3D printers have been around for a while, however, just until recently are the general consumer beginning to hear about them and actually have the chance to buy them. How does it work? Just as you think it might. An object is designed - Bunny, Lego Man, snowflake - using your computer, then that design gets sent to the 3D printer. Rather then just drawing a picture of the object on a piece of paper, it literally builds the object using melted plastic. Building the object layer by layer until its completion.