{"id":464,"date":"2026-03-17T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/dtf-printing-vs-3d-printing\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T22:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T19:04:20","slug":"dtf-printing-vs-3d-printing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/dtf-printing-vs-3d-printing\/","title":{"rendered":"DTF printing vs 3D printing: what\u2019s the difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People regularly contact me looking for \u201cDTF printing in Lviv\u201d and are then surprised to have landed on a 3D printing website. The names are similar and both are \u201cprinting\u201d, but they are completely different technologies. It\u2019s like comparing a document printer and a 3D printer \u2014 both print, but the results are entirely different.<\/p>\n<p>My name is Artem Pronin, and what I do is 3D printing in Lviv. DTF printing isn\u2019t my field. But since people search for it and mix them up, I\u2019ll explain both technologies so you can work out straight away what you need.<\/p>\n<h2>What is DTF printing?<\/h2>\n<p>DTF stands for Direct to Film \u2014 literally \u201cprinting onto film\u201d. It\u2019s a technology for applying images to fabric: T-shirts, hoodies, bags, caps.<\/p>\n<p>How it works:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A special printer prints the image onto PET film<\/li>\n<li>Hot-melt powder (adhesive) is applied to the wet print<\/li>\n<li>The film is dried and heated<\/li>\n<li>The finished transfer is placed on the fabric and pressed with a heat press at 160\u2013170\u00b0C<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The result is a bright full-colour print on a T-shirt. It holds up well and survives washing. One print costs roughly 50\u2013200 UAH depending on its size.<\/p>\n<h2>What is 3D printing?<\/h2>\n<p>3D printing is the creation of physical three-dimensional objects layer by layer. I work with <a href=\"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/what-is-fdm-3d-printing\/\">FDM<\/a> technology \u2014 a plastic filament is melted and laid down in layers, gradually forming the part.<\/p>\n<p>What can be printed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electronics enclosures<\/li>\n<li>Product prototypes<\/li>\n<li>Spare parts that aren\u2019t on sale<\/li>\n<li>Mounts, holders, adapters<\/li>\n<li>Decorative figurines and souvenirs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Comparison table: DTF vs 3D printing<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Parameter<\/th>\n<th>DTF printing<\/th>\n<th>3D printing (FDM)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>What it does<\/td>\n<td>Applies images to fabric<\/td>\n<td>Creates three-dimensional plastic parts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Result<\/td>\n<td>A print on a T-shirt\/textile<\/td>\n<td>A physical 3D object<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Input file<\/td>\n<td>PNG\/JPG image<\/td>\n<td>STL\/OBJ 3D model<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Colours<\/td>\n<td>Full-colour CMYK<\/td>\n<td>One colour at a time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Price<\/td>\n<td>50\u2013200 UAH per print<\/td>\n<td>From 5 UAH\/g (PLA)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Time<\/td>\n<td>5\u201315 minutes<\/td>\n<td>From 30 min to 20+ hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>When you need DTF printing<\/h2>\n<p>DTF is your option if you want to print a logo on T-shirts, make merch for a brand or give a friend a T-shirt with a fun print. Plenty of studios in Lviv do DTF printing \u2014 search for \u201cDTF printing Lviv\u201d or \u201cT-shirt printing Lviv\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>When you need 3D printing<\/h2>\n<p>3D printing is for when you need a physical object. A part has broken and isn\u2019t on sale. You need an enclosure for your electronics project. You\u2019re making a prototype of a new product.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what I do. I print in <a href=\"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/materials\/\">PLA and PETG plastic<\/a>, with prices from 5 UAH\/g. I print from a ready-made 3D model (STL, OBJ, STEP or 3MF); if there\u2019s no model, I\u2019ll tell you where to find a ready-made one (on Printables, Thingiverse or MakerWorld) or who can make it.<\/p>\n<h2>You found me by searching \u201cDTF printing\u201d \u2014 what now?<\/h2>\n<p>If you need DTF printing (prints on clothing), I\u2019ll tell you honestly \u2014 I\u2019m not the right person. I specialise in 3D printing three-dimensional parts.<\/p>\n<p>But if you\u2019ve happened to learn about 3D printing and realised you need it too, get in touch. Perhaps you need a custom phone holder or a spare gear for your coffee machine.<\/p>\n<p>Contact me: <a href=\"tel:+380978760036\">+380 97 876 00 36<\/a> or via the <a href=\"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/contact\/\">contacts page<\/a>. I work in <a href=\"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/3d-printing-lviv\/\">Lviv<\/a> and across Ukraine \u2014 delivery by Nova Poshta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>People regularly contact me looking for \u201cDTF printing in Lviv\u201d and are then surprised to have landed on a 3D printing website. The names are similar and both are \u201cprinting\u201d, but they are completely different technologies. It\u2019s like comparing a document printer and a 3D printer \u2014 both print, but the results are entirely different. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions\/569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}