Consider the Origination of Thought and 3D

Consider the origination of thought, expression of design on a PC, tablet, or mobile device, or by capturing a picture drawn on a surface and sending of an image of an object design to India, China, or Eastern Block countries for conversion into a computer aided drafting (CAD) file (Kim, 2015), which is then sent back to the originator, and then forwarded onto an individual or company that does 3D printing from CAD (usually a .STL file).  

The characteristics of the company doing 3D printing should be considered, specifically quality and complexity, printing fees, shipping fees, and interaction with the customer such that if something in the CAD file looks amiss, they will alert the customer as to the issue, and possibly suggest corrections to the file, or the 3D printer company staff may be able to correct issues with the CAD file.  In addition to quality issues, the location of the 3D printer is to be considered as well as the quality issues as the distance shipped, and the weight of the 3D printed object affect the cost of the entire process.  

References

Baltzan, P. (2015). M: Information systems (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Kim, S. (2015). 3D model data generation and conversion for 3D printers. Journal of Electronic Materials, 44(3), 815-822. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3584-5