1 (edited by Photog 2014-04-16 19:06:12)

Topic: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

http://www.simplify3d.com/

Doesn't seem to be many topics about this software on the forum. Simplify3D is a $140USD  STL Repair, Slicer, and Printer control all-in-one. It claims to be the best slicer out there. I wanted to try it out. I broke down and acquired it yesterday.

Initial thoughts:

  • Interface is pretty, but not as quick to navigate as Repetier Host.

  • Slicing of any file on my computer seems to be instant, which is cool. It's very fast at that.

  • The 3D animated preview of the printing before is neat.

  • It definitely prints things faster using comparable settings to Slic3r, I'm not sure why that is, maybe different infill algorithm?

  • Overall print quality out of the box on simple objects is on par with my finely tuned Slic3r settings. I was hoping for better quality though, not similar quality considering this wasn't free.

  • On complex models with overhangs and weird things, it seems to do a better job at slicing than Slic3r and does paths that make more sense.

  • The STL repair functions are useless. They don't fix my files that well. NetFabb free is still better.

  • There is an "Intelligent support structure" feature where you can selectively add support matierial and remove it where you wish before printing onto any file. This seems to be the biggest benefit of the software and may make the software worth the price, however I haven't printed anything that requires support yet so that remains to be seen.

  • Overall the software is less buggy than RH/Slic3r, however there is one major bug I encountered where the "print to USB" gives me an error about "location not found" so I have to save the slice to gcode file manually and reload it into the print controls to print

  • All speed settings are in MM/Min not MM/sec which is kind of annoying, so I have to divide by 60 or multiply to get my settings I am familiar with

  • There is a feature to use different settings like different infill and different layer heights at different parts of the print. I haven't used this feature yet and am not sure in which scenarios I might, but it looks interesting.

If anyone else has questions feel free to ask. If anyone wants me to print an STL for comparison I can do that as long as it's not a really long print.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

2

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Hi Photog, this seems like a good software to try, specially the ability to manipulate support materials individually (I'm getting tired of modeling them by hand in SW), I have a few questions:

- Can you split STLs in half to print very large parts? Instead of having to use Netfabb etc.
- Can you choose how many top and bottom layers to print? this is my biggest complaint with Kisslicer.
- Does it have a Solidoodle 2/3/4 preset for dimensions, acceleration values etc or you just copy paste everything from RH?
- Can you "inflate" support material independently as well as removing/adding it? I ask because sometimes these are too small and they fall of the bed.

$140 is not that expensive I'm sure many of us have spent that much on hardware upgrades, like you said, if you use support material a lot (I know I do) this could be worth it.

3

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Nico_hk wrote:

- Can you split STLs in half to print very large parts? Instead of having to use Netfabb etc.

I'm not sure, I'll look into this when I get home. What it does have is features that allow you to maximize the build space by "smart arrange" that will compact multiple objects on the build plate. It also allows you to print more than one object at a time with totally different settings for each object.


Nico_hk wrote:

- Can you choose how many top and bottom layers to print? this is my biggest complaint with Kisslicer.

Solid layers? yes.


Nico_hk wrote:

- Does it have a Solidoodle 2/3/4 preset for dimensions, acceleration values etc or you just copy paste everything from RH?.

Yes it does, however a few things had to be tweaked, for instance it wanted to use .35 nozzle size, but mine is .40 nozzle on SD3.


Nico_hk wrote:

- Can you "inflate" support material independently as well as removing/adding it? I ask because sometimes these are too small and they fall of the bed.

Yes

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

4

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

I did some tests tonight, testing support structures.

The support is AMAZING. It comes right off, with no marks, and SO EASY. Night and day between this and slic3r. I only had to lightly touch it, and it fell right off. There is a slight problem, the layer above where the support structure was, droops a little bit because of the gap between the support structure and the supported object. I might tweak the distance of this gap.

Another cool thing that I found you can change in the settings, is stopping print at certain layers, and starting at certain layers, like if you only want to print half of a model. You can specify exactly which layer. You can also set it up to run certain commands at certain layers.

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My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

5 (edited by Nico_hk 2014-04-17 04:59:29)

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

mmm... maybe it shouldn't come off THAT easily, with very big angles is better not to have a vertical gap between the layer and the support because it will either droop (like what happened to you) or it will curl up as it ends up never touching the support. Slic3r's support material is hard to remove because it always has a solid wall around it.

Good to know it can print layers of the same model with different settings (I assume this means number of perimeters, infill, extrusion width, speed, etc), which is fantastic. I think I will give it a try in a couple of days, thanks!

6 (edited by Photog 2014-04-17 07:08:24)

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Nico_hk wrote:

mmm... maybe it shouldn't come off THAT easily, with very big angles is better not to have a vertical gap between the layer and the support because it will either droop (like what happened to you) or it will curl up as it ends up never touching the support. Slic3r's support material is hard to remove because it always has a solid wall around it.

Yeah it drooped a little onto the support column. But there is an option to adjust how big the gap is. it's at "1" right now i might try lowering it. I don't mind a small droop.

Slic3r 1.0.0 support was just ridiculous to remove, 9 times out of 10 I ended up damaging the print anyway (breaking off things that weren't supposed to) trying to remove the support. I will take  a little droop over that any day.

unfortuantely my printrboard has died, so no more experienting probably for another 2 weeks now. "sadface"

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

7

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Keep us posted on this software.  The support feature is what I am most interested in.  I'm guessing that you printed that piece in the orientation that the picture shows (obviously turned where the bed is not vertical)?

8

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Keep us posted on this software.  The support feature is what I am most interested in.  I'm guessing that you printed that piece in the orientation that the picture shows (obviously turned where the bed is not vertical)?

9

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Randavian wrote:

  I'm guessing that you printed that piece in the orientation that the picture shows (obviously turned where the bed is not vertical)?


Yes the picture got flipped for some reason when I uploaded it, but the "F" was printed standing up like that. Like I said, the support columns that held the two "posts" on the F up just fell right of. You can see a slight sag in the bottommost layer underneath those "posts" that stick out on the F, but really it's not that bad at all considering how easy the support came off.

Among other cool features I am discovering:

• Ability to set bed temp or nozzle temp layer-by-layer with no limit. I.E. I can set bed temp at layer 1 to be 110c, layer 2 to be 109c, layer 3 to be 108c, layer 4 to be 107c, layer 5 106c, etc etc.

• Extruder fan "blip" mode, makes it so the extruder fan if installed can be turned on to 100% speed first then lowered, since many fans cannot dead-start from anything less than 100%.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

10

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Is there a trial? Because I would hate to plop down such a huge chunk just to try it out.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

11

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

One that might make it worth while. Can you save your full project? I mean in R-H you can save the gcode, but then you can't go and tweek anything later.

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

12

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Purchased. Will report after testing.

13

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

I'm looking forward to more reviews on the software.  I'm starting to dislike how slic3r handles some things.  A couple files I've printed before only have 20% of random parts of the model after slicing.

It's nice to see we have other options coming out.

Bowden SD3, Rumba, E3D hotend, Mk5 with RtRyder changes, Direct drive Y axis and bearings, GT2 pulleys and braided fishing line, Lawsy linear bearing conversion, M3 Z screw.

14

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

This software is HOT.  My prints look like they came off of a MakerBot Replicator 2, even better.  I could go on and on but there really isn't anything more to say.  Seamless, effortless, factory settings make incredible prints.  Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D968RL1Z6l4

15

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Bookmaker wrote:

This software is HOT.  My prints look like they came off of a MakerBot Replicator 2, even better.  I could go on and on but there really isn't anything more to say.  Seamless, effortless, factory settings make incredible prints.  Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D968RL1Z6l4

Pics or it didn't happen.

16 (edited by Bookmaker 2014-05-27 17:08:55)

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Here are my results with the same file.
http://i.imgur.com/iwryvjS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DJDMLOq.jpg
The one on the bottom is using my new software simplyfy3D.  I don't know if you can see in the pictures but the simplyfy3D is much rounder and also the small notch on the edge is much more accurate.  Both were done on 1mm.
I forgot to mention the new software took 37 minutes and the old almost an hour.

17

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

lawsy wrote:
Bookmaker wrote:

This software is HOT.  My prints look like they came off of a MakerBot Replicator 2, even better.  I could go on and on but there really isn't anything more to say.  Seamless, effortless, factory settings make incredible prints.  Check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D968RL1Z6l4

Pics or it didn't happen.

Touche - Bookmaker...

and it seem FTW.  Looks nice.  I wonder how it handles the extrusion any different than slic3r... you almost see pulses in the upper one around the inner cutout.

18

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Hey Bookmaker,
Could you post the .stl for the that.  I would like to print one for comparison.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

19

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

how do I do that?

20 (edited by wardjr 2014-05-27 20:42:18)

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

When you post a reply just below the box is a line that says Attachments and a Big Browse Button.  Click that button and find the file where you saved it.  Then click on the Add File button (that's the one people seem to forget) then hit Submit reply.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

21 (edited by Bookmaker 2014-05-27 20:57:02)

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

I will give it a try.  Let me know how yours prints.

Post's attachments

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22

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

I won't be near my printer till tomorrow.  I'll give it a go first thing.

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

23

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Thanks for the update bookmaker.

Am I right in understanding that the print time reduced from near an hour to 37 minutes?

24

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

yup

25

Re: Simplify3D | All-In-One 3D Printing Software

Awesome. Not sure when I'll have time to test mine but I'll have side by side comparisons (hopefully on three different printers) like you've provided.