8 great 3D printer slicer features you might not know about
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ค. 2024
- To 3D print, you first must slice. Beyond the basics, slicers have some powerful features you may not know about. In this video, I worked through a list of lesser known tips compiled with the help of my patrons. How many did you already know? Any that should have been in the list? Let me know in the comments.
Publically available models from this video:
Low poly fox: www.thingiverse.com/thing:937740
Calibration cube: www.thingiverse.com/thing:127...
0:00 Introduction
0:37 Slicer compatibility
PrusaSlicer latest releases: github.com/prusa3d/PrusaSlice...
1:14 Controlling print speed with max volumetric flow rate
TT calibration website flow rate test: teachingtechyt.github.io/cali...
CNC Kitchen flow rate process: www.cnckitchen.com/blog/flow-...
OrcaSlicer video: • Bambu Studio OrcaSlice...
Cura max flowrate support: / new_cura_feature_maxim...
3:53 Per filament Z offset
5:03 Spiral Z hop
Diagonal Z hop video: • Diagonal Z hop - Help ...
Overhang egg on Printables: www.printables.com/model/1585...
6:37 Combining infill for speed and strength
8:23 Fuzzy skin using modifiers
10:34 Adding holes
11:46 Adding text
13:38 Splitting large parts with connectors
Old video on splitting parts: • Oversized 3D printing:...
15:10 Conclusion
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If you scale fuzzy skin right down (to something like 0.2mm for both thickness and distance) and it can help hide layer lines without massively affecting the external surface design.
What are layer lines?
The horizontal banding you see on your printed model due to it being printed layer by layer@@RavenPhoenix696
@@RavenPhoenix696 The line/small fridge between extruded layers that make 3d prints like they were 3d printed. I'll try that setting.
Yeah, I have started using it for all of my parts, they look amazing
The upcoming alpha features in Prusa Slicer are super nice! I'm really glad that it's opensource and that derivative slicers will benefit from it.
Prusaslicer FTW. I moved away from Cura and never looked back. Tree supports are awesome and ease of use. My goto for sure. I sell TPU drone prints.
@@armani007E55 How would a TPU drone work!? that sounds super floppy xD
@@thelogan4641 ha! TPU protecters for arms and gopro holders etc. TH-cam Johnnyfpv.
One of the most useful slicer features to me is variable layer heights. That gives you the precision of a small layer height with the speed of a high layer height. It saves a lot of time while still getting pretty results
It is also in Cura
It's a very nice feature and I use it in Cura. Sometimes it adds to the print time though so make sure to compare with this on and off. There are settings that let you configure how much it can change the layer height.
Is it one of the settings that Cura lets you set per model? If so, you could use a modifier model to limit it to certain layer groups. There's also "Change at Z", if that's still around...
@@TinaDanielsson If it adds print time it will do so to increase the quality. But that can be tuned (at least, it can be with PrusaSlicer)
I started to use diferent layer highs in Simplify3d manually… at around 2016. And Prusa Slicer (Slic3r) started to do it auto at around 2018… nowadays Cura have to but they don’t create this feature
I want to add 2 things about Cura:
1. Cura does have a round-about way of making a boolean cut;
-add the cutting body you want to cut out (you can generate some basic shapes with the Parts-for-Calibration extension)
-move the cutting body into position
-select the cutting body and under per-model settings go to Modify settings for overlaps
-set it from infill only to cutting mesh
-select the settings for wall thickness, top/bottom thickness and infill density
-set them all to 0
2. Cura has an infill line multiplier, meaning it can generate infill made up of multiple extrusions per line. A multiplier of 2 lines with connected infill lines for example can make lightning infill way more reliable, as all infill within a layer can be printed without any retractions, therefore no curling at the edges and less movements across the lightning structures. I once had a failure about 10 hours into a large sculpture print caused by lightning infill's weaknesses, which I prevented this way on the next try.
Infill line multipliers can also be used aesthetically, as I did with my phone case. I designed the case in a way that its appearance could be modified with infill structures. I set it to a 6 times multiplier, and now my phone is adorned by a nice, robust hexagon pattern with 3mm wide lines.
Cura does lack a few things that I want that other slicers have, but it also still has some merits.
I use cutting meshes in Cura quite often.
Yeah everyone seems to forget about cura's plugins and marketplace when talking about what it doesn't have. Plenty of tools from slic3r etc are fully implemented in Cura already as plugins, so there's no need for them to reinvent the wheel and build something from scratch that already is in the slicer. I've been using a few of their plugins for model manipulation and find them quite handy.
Cura is my go to for about 4 years now. I've given all the others a fair shot but find them to be a lot less user friendly and way more confusing to navigate. +1 for team Cura here
Can we please just admit Cura sucks?
Thanks!
You never fail to deliver great informative videos Michael. Many thanks to you fr showing us the new features in these slicers!
Excellent guide by all means. I barely knew a few of those, and the key ones I wasn't aware were the ones related with speeding up the print, which are fantastic. Thanks!
I'm always happy to see that I didn't missed out on a feature. I've used them all before.
Whoa.... thanks! I was currently printing a larger part with a good deal of infill. I tried the infill layer tip and cut 2 hours off the print time! I also loved the text, negative space, and connectors. I am making some custom schaller bins for our kitchen drawer and since the bin is bigger than my print bed, these will come in handy! Thanks again1
Excellent video. Learned a few new tricks. One of my favorites is to make hex screens in by turning off top and bottom layers to expose the infill,
Thanks for your videos and time. I've learned so much from your and other channels about 3d printing over the past couple years.
The splitting option in prusaslicer shows me new ways.
I have modeled a part in onshape, but I can't get it to split into 2 parts with connectors. So I could just do that with the slicer.
Thanks for all the videos. You always learn something new.
Wow! I'm glad I found this. I'll be back and taking notes. Thank you.
Thank you for another in-depth video. As always, your coverage of the subject is most thorough and easy to understand by laymen like myself. Super thanks for the Z-hop part: I can finally print the Fan Test model without breaking it mid-way. :D
Excellent timing. I'm about to split large model into 3 parts. Now it's easy to add dowels to join them. 👍
I SURE HOPE that eventually there will be no need for these hundreds of options and instead there will simply be an OPTIMIZE function that does a full analysis of the object to be printed, taking into account the printer and filament being used, your desires regarding quality and perhaps print time, and produces an optimized GCode file. Maybe it could also make recommendations, based on your desired output, as to which filament, printer, quality, and print time you're aimning for. The current need to have the user make all these decisions is just crazy. Surely some advanced analysis techniques, perhaps even employing Artificial Intelligence, could be aplied to this problem and come up with something that makes it increibly easy to achieve the best possible prints.
Those are amazing tips. Thank you so much!
Another informative video that is clear, concise, and well illustrated.
Thanks for the combine infill tip, I've learned something really useful today 👍
Prusa Sicer alpha has a pretty neat feature that allows you to take measures on the model, it even recognizes circles in the STL (it's normally complicated as circles are polygons on STLs)
The adding text feature already exists in bambu studio and its derivatives it called text shape, and it worked wonder, kind of hard to figure it out but once you got it much very powerful
In Orca its also possible to add Text in many ways
How many did I know, NONE!! Thank you for the informative video.
Instead of "fuzzy", I'd like to see a patterned version of fuzzy skin. "Wall texture" I'd call it. Various patterns that could be applied to wall lines.
Very good wrap up of all the nice features. Well done! Thank you. Especially with showing the place to find the options.
Regarding the model cutting and adding studs to it in PrusaSlicer: I would love to have it more parametric as dragging it around by hand is quite a pain.
holly MOLLY i had no idea the CUT had CONNECTORS!? wow!! Thank you!!!! I've been doing them in tinkercad for years!
I learned so much from this video, thanks man!
Wow I learnt a lot today, thanks for these grerat videos!
Awesome video Michael. I only knew a couple of these slicer tweaks.
Fantastic tips, Michael! Thanks a bunch! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Man the fuzzy skin text modifier is slick!!
Great tips, thanks Michael!
awesome tips!! I haven't really used any of these but excited to try them out.
Very informative video. Thank you!
Great minds think alike Michael! Just released a similar video last week with some overlap. Keep up the good work. I love your tutorials.
freaking cool, some of those things i didn't knew, thx man
A feature I've been wanting is adaptive infill or change infill at layer height. So If I want a weighty base a more dense/strong section I can modify the infill for one exact area.
PrusaSlicer is really cool about that, because you can define "height zones" where you can not only change the layer height, but almost *every* setting the slicer has.
For example, I recently printed a part that didn't need infill or fine layers, so the majority of the model had 0% infill and 0.28 layers, but the one section where fine layers were needed, I just needed to tell it from which height to which height I wanted fine layers. And before that section I turned infill back on to 15% so lightning could provide some support as well.
The part looks a little weird, because of the drastic difference in surface finish from the layerheight, but it was functionally exactly as intended and on top saved time and a little filament.
As for the adaptive infill, it also offers adaptive cubic infill, but I haven't played around with it much to know how it works. But just being able to bump the % up for a section of height is already plenty. I think the overlap method that Cura uses can also be used in PrusaSlicer, and with that a lateral section could be given denser infill than the rest.
I really recommend following Michael's advice and checking out the PrusaSlicer alpha versions. I started using it with 2.6-a5 and now got 2.6-a6 and I barely miss Cura.
In fact, there's only two things I miss from Cura: extensions and parameter formulas. But PrusaSlicer is working better for me in everything else to massively outweighing the "loss".
@@BloodyMobile yea indeed this can already be perfectly done in prusaSlicer! :)
I believe this is a feature in Cura
@@Frappe3621Cura has a setting called "Gradual Infill Steps". You set in how many steps the infill will be increased from 0% at the bottom to your configured infill density is at the top.
If you're using Cura you can add an extra model (a cube from "Part for calibration" plugin for example) and configure Per Model Settings -> Modify settings for overlap (Infill mesh only) with the infill density and pattern you want. Then place that model at different locations. For example one model at 0-1 mm, another at 1-3 mm and so on. It's not per layer, but you can calculate the heights quite easily. There's probably a similar process in other slicers.
I've been wondering why alternative layer height for infill or supports wasn't a feature. Now I know it is. Cool stuff!
Amazing video. So many awesome features. Thank you.
Nice video!
You can make truss like structures without the need to model all of it by using triangle infill with zero top and bottom layers and then play with the number of perimeters and extrusion width to make it more stable. With modifiers you can make this as a design element on parts of your print and print other parts normally. You can make this with planters for instance and have drainage holes without modelling.
Thanks, these are super useful tips! I'm new and didn't know about fuzzy skin for example, that seems pretty cool!
That was some fantastic information, especially the last half of the video. I will most definitely be using some of those features!
Very useful tips, thanks!
9:24 That one is absolute banger !!!!
Yay! I see you got a Renault sponsorship!
;-)
Yay! Orca added text, same UI. It's really well worked!
Awesome info, thanks for what you do
Great stuff, cheers!
Cura has a Z Offset plugin, and if you add that, and also the Material Setting plugin, you can save the Z Offset as a part of per-filament profiles. I have a small offset in each of my PETG profiles.
Yes, this ^
I'll have to give prusa slicer a try. I really like a lot of the features that you showcased that cura just doesn't have
Thanks for the great vid.
Thank you for this! :)
Loving the F1 gear you got on
This is an excellent video
Makes me realise I gotta start learning Prusa Slicer. I’ve been missing out
This is a really good video.
Very excited for this since I don't ussualy use slicing software to modify models
Brilliant video. Think it’s time to switch to Prusa !
Thank you 🙏
Orca has text too.
And Bambu slicer
We join YOU brother Mickael.
Just a little note for anyone that would happen to use infill layer thickness and is using a stock ender hotend, you will need to slow the infill layers down when you use it because the thicker infill layers will end up pushing more plastic through the hotend and it won't be able to keep up causing extruder skips if you leave the default speed on
Love the text feature.
Id be keen to see how flexible filaments work with the fuzzy skin.
You could use the fuzzy skin masking(smooth and ruff) for soft handle portions on a hard print.
I have owned a 3d printer for a month and already I noticed that PLA and PETG need different z-offsets, as the latter extrudes much more soft, therefore doesn't need to be squished as much. Would definitely be an useful feature in my slicer!
Right on. Finally this issue is getting noticed. I've been changing my offset manually when changing filament type forever now.
You have probably done these before ... With Prusa Slicer. Add part / Cylinder, unset the scale factor lock, set z height to your layer height (ie 0.15mm with 0.4 nozzle), then lower the newly created one layer high disk to the plane, (button far RHS of position row) and then move the disk around to corners of the model that have been lifting (on a hard to print model) ... and you have mouse ears. Copy paste the disk for all corners, and wherever else it may be lifting (usually sharp corners). Another is say you want variable infill ... typically a structural piece .. you set 20% for most of the model but need 80% around a bolt hole that will be clamped to stop it crushing the model ... Add modifier / Cylinder ... move it over the hole you want to strengthen ... set Cylinder infill to 80% and the bolt hole is now reinforced.
Awesome. Didn’t know that
You can scale or cut down something. But I have also cut a model in half, reduced a middle section and then moved the two halves together to do some quick CAD.
I always use cura, but found that prusa has better model editing options. So I often edit something with the prusa slicer, and export it to STL, then I can still slice it on Cura.
May save some time, and now you can use most of these cool prusa features in other slicers.
5:01 you do have gcode overrides per filament (filament tab, custom gcode) where you can add the z offset. This will be saved as part of that specific filament shettings.
Hi Michael I'm still new to using a 3d printer and I have a creality cr10 pro v2 and it recommended cura for my slicing program but was wondering if the prusa alpha slicer could be used for my slicing instead of cura cause I have a lot of big items that I want to print and the feature for adding pegs and holes would really help so I don't have to use mesh mixer thanks again for your time and great video
In Prusa Slicer if you want to print multiple instance of the imported item set that via the right click on item Number of Instances that way if you make changes to the item to be printed, (mouse ears, variable infill, etc etc) it is automatically applied to all the other instances.
Ohhhhhhh em gee thank you I've needed that in the past but now I know!
Quick note, you can now do the final tip on cutting and adding dowels and plugs in the latest version Bambu Studio!!
This... This is fucking awesome! Nice video mate!
Really love your videos. I have something that I've been trying to figure out and can't. How do you delete the print history on the Sonic Pad? Can not figure this one out.
I really want to see the global z offset in prusaslicer , great feature
I often combine negative volumes with sinking to select exactly the part of the model I want to test-print. If I'm fitting a peg in a hole, I don't need to print the entire drone to check the fit.
Thankyou for a great Chanel. Is there any slicer software that can handle 35 extruder heads. Im´ working on a record braking 3d Printer with 7 gantry and 5 print heads on each and so fare every thing looks fine but I need some slicer software that can handle this little beast of a 3d Printer, Any replay are very welcome
I'm not sure if anyone else knows this but in cura slicer, you can set walls at 0 for the supports and it takes away more than half the print time
In Raise3d's Slicer Ideamaker you can add textures on your Model.
You know how I print TPU? I 3d print molds and melt the Tpu in a saucepan. Poor the tpu into the mold and bingo!
I always used Cura for a few years now, do you recommend switching to Prusa Slicer considering the constant updates on this platform? Is there a steep learning curve going from one to the other? Thank you for your amazing content!
Tak!
I think that they should do an option to import image and embed it on a model like the txt option on prusaslicer, it could be use for a lot of options. One thing on the top of my mind is a signature
PrusaSlicer has the Z offset in Printer settings - although it would be nice if they added it as a filament override.
I have a confession to make: I've been 3D-printing for a couple of years now, and during that time I've seen many videos wherein people have custom, elaborate-looking part cooling fan ducts on their printers, but in all my time printing, I have never once given a crap about part cooling. And in fact, I leave the fan completely off all the time. I have had many more print successes than failures (ignoring bone-headed part design flaws), so I don't really even know why people fuss over the part fan.
Have I been doing this 3D-printing thing wrong for the last two years?
If you're having print successes, and you're happy with how things are going, you're printing right. I have not been as lucky without good part cooling. One of the interesting things about this hobby is how so many people can use the same equipment, filament, etc., and yet have radically different experiences.
I was printing a model recently that had a series of very thin, slanted arches circling up a helical center. When I tried to print this in PLA with my stock settings (on a Bambu X1 Carbon), the steep overhangs on those arches would curl up during printing and eventually cause a very messy bridge at the top of the arch at best, or at worst the print head would end up snapping off the curled-up arch. After trying all sorts of different settings to try and fix this - extrusion rates, layer heights, nozzle temperature, perimeter order, filament brand, etc. - I eventually learned that my problem was part cooling. I was printing with the door of the printer closed, and that was allowing the printer enclosure to get a bit too warm, and then the thin overhangs would curl. I left the door open, took off the glass top panel, cranked up the cooling fans, and this solved my problem.
The lesson is, it depends on part geometry and speed. If you print slow, you probably don't need to worry about fans. If you print solid blocky parts, you probably don't need to worry about fans. But if you're trying to print PLA very quickly with highly detailed shapes and overhangs, you might eventually get limited by a lack of cooling.
That's rather intruiging. But then again, PLA is /very/ forgiving material to print with, compared to TPU, PETG, ABS and basically everything else you can shove into a printer.
So unless you're also printing fast, like 50 mm/s and above, I'm only slightly surprised that printing that much without cooling never gave issues.
Of course it also comes down to geometry, because cooling is mainly needed for overhangs and bridging. Doing these slow enough reduces the need for cooling.
If most of your prints were vertical or tapering to become smaller as height increases and speeds were moderate and relaxed, then I can imagine that even without cooling things can come out well anyways. There's even a counter point to cooling: the hotter the last layer is when the next comes, the better they can fuse.
It's really not a fire-and-forget solution. Some materials like ABS even /need/ to be printed without cooling (unless for extreme overhangs or bridging).
That said, there's also personal bias on expectations. I have no "high-end perfect" expectations at my printer, it's a budget one and I know it, but it's serving well for the money spent.
But sometimes I see other people share their DIY projects, and the surface finish they have is, in comparison to what I am used to from my printer, horrible. With uneven lines not just on the top surface and overhangs, but sometimes even on simple walls, indicating that their printer has serious tuning issues.
But they don't even care about that, they purely care about the structural function of their parts, and that they made them work as intended and are rightfully excited about that.
It makes me reflect that I sometimes spent literal hours, fighting with the CAD software and afterwards the slicer, to get some minor surface detail to "work out", only to realize after printing that I've wasted my time, because the detail got lost to being 2 layers thick and therefore of irreproducible detail 🤦♂
Ramblings aside, if the majority of parts you printed worked as intended and didn't go to the bin, then you definitely did nothing wrong.
@@BloodyMobile Wow, thank you for the thorough and thoughtful reply/commentary.
I think you touched on the reasons why I don't have issues going part fan-free:
1. I always print at 50mm/s or less.
2. I design everything to eliminate overhangs > 45°, going so far as to break my models in multiple pieces, if needed (I do this all the time, anyway, to improve the strength of parts).
3. I print mostly PLA, with the odd foray into PETG (which POSITIVELY requires no part fan to ensure bed adhesion and warpless prints, but it's hit and miss on the former).
If it ain't broke, etc...
@@matthewrice5721 Maybe environmental, like air temperature and humidity? I run my printer (a heavily modded Ender 3 V2) in an enclosure, so temp is stable on the warm side, but I think our relative humidity is high-ish where I am.
What's really weird to me is that on one day, I print PETG without issue -- good adhesion, no warping -- , and then the next day, no changes in config at all, PETG fails miserably. It's quite frustrating at times.
It's all a gamble without full control of all the variables, something certainly not possible for me.
It's possible to make volumetric flow of infill variable ? Like from center to perimeters ? That would be a good option, faster flow and speed of pringting infill on the middle and normaling to close to the edge. I don't think infill have to be constant speed on infill just time consuming...
Valeu!
Cura 5.3.1 has added capability to add text, however, it is not as intuitive as the Prusa 2.6.0-alpha6. It is helpful when prototyping and easier to add text (Prusa) than in the modelling program (Fusion360, FreeCAD).
What I have had problems with in using Prusa is establishing the proper First Layer Width. In Cura 5.3.1, I set it (Quality | Initial Layer Line Width) to 140% but have tried both percentage and mm in Prusa and the width is always very, very thin. I am using a standard 0.4mm nozzle. Any suggestions?
I have not seen much on the orientation of prints for bed slingers in the slicer. If you have a thin but tall piece, should you orientate is on the bed so that the short dimension is in the y dimension, and hence the long dimension in the x dimension so reduce bed travel? As a piece gets taller it's chance of detaching increases as the moments around the attachment point increases.
Bambu Studio supports adding text.
Doesn’t cura allow you to set a z offset in the build adhesion section? Isn’t that what you are on about with the global offset and squish?
Cura lets you set the elephant's foot adjustment setting and save it as a preset for each filament you have. I've never had to adjust it at-printer after that.
Weirdly I never had to set any Elephant foot compensation in prusa slicer or cura. Everyone seems to talk about Elephants foot being a problem but I've never seen it no matter my print temps on my E3 V2 or E5 S1. Makes me wonder what I'm doing different.
@@sammcj2000 Can depend on a lot of things. Could be you already have a bigger-than-usual z offset, so there's more space between the nozzle and the print bed, resulting in less squeezeout; could be you're printing at a faster speed than usual on the first layers (normal process is to print at about halfspeed on first layers); could just be that you're printing with very large layer heights; could be that you're printing with a raft or brim, either of which 'resolves' the problem by the added step of having to clean up the bottom of the print.
Could also just be that it is happening but it's too subtle for you to notice. Could be all of these things combined, or none of them it all - it's not impossible, just improbable, that you magically set it up perfectly on your first try and have never shifted or bumped/warped anything ever, especially if you've been printing for quite some time or have moved your printers
The spiral Z hop is very interesting! Does it exist in other slicers?
Not that I can find at this stage.
Its in orca and turned on by default.
Adding text it is also on Ocra Slicer
Jeez idk why I haven't switched from Cura to Prusa Slicer after watching your videos
I'd argue that modelling the grip texture is easy in CAD, but not necessarily free-to-use CAD applications; blender most likely has those features, but I haven't fiddled around with the relevant FOSS enough to find out about it.
As a car person can you make a video showing how useful 3d printing is for automobiles? I fixed my Audi with a part I designed and printed and it's still holding after a year.
hello, about a week ago, I bought a creality 3d pad mini from aliexpress and downloaded the frimware from the local site of the product, but the software is not what I want, I couldn't find how to edit the software, can you help with this?
i would like to know how to do contour model for fuzzy skin in cad
Hey, which Slicer would you recommend? :)
Did you know that Lychee Slicer has an FDM option now? It's still a Beta version, but it's there