The technology of 3D printing is a bit like cooking. You have a
technique or process (Italian or Chinese cooking) that influences
the specific materials (pizza dough or rice) used and dictates the
hardware (pizza oven or wok). It has software (a recipe) and a
file format (cooking instructions, such as the oven temperature
and time), all of which you use to make something to eat. In
3D printing, the technique or process dictates the materials,
hardware, software, and file format you will use to make the
object you want. And just as with cooking, the hardware is a lot
bigger if you cook for hundreds of people rather than for just you
and your family. Some 3D printers would barely fit in your living
room, while others are small enough to fit in your backpack.
THE BASICS
The ingredients of any 3D-printed object include a process,
materials, hardware, software, and file format. How do these
ingredients interact in 3D printing? With the software, you
create a digital image of the object you want to create (the
recipe). You then save the digital image in a 3D printing file
format (the cooking instructions). The file format does two
