Figure 1. Vertebral model orientation in anatomical position in relation to the print bed.

(A) The vertebral models are arranged in anatomical position with the inferior endplate parallel to the print bed within the virtual environment of the slicing software. This is the factory default setting for majority of slicing software programs. (B, C) Due to the required motion of the printer head in the X-Y plane to create the sliced model, gravitational error and material cooling caused model integrity compromise in the inferior endplate and superior facets (arrows).