3D Printing is the process of sequentially depositing small amounts of material in successive layers on top of each other. The printer essentially prints the first layer similarly to a regular printer (in 2 dimensions – with length & width, and only nominal height) and then prints the NEXT layer right on top of that previous layer. So with each successive (or incremental) printed layer, the height accumulates and the object begins to acquire its form in 3 dimensions.
While the printing of any single layer appears to only be in 2 dimensions (length & width) and does not seem to significantly contribute to the height of the object – the cumulative effective of the repeated process does! Similar – but the opposite of erosion!
You may hear 3D printing referred to as additive manufacturing – since it is assembling small amounts of material to produce an object – which is the opposite of manufacturing processes that start with a large chuck of material and scrape or cut pieces away to create the object (subtractive manufacturing).
