# Export Volume Rendering as stack of PNG's. NOT stl's **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Tags:** volume-rendering, 3d-printing\ **Created:** [June 29, 2018, 11:21am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/export-volume-rendering-as-stack-of-pngs-not-stls/3333 "2018-06-29T11:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 4

**Author:** ![ihnorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ihnorton/32/9_2.png) [@ihnorton](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ihnorton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/export-volume-rendering-as-stack-of-pngs-not-stls/3333/4 "2018-06-29T13:48:52Z")

> [@JoeCrozier](#): > > I thought it’d be cool if the volume rendering options in 3d slicer that provide color volumes could then be exported (with their colors) as a stack of png’s. Possible? How do I do it? This is still an area of active research, ~~and I don’t believe there is any turnkey solution implemented in Slicer right now~~ [edit: see [link below](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/export-volume-rendering-as-stack-of-pngs-not-stls/3333/7)] . See the paper linked in the post below: > [@Printing volume renderings in plastic](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/printing-volume-renderings-in-plastic/3017): > > A question that comes up on this forum from time to time is why we can’t [just 3D print the volume rendered view](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/save-volume-rendering-as-stl-file/524). We explain that most printers today expect STL surface models and we go into the difference between volume rendering and surface segmentation. I wanted to point out some just published research about new printing techniques that are much closer to directly printing out a volume rendering. These are photographs of 3D prints made using this technique: Here’s our paper that… --- _[View the full topic](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/export-volume-rendering-as-stack-of-pngs-not-stls/3333)._