Paid slicer as a deal breaker?
The reason why I have written this post is that I can’t beleive my eyes. I know, it is not so rare in the world of FFF/FDM 3D printing… But today in a positive way.
For several months I fought with Cura and Slic3r and tried to get better 3D prints on my Printrbot Simple Metal Kit. I tried thousands combinations of settings (no kidding), different materials, and even hardware upgrades including stronger and additional fans or new E3D V6 hot end. But my prints were already around average with some surface inconsistencies and leaky overhangs from around 45°.
I was already prepared to change the printer as I have better experience with Zortrax, Ultimaker etc. So when I saw the work of SpannerHands (see photos at http://www.twitter.com/SpannerHands3D), I was shocked. Same Printrbot, same Fillamentum PLA, only original Ubis hot end – and so better prints?! They say to me “the secret is good filament @Fillamentum and a good slicer @simplify3d”.
Today it is the first day of my long editorial test of this paid slicer ($149 is a lot more than free Cura or Slic3r, isn’t it). But my first three prints are from another level. Very consistant surfaces, no blobs or oozing, perfect bottom surface of 60° overhangs (and acceptable one at 70°). I know I will find some limits of this software and also of my Printbot kit soon, but at first sight I am really amazed.
It’s a personal preference but I love the software. I have used several others since purchasing but keep coming back. The latest version released a few months ago addressed most of my complaints.
I wish the company weren’t so hung up on denying demos. It’s a lot of money for something when they supposedly don’t provide refunds if it doesn’t work out.
As 3d printing is really just 2d printing level after level after the slicer gets finished you could just set the same layer height for any 2 different slicers then look at any one layer on both outputted gcode files (plot the points with python and matplotlib) and see exactly what the difference there is. Then see the difference in extruder and pathing speeds (you could draw this with color changes in matplotlib).
With that process which is much simpler than say, brewing beer, you could make the code changes to determine the pathing differences (it’s a combination of how the outside shells are drawn and the speeds).
That’s probably why they don’t want to release a demo, but eventually a dev will buy it if it is really that good and not just that good of settings for a particular printer…
So on to either encrypted GCODE files (which would mean they would have to encrypt the stepper pulses somehow because you could read positions from there), LOL or back to free software after that.
Or, you could simply pay the ~$150 for what is in my opinion some of the greatest slicing software I’ve ever used and enjoy just how good of a job it really does. I’ve used it on every single printer I own and it’s output is superior on every single one of them. (And I have a lot of printers!)
Several very skilled users of 3D printers (designers) told me the opposite during last weeks. They have different experiences with various slicers and practically identical settings on the same printer. And when I have tried Cura vs Slic3r with the same settings (not identical as they are not 1:1), I can say the same. Slicers generate g-codes very differently.
PS: It’s not anything against Cura or Slic3r. They are very useful, universal and free.
Remember that a programmer is making that software that the designers are claiming as good or bad.
It’s just that this person/programmer doesn’t want to share without money, there’s no problem with that it’s just hard to reconcile with data (code) being immediately replicable for free.
@Tomas_Vit as you see, you’re not actually plotting the points like I said and really looking at the differences, you are just taking people’s “public” opinion of it.
ALWAYS and EVERY TIME I come across a post like this, YI think of: “What a noob…” - But its not against the user, its against a 130€ Slicer that simply takes money for I-dont-know-the-settings and does it for you…
Have you guys actually ever used Simplify3D? It’s not just about settings… prints can fail for various reasons, and even with the same settings. (It’s been well documented when it comes to Slic3r vs CuraEngine, for example.) There’s also a reason no one uses Skienforge anymore… Slic3r and Cura were found to be far easier to use and manage… even though sometimes Skienforge was able to produce better parts… it was just too slow.
The reason I like it is because Simplify3D produces a superior tool path that has absolutely nothing to do with the slicing parameters. It also has some very cool features when it comes to placing models and supports for the models. By the way, Simplify3D also has the fastest slicing I’ve ever seen on any platform.
Are designers with desktop printers (kits) which are willing to pay for slicer automatically noobs because they have to achieve the same results with almost any better free slicer?
PS: Yes, our debate is quite sterile without all have the possibility to download the demo of S3D. But I fully respect designers who have tried several slicers on their printers farm and choose to pay (or not to pay) for slicer with consistent results of complicated prints. IMHO they doesn’t deserve to be called lazy or noobs, if they choose to pay for slicer which works best for them (or simply brings them more comfort and/or more tools). And should we call a noob everyone except the constructor of the particular printer kit (and several power users with exact the same knowledge)?
Not going to offend anyone and i myself have already paid for Simplify3D twice (including the latest version) but i really have a hard time believing in that big differences between slicers when it comes to print quality. Simplify3D might have some good default settings and that ones in Slic3r might be not that good (i didn’t see default settings there quite for a while now) but i really don’t see why this should really matter with only a little bit of printing experience.
I for myself come back to Slic3r again and again especially when it comes to mechanically accurate parts that should fit together and i find Simplify3D horribly annoying when it comes to profile management. Especially when you’re printing lots of different mateirals with different print quality settings on each print it can’t be more confusing than working with Simplify3D - but that’s only my personal view of course.
It’s not about paying for software at all and i don’t think S3D is in any case overpiced but the only real advantage that i can see in S3D is the possibility of placing manual support and some of the settings where you can have different quality settings within one print - everything else can also be done with Slic3r and others and i think when it comes to Simplicity there’s not so much that can beat Cura (though you don’t have to expect mechanical accuracy in this parts).
But today in a positive way.