Nowadays, digital light processing and stereolithography are being commonly used for 3D printing of optical components due to their high resolution, precision, and low cost [1, 2]. These techniques use a photosensitive resin that is cured layer-by-layer through ultraviolet (UV) exposure. Each printing layer experiences varying light intensity, with the regions closer to the UV source being more exposed, resulting in a gradient refractive index across the layer [3]. This work numerically evaluates the impact of the printing angle on the imaging performance of a 3D-printed lens using a ray tracing algorithm in COMSOL Multiphysics. For this, the influence of the gradient refractive index across each printing layer was taken into consideration, using a “sawtooth” transition zone with a thickness of 50 µm. This layer thickness aligns with the range of printing resolutions commonly used to print optical components, which range between 10 and 50 µm [4, 5]. The results revealed that the printing angle significantly influences lens performance, particularly affecting the spot size and the deviation of the focal point relative to the optical axis. Printing layers parallel to the optical axis yielded the worst imaging performance, while those perpendicular to it achieved better results (see Figure 1).