I’m not able to create the model itself.

Scarf pattern is Stripes, Stripes, & Stripes Scarf by Sybil R