3D Printing/Models

Manual
It is possible to design a 3D model from the ground up for 3D printing using standard 3D software.

3D Scanning
3D Scanning through techniques such as photogrammetry can be used to duplicate real world objects.

Editing
Some models, such as those created by 3D scanning, require cleanup before they can be printed.

3D models on a computer can represent things that are impossible to recreate in reality. Thus for a model to be 3D printable, it must represent an actual object, without errors in an object that would cause the interior of the model to not be watertight.

STL
.stl has become a defacto standard for many 3D printer slicer programs.

3MF
3MF is an open source format that offers a number of improvements over .stl, such as being more error resistant and including color information.

Related Wikibooks

 * Blender 3D: Noob to Pro
 * Wings 3D