Simplify3D - new version and worthy upgrade
-
They didn't sign the Windows Installer file for version 4. I'm not impressed.
-
I wonder if they fixed the purge logic. When I tried it, they seemed to think that it was good idea to purge the filament after a tool was finished with, rather than before. So when you switched filament, it would purge some of the filament you had just finished with, then change to the new filament and start printing. I couldn't convince them that you need to purge the new filament through before you start using it, which is one of the (many) reasons I gave up and got a refund.
-
I wonder if they fixed the purge logic. When I tried it, they seemed to think that it was good idea to purge the filament after a tool was finished with, rather than before. So when you switched filament, it would purge some of the filament you had just finished with, then change to the new filament and start printing. I couldn't convince them that you need to purge the new filament through before you start using it, which is one of the (many) reasons I gave up and got a refund.
Do you remember which version of S3D you were using? I hadn't tried switching tools until 3.1.1, but didn't have the problem you described. In fact all I had S3D do when it changed tools was send a change tool command to the firmware. All the purging, retraction, etc. behavior was done by the Duet's tfreeX.g and tpostX.g scripts.
Public Service Announcement regarding 4.0: I posted on the S3D forum that while it looks like you can use 3.1 and 4.0 independently (they are installed in separate folders), they share the same mysterious "database", so if you reset (delete) all the profiles 4.0 "imported" from 3.1 (which according to some is a good idea), you'll find all your 3.1 profiles deleted as well. And I still haven't been able to get them back - apparently they are not stored in the factory files as I thought they were.
-
No can't remember which version it was. It must have been about year ago I'd guess. The other biggy for me was that I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to try and get it to cope with 3 extruders - never did get it sorted and gave up in the end.
-
I wonder if they fixed the purge logic. When I tried it, they seemed to think that it was good idea to purge the filament after a tool was finished with, rather than before. So when you switched filament, it would purge some of the filament you had just finished with, then change to the new filament and start printing. I couldn't convince them that you need to purge the new filament through before you start using it, which is one of the (many) reasons I gave up and got a refund.
Do you remember which version of S3D you were using? I hadn't tried switching tools until 3.1.1, but didn't have the problem you described. In fact all I had S3D do when it changed tools was send a change tool command to the firmware. All the purging, retraction, etc. behavior was done by the Duet's tfreeX.g and tpostX.g scripts.
Public Service Announcement regarding 4.0: I posted on the S3D forum that while it looks like you can use 3.1 and 4.0 independently (they are installed in separate folders), they share the same mysterious "database", so if you reset (delete) all the profiles 4.0 "imported" from 3.1 (which according to some is a good idea), you'll find all your 3.1 profiles deleted as well. And I still haven't been able to get them back - apparently they are not stored in the factory files as I thought they were.
Pretty sure all of that sits in the registry, and only exists as a FF / FFF when exported. So there's no undelete.
-
No can't remember which version it was. It must have been about year ago I'd guess. The other biggy for me was that I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to try and get it to cope with 3 extruders - never did get it sorted and gave up in the end.
That is one of their strengths… you should give it another look. Especially the new multi tool control... you could have one extruder printing with completely different slicer settings or even have one tool print different parts of the print with different slicer settings... it is really flexible now.
-
No can't remember which version it was. It must have been about year ago I'd guess. The other biggy for me was that I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to try and get it to cope with 3 extruders - never did get it sorted and gave up in the end.
That is one of their strengths… you should give it another look. Especially the new multi tool control... you could have one extruder printing with completely different slicer settings or even have one tool print different parts of the print with different slicer settings... it is really flexible now.
Sorry, got my fingers burnt once so reluctant to try again. Prusa Slic3r works well for me ad does everything I want so I'll stick with what I'm familiar with.
Edit. Dual colour worked reasonably well but 3 or more colours used to be a nightmare even though their marketing blurb said how good it was. Have you actually tried printing a 3, 4 or 5 colour object?
-
I do not have a multi color printer, and I have not yet had a chance to play around with their new ability to slice different areas of the part differently. The new version is a free upgrade you should log into your account and let us know how it handles it.
-
I do not have a multi color printer, and I have not yet had a chance to play around with their new ability to slice different areas of the part differently. The new version is a free upgrade you should log into your account and let us know how it handles it.
I don't have an account - I cancelled the order and got a refund. Without wishing to cause any offence, it does rather seem that you've been sucked in by S3D's marketing blurb. In my experience what they claim to be possible/good and what the software is actually capable of are two different things - at least when it comes to multi colour/multi part printing. I'll wait until I see some positive feedback from someone who is using it with a mixing 5 colour hot end but I don't have time to go through that process myself.
-
I wasnt saying that its great, thats why i was saying you should let us know but if you dont have an account dont waste the money… obviously from the posts in this thread ive never been pleased with S3D as a company many frusterations with complete lack of support or bug fixes for a paid product. Though i do like the product worlds better than Cura.
When i made the switch to S3D a couple years ago i never looked back because i had much better results but it is far from perfect and good luck getting them to fix any of those imperfections with their canned answers and non support... they are almost as bad as XYZ support.
This is why i will be checking out Prusa Slicer for me personally as per DJs recommendation but i wont be cancelling S3d because people in our makerspace use it and its easier when working with someone from there to use the same slicer.
-
Also the new KissSlicer is meant to be brilliant and well worth a look (It is still in Beta but can be got by going to http://www.kisslicertalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1902
Micheal Hackney of Sublime Layers is raving about it attm and I totally respect the work he does.
Doug
-
Also the new KissSlicer is meant to be brilliant and well worth a look (It is still in Beta but can be got by going to http://www.kisslicertalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1902
Micheal Hackney of Sublime Layers is raving about it attm and I totally respect the work he does.
Doug
Preload sounds like it might be similar to pressure advance?
Definitely will check it out, i am focused on improving bowden flexible filament prints at the moment and it appears to have some nice features for doing so.
-
Yes I think you could be right the only issue that Micheal has pointed out is that documentation is still a little lacking but that will come in time after all it is still a beta product tho Micheal has been testing it for 9 months now so he has seen it develop and has a pretty good understanding of it by now.
-
They didn't sign the Windows Installer file for version 4. I'm not impressed.
Same for the macOS installer, so users can't just double-click the installer. Seems pretty unprofessional.
-
Yep I found that as well I have it on both my Mac and Win7 64 bit boxes
-
Yeah thats what they like to do…. even to this day with the new release they deny that parimeters not being effected by bridge settings is a bug... in the new release its become a new "feature" to check a box that allows bridging of parimeters.... before then it was very difficult to get a decent bridge with S3D regardless of all the complaints nothing was ever done about it until years later
-
Although there are some bug with s3d it is still one of the better slicers out there.
-
I'm struggling to find how to access some of the new features though
-
I was also considering purchasing S3D due to vast amounts of hype surrounding it. There was a YouTuber giving it a lot of praise, then I read the comments and found out he was actually sponsored by S3D…
I'm not arguing that the thing doesn't slice well, but I have gotten the impression that the time they consider too valuable to be be used to respond to customer inquiries, they instead might invest in marketing (viral, guerrilla, sponsorships that at least once seemed rather opaque). I also recall someone saying (take it with a grain of salt) that they tried to get refunded on S3D but was ignored for weeks, after which he worked the refund through his bank. Personally, I have strong resentment for both ignoring customers (potential or established) and sleazy marketing tactics - I'm fine with viral and a bit of guerrilla, and transparent sponsorships, but not with what gives a strong stench of astroturfing. The supposed lax pace of updates and overlooking of bug fixing and feature requests also rings an alarm.
All that said, it would be nice if someone could make an objective up-to-date comparison of the most powerful slicers out there, because as much as I care about principles and all that, my number one priority is getting good prints. I have only used Slic3r and Cura, and while I've understood that many would disagree with me on this point, Cura seemed to create more sensible paths than Slic3r. I had to go back to Slic3r due to severely limited configuration in Cura. I wonder to what extent the path generation in Slic3r is hardcoded and to what extent the user can affect it, and if some of the insane decisions Slic3r makes could be re-programmed or alleviated. I would also like to see detailed, in-depth data and analysis on practical differences in tendencies between the different slicers in generating paths. Is S3D actually more intelligent, and can anyone show me exactly how? If so, is Slic3r likely to catch up, or are there half a dozen Paul Erdõs'es and John von Neumanns programming algorithms for S3D?
My searches on the subject mostly returned threads packed full of non-information, saturated with S3D hype written by people who in the same breath give a strong impression that they haven't really immersed themselves in the technology they're using, and when the recommendations consist mostly of superlatives, emotion and vague handwaving instead of technical analysis, its worth as data is close enough to nil to be completely ignored.
-
My impressions:
-
Slic3r development ground to a halt not long after version 1.20 was released, and slic3r was very unstable at that point. [That's when I switched to S3D]. But now the Prusa version is available, and I hear good things about it - although it appears to be rather too much targeted at electronics running Marlin rather than other firmwares.
-
Cura was never my favourite and it took a step backwards when it switched from version 15.04 to version 2. But it appears to have caught up to a large extent. It looks like it's about to get support for relative extrusion at last.
-
Simplify3D works well if you have only one 3D printer. It is truly appalling at managing settings for multiple 3D printers of different types.
-
