The Sketchup blog covers personal fabrication in the form of CNC fabrication and Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
2D CNC Fabrication is all about cutting parts out of flat sheets of material. These flat pieces are then manually assembled into a 3D object by means of slots, fasteners or glue.
Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing, as less fancy people call it) involves squirting material onto a platform. Starting at the bottom and working up, layers are “printed” on top of each other until a 3D object is formed. Different 3D printing machines use plastic, resin, powder (which is hardened into a solid) and even metal. Printed objects can be monochrome or multi-colored.
