Prusa Academy

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The knowledgebase located here at help.prusa3d.com is aimed to help user assemble the printer, service it and if needed get instructions for troubleshooting. If you want to extend your personal knowledge even further, there is a new project called Prusa Academy. It is a library of online courses on 3D printing. It will cover everything from the very basics to advanced 3D topics, focused both on our products and general 3D printing related stuff.

Note that the beginners’ courses are not meant to replace our existing free sources of information, like the Help.prusa3d.com or the 3D printing handbooks. It’s just that they should offer a more streamlined, beginner-friendly option, taking advantage of more interactive and visual tools.

What courses are available already?

• 3D Printing and Modeling for Beginners (MK3S+)
• 3D Printing and Modeling for Beginners (MINI+)
• Design Principles for 3D Printed Parts

The main target audience of the two beginners’ courses is absolute 3D printing newbies who purchase an assembled variant of the printer. However, most of the content is equally useful for people with the kit variant, or, actually, even for owners of just about any 3D printer out there. The lessons follow a very straightforward path, getting to the first successful print as quickly as possible.

In the subsequent lessons, we focus on where to download more 3D models (introducing Printables.com), how to prepare them for 3D printing with PrusaSlicer, and ultimately, how to create your own simple designs, using Tinkercad or Fusion 360.

The Design Principles for 3D Printed Parts course was created in collaboration with Joseph Casha of the Breaks’n’Makes Youtube channel. It is aimed at people who already know the basics of 3D modeling, but struggle with adapting to the specific limitations of 3D printing.

How are the courses arranged?

The courses are arranged in short paragraphs, using icons and color-coding to mark extra tips, warnings, active tasks, etc. We also use tooltips to explain some technical terms without having to clutter the main text with definitions. There are also many useful links to other information sources like our blog articles or the Help.prusa3d.com, for inspiration and further study.

Each course contains quizzes to help you check your newly gained knowledge along the way. If you make any mistakes, you can return to the lessons, catch up, and attempt again as many times as you like. If you pass all of the quizzes successfully, you will get a nice certificate with your name on it. Keep in mind that if you don’t care about the certificate, none of the quizzes are mandatory. You don’t have to “unlock” anything, the whole content of each course is available right from the beginning. Advance at your own pace, jump back and forth, and skip whatever you want.

How to purchase the courses?

The existing courses cost 5-10 USD in our e-shop. Note that you cannot mix the courses with regular products, there have to be separate orders. Right after the purchase, you will get a confirmation email with a link to the course. Then you can access it with your Prusa Account credentials (i.e. the same login as for the e-shop, Printables.com, etc.). No extra registration is needed. Also, there are no limits regarding the number of devices using the course.

The beginners' courses are free for customers who purchase the assembled variant of that particular printer..