# How to start up with 3dprinting

**URL:** <https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [October 19, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335 "2014-10-19T17:48:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![George\_Zapat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@George\_Zapat](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/George_Zapat)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/1 "2014-10-19T17:48:23Z")

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hey all  
i currently study biomedical informatics and from the moment i heard about 3d printing i was really curious on its medical uses,i just wanted to know how could i start learning this kind of programming-engineering(programes-tutorials-books)and move to more complicated aspects of it…i would be grateful to any help

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**Author:** ![JasonSpiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@JasonSpiller](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/JasonSpiller)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/2 "2014-10-19T18:29:59Z")

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Hi

There are dozens of programs to create 3d models, some free, the better ones are quite expensive though. If you are a biomedical type then there is software that can turn mri files into printable models as well.

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**Author:** ![George\_Zapat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@George\_Zapat](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/George_Zapat)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/3 "2014-10-19T18:33:54Z")

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well i would say ,i wanted to start from something easy enough to learn then go to something more complicated,i ciould try some free software first,is matlab legit too?

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**Author:** ![JasonSpiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@JasonSpiller](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/JasonSpiller)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/4 "2014-10-19T19:42:02Z")

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Autodesk do a range of free software, I think modo is free as well.

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**Author:** ![JasonSpiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@JasonSpiller](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/JasonSpiller)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/5 "2014-10-19T19:45:51Z")

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I’m not familiar with matlab as a 3d modeling tool, I thought it was more about data analysis.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![George\_Zapat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@George\_Zapat](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/George_Zapat)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/how-to-start-up-with-3dprinting/2335/6 "2014-10-19T20:25:54Z")

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ok ty very much,i’ll try these