Chuck Hull and the 3D printer Early life and stereolithography: Chuck Hull He was born on May 12, 1939. In 1983 Chuck invented stereolithography and later E in 1989 he founded 3D systems. Stereolithography was developed when rapid prototyping/conceptual model creation did not exist. If you were lucky you could make a working prototype even if it would take months and thousands of dollars. And while engineers used a computer to help them design and produce prototypes. There was no way to communicate with that software. SLA 1 is what became the first true rapid prototyping system, . So Chuck and 3D Systems also created the .stl (stereolithography) file format. Still in use today to complete the electronic "handshake". To transmit files for printing 3D objects. The 3D Printer The 3D printer is a method of placing a 2D image on a 3D surface. So basically, the 3D printer takes an ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) and PLA (polylactic acid) plastic and heats it really hot and extrudes it onto the sulfates of the 3D printer. To get what you want I...