Most popular method known to 3D-Printing practitioners is to create a model using a CAD software, export it as a stereolithography (STL) file and then feed it to the Slicer software. Slicer software is an essential part of 3D-Printing which generates numerous lines of G-Code for the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines. Generated G-Code is always made in a way that it does the printing in a layer by layer fashion.
However, layered printing might be the best method for general purpose 3D-printing, but there are specific needs for peculiar objectives that require continuous vertical movement for printing in an upward linear fashion. This requirement can be satisfied only by external modification of the G-Code as all the slicer software lack this functionality. This movement can be administered by the modification and addition of Z-Axis parameters in the existing G-Code. To add the linear vertical movement, G-Code can be edited manually by doing some calculations for co-ordinates and extrusion. Editing a G-Code with large number of instructions manually is a tedious method and does not suit the practical application, where timing and accuracy are crucial. For this reason, there is a need of a software program which can calculate the available co-ordinates for the linear-vertical movement and automatically add the necessary G-Code lines to the original slicer generated G-Code.
Looking forward to the possibility of linear Z-Axis printing, there can be numerous opportunities for 3D-Bioprinting experimentation.