# 3D Printing > 3D Printing in Education > Teachers & Professors >  Graph to 3D Print (Calculus and Cross Sectional Volumes)

## CalcT

Hello,

I am new to 3D printing and to these forums.  I am plying around with some concepts in a Calculus class I am teaching, and I was wondering if anyone knew a way to import graphs and equations into a CAD program.  We have been playing with Cura and TinkerCad as well as our graphing calculators and DESMOS online.  If there were some way to copy and paste a 2D graph from DESMOS into a CAD program that could then be raised into the 3rd dimension, that would be most perfect.  Right now we're playing with hollow cylinders, but I'd like to get some more complicated base shapes for 3D figures.

Additionally, if after this, I were somehow able to raise a figure with same shape but different sized cross sections (think, a football cake that has semicircular cross sections of different sized depending on the diameter placed on the base of the cake), it would be eternally useful.

If there is another more appropriate place for me ask this, let me know.

Thanks!

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## ralphzoontjens

Hello there,

Solidworks works with equations: http://help.solidworks.com/2015/Engl...=&ProductName=
You can readily import the stl from SW into Cura.
If you can output the graph as .dwg or .eps you can also import those as sketches and then extrude them in 3D.
If you want to get very advanced look into Rhinoceros + Grasshopper supported by the forum at grasshopper3d.com

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## curious aardvark

you might also want to look at openscad. 
Not only could you simply input the equations and have it generate a 3d graph, but you can import 2d dxf files and extrude them into 3d very easily. 
And it's free software :-) 
Ralph's suggestions are anything but free ;-)

If you're graphing program won't export as dxf - simply use a screen grab and convert it in a paint program.

Haven't looked at cura for a while, but sure I remember it had an extrude option for jpegs or png files. There are add on modules, sure one was an extrude function.

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