3D bioprinting is the process of creating cell patterns in a confined space using 3D printing technologies, where cell function and viability are preserved within the printed construct. Generally, 3D bioprinting utilizes the layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as Bioinks to create tissue-like structures that are later used in medical and tissue engineering fields. Bioprinting covers a broad range of materials. Currently, bioprinting can be used to print tissues and organs to help research drugs and pills. In addition, 3D bioprinting has begun to incorporate the printing of scaffolds. These scaffolds can be used to regenerate joints and ligaments. The first patent related to this technology was filed in the United States in 2003 and granted in 2006.

3D Hubs is an online 3D printing service platform. It operates a network of 6,370 3D printing services in over 150 countries, providing over 1 billion people access to a 3D printer within 10 miles (16km) of their home. The company facilitates transactions between 3D printing services (Hubs) and engineering/product designers that want to make 3D prints. Service bureaus can join the platform to offer 3D printing services while customers can locate them based on geography to get their 3D models printed nearby.

3D Manufacturing Format or 3MF is a file format developed and published by the 3MF Consortium. 3MF is an XML-based data format designed for using additive manufacturing, including information about materials, colors, and other information that cannot be represented in the STL format. As of today, CAD software related companies such as Autodesk, Dassault Systems and Netfabb are part of the 3MF Consortium. Other firms in the 3MF Consortium are Microsoft (for Operating system support), SLM and HP, whilst Shapeways are also included to give insight from a 3D Printing background. Other key players in the 3D printing and additive manufacturing business, such as Materialise, 3D Systems, Siemens PLM Software and Stratasys have recently joined the consortium.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), refers to processes used to create a three-dimensional object in which layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object. Objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and are produced using digital model data from a 3D model or another electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file. STL is one of the most common file types that 3D printers can read. Thus, unlike material removed from a stock in the conventional machining process, 3D printing or AM builds a three-dimensional object from computer-aided design (CAD) model or AMF file by successively adding material layer by layer. The term "3D printing" originally referred to a process that deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer. More recently, the term is being used in popular vernacular to encompass a wider variety of additive manufacturing techniques. United States and global technical standards use the official term additive manufacturing for this broader sense. ISO/ASTM52900-15 defines seven categories of AM processes within its meaning: binder jetting, directed energy deposition, material extrusion, material jetting, powder bed fusion, sheet lamination and vat photopolymerization.

There are a variety of processes and equipment used in the synthesis of a three-dimensional object. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, therefore the numerous available 3D printing processes tend to be additive in nature with a few key differences. The main areas in which these processes differ are the technologies used in the process and the materials. Some of the different types of processes include extrusion, light polymerized, continuous liquid interface production and powder bed. Each process and piece of equipment has pros and cons associated with it. These usually involve aspects such as speed, costs, as well as a material's properties and its available colors. The variety of processes and equipment allows for numerous uses by amateurs and professionals alike. Some lend themselves better toward industry use whilst others make 3D printing accessible to the average consumer. Some printers are large enough to fabricate buildings whilst others tend to micro and nanoscale sized objects.

Additive Manufacturing File Format (AMF) is an open standard for describing objects for additive manufacturing processes such as 3D printing. The official ISO/ASTM 52915:2013standard is an XML-based format designed to allow any computer-aided design software to describe the shape and composition of any 3D object to be fabricated on any 3D printer. Unlike its predecessor STL format, AMF has native support for color, materials, lattices, and constellations.

Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP; originally Continuous Liquid Interphase Printing) is a proprietary method of 3D printing that uses photo polymerization to create smooth-sided solid objects of a wide variety of shapes using resins. It was invented by Joseph DeSimone, Alexander and Nikita Ermoshkin and Edward T. Samulski and was originally owned by EiPi Systems, but is now being developed by Carbon.

Digital Light Processing (DLP) is a display device based on optical micro-electro-mechanical technology that uses a digital micromirror device. It was originally developed in 1987 by Larry Hornbeck of Texas Instruments. While the DLP imaging device was invented by Texas Instruments, the first DLP-based projector was introduced by Digital Projection Ltd in 1997. Digital Projection and Texas Instruments were both awarded Emmy Awards in 1998 for the DLP projector technology. DLP is used in a variety of display applications from traditional static displays to interactive displays and also non-traditional embedded applications including medical, security, and industrial uses. DLP technology is used in DLP front projectors (standalone projection units for classrooms and business primarily), DLP rear projection television sets, and digital signs. It is also used in about 85% of digital cinema projection, and in additive manufacturing as a light source in some printers to cure resins into solid 3D objects. Smaller "pico" chipsets are used in mobile devices including cell phone accessories and projection display functions embedded directly into phones.

Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is an additive manufacturing metal fabrication technology, occasionally referred to as selective laser sintering (SLS) or selective laser melting (SLM), that generates metal prototypes and tools directly from computer aided design (CAD) data. DMLS uses a variety of alloys, allowing prototypes to be functional hardware made out of the same material as production components. Since the components are built layer by layer, it is possible to design organic geometries, internal features and challenging passages that could not be cast or otherwise machined. DMLS produces strong, durable metal parts that work well as both functional prototypes or end-use production parts. The DMLS process begins with a 3D CAD model whereby a .stl file is created and sent to the machine’s computer program. A technician works with this 3D model to properly orient the geometry for part building and adds supports structure as appropriate. Once this "build file" has been completed, it is "sliced" into the layer thickness the machine will build in and downloaded to the DMLS machine allowing the build to begin. The DMLS machine uses a high-powered 200 watt Yb-fiber optic laser. Inside the build chamber area, there is a material dispensing platform and a build platform along with a recoater blade used to move new powder over the build platform. The technology fuses metal powder into a solid part by melting it locally using the focused laser beam. Parts are built up additively layer by layer, typically using layers 20 micrometers thick.

Electron-beam additive manufacturing is a type of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, for metal parts. Metal powder or wire is welded together using an electron beam as the heat source.