Not long after I began writing for Computer Graphics World, I was introduced to stereolithography, a technique for making parts and objects through an additive process, whereby an item is constructed by successively printing layers of a material atop one another until the object is built. This process uses CAD model files, which are read by the stereolithography machine; the machine then outputs the object in three-dimensional form. Over the years, the name "stereolithography" started to be interchanged with "rapid prototyping" and even "CNC machining." The latter, however, uses a subtractive process, whereby a machine reads a digital object file and then removes layers from a large chunk of material until the object is created. Nevertheless, the premise was the same: Users could create something real from a digital model.
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