3D Printing Technology Animations

Update: 

We recentlly used these animations for a presentation and realized that this post is so incredibly old that we call everything Rapid Prototyping. In the years since this was written, the industry has shifted to using the terms 3D Printing and Additive Manufaturing.  So we went through and updated it so people can find it easier in search engines. 

Additive Manufacturing has changed a lot since these were made and we do hope to soon update these animations, and add new technologies we did not cover.    – Eric Miller  11/8/2019


Every once in a while we get asked to go out and do presentations on 3D Printing. As part of that, we like to explain the four most common. Additive Manufacturing technologies: SLA, SLS, FDM, and Polyjet. No matter how many hand gestures we use people just don’t seem to get it unless we show an animation.

So we thought it would be good to share those with the community so that they can either learn about the basics of the technology or use these to help educate others. They are crude, we are engineers and not artists.  But they get the point across and should help people understand Additive Manufacturing better.

They are in the form of animated GIF’s, so you can put them on a website or throw them in a PowerPoint and you don’t need a viewer or special software to view them.  Click on the images to get the larger version.  Then right-mouse-button to download to your computer.

Use as you see fit, just remember to mention where you found them: P – A – D – T.

FDM-Animation

PolyJet_Animation

SLA-Animation-3

SLS-Animation

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