Didn’t catch our latest episode of Shop Talk yet? We got you.

Shop Talk is a podcast by Autodesk Fusion where we hang out with designers and makers live from their workshops. We’re excited to give our listeners candid conversations with talented folks who pour their hearts and soul into their craft. In this episode, we met up with Joseph Willis to talk about his love for 3D printing and design.

Joseph Willis is a 3D printing hobbyist from Philadelphia, Mississippi who has built a sizeable following online sharing tutorials and tips. He’s also in a residency program for radiology, where he marries the field of medicine and 3D imaging. With his unique insight on 3D printing and years of learning, we think you’ll love this episode.

Go watch the full episode by following the link below! Otherwise, here’s an excerpt from Jonathon and Joseph’s conversation.

What you’re doing [in medical school] is very technical. You’re dealing, with technology, obviously, but it’s very different from designing stuff in 3D. What kind of kind of doctor are you going to be when you’re done with your residency?

I’m in radiology residency, so I’ll be going into radiology. There are actually some interesting parallels between that and 3D printing and design. There heavy usage of 3D visualization in CT scans and MRIs, where you have to know your visuospatial positioning. The way photos are taken in CT scans is similar to how you slice up a 3D model. There’s quite a bit of carryover.

Doctors also do 3D printing now for pre-surgical planning to see the anatomy, hold it in their hands, and map out how to approach surgery. Because there’s so much crossover between radiology and 3D printing and design, I think it’s a good fit for me and I’ve enjoyed it so far.

I never thought about that, but that’s what medicine is, right? If you’re dealing with radiology, imaging, or surgery it’s inherently three-dimensional and super complicated. You used to only be able to learn anatomy with cadavers. It must be a huge help to see stuff in 3D.

Yeah, definitely. You can see something 2D on a screen, but there are 3D reconstructions that can occur to get a better visualization of all the arteries and veins that course through your brain and body. It’s really great for people in medicine.

But even outside of medicine, learning to visualize things in 3D is sometimes challenging, but a good skill to develop. Modeling and 3D design is a good way for you to think in the three-dimensional space.

Fusion has obviously been what I’ve been using for that. When you slice something, you can see each individual slice. Or you can do a cross-sectional cut and infusion to see how tolerances are interacting with each other. So there’s a heavy correlation between radiology and 3D design.

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