3D printing glossary

Additive Manufacturing (AM) describes the technologies that build 3D objects by adding layers of material. 3D printing is a sub-type of Additive Manufacturing.

A brim is a layer of plastic that is placed on the first layer of the print go allow for better adhesion to the printing surface. It is the recommended type of 'Plate adhesion' in Cura settings.

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer systems to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimisation of a design. CAD programs are widely used by architects, engineers, industrial and graphics designers for creating technical drawings, 2D & 3D models, animations for special effects in movies etc.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used for modeling, prototyping, and production applications as trademarked by Stratasys Inc.. It is one of the techniques used for 3D printing. FDM works on an "additive" principle by laying down material in layers; a plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplies material to produce a part. Thus, FDM is also known as a solid-based AM technology.

Schematic representation of the 3D printing technique known as Fused Filament Fabrication; a filament a) of plastic material is feeded through a heated moving head b) that melts and extrudes it depositing it, layer after layer, in the desired shape c). A moving platform e) lowers after each layer is deposited. For this kind of technology additional vertical support structures d) are needed to sustain overhanging parts.

G-code is a language in which people tell computerized machine tools how to make something. The "how" is defined by g-code instructions provided to a machine controller (industrial computer) that tells the motors where to move, how fast to move, and what path to follow.

A polygon mesh is a collection of vertices, edges and faces that defines the shape of a polyhedral object in 3D computer graphics and solid modeling.