Kisslicer vs slic3r

I did some extensive testing and came to the same conclusion - http://solidoodletips.wordpress.com/201 … omparison/

I still tend to use Slic3r out of laziness since it is right there in RH, but every time I use kisslicer I kick myself for not using it more often.

I know it's posted in many other places on soliforum, but Netfabb can fix your mesh imperfections with either a free program (Netfabb basic) or their online service in beta: http://cloud.netfabb.com/

Hope it helps!

Trust me there's plenty of stuff that NetFabb can't fix.  Then, there's stuff that it says it's fine, when in fact it's not.

But that's not the problem.  For this "hobby" to be successful, it needs to get beyond this... for a lack of a better word... geeky phase, to where you have to become some kind of expert in a half dozen programs, just to be able to make successful prints.

I know there are those that look at 3D printing as some kind of exclusive club, but if we really want this to progress beyond the geeky, "garage" phase, we need to start thinking about how to make the hardware and the software idiot proof.  Take a look at iPhones.  Everybody has one because they're simple to use, simple to understand, and "just work".  Everyone from 8 to 88 can figure it out.  We should strive for the 3D printer to be like that, a truly plug and play device, like a regular printer.

How would you like it, if you had to translate, and filter, and repair your mid term paper or resumé through half a dozen apps just so you could print it?

This is what some printer makers like the 3D systems, Makerbot and others are trying for, and this is also what some of the software designers are striving for.  On the other hand, there are those that want to perpetuate the myth that this is not for everyone, that this "shouldn't be easy", and it's only for the elite few. 

To me that's plain Buls##t!

Kisslicer is exactly in that place at the moment, where the developer, however well intentioned, has surrounded himself with a bunch of elitist jerks that feel that 3D printing is not for "unwashed masses". 

Because of this, their following has dwindled.  Take a look at their forums, they have 2 or 3 guys that are "know it alls", they respond to every post and get adversarial when someone even tries to criticize the software or report a bug.  Most people go there for help, only to be trashed by those guys, then they go away.  I was one of those, I tried to reason with them, but they have blinders, and can't see the bigger picture.  They look at the development of Kisslicer as their personal playground, when in fact they aren't even the actual developers.  I don't even thing that Johnathan, the developer, has been frequenting the forum all that often.

To start: pirvan, I agree with you that this software is still in early stages.

This wont happen. Well, maybe it will but not for the masses. iphones are 'simple' because they are completely proprietary. Thats been the whole apple vs PC to begin with: Proprietary vs generic/adaptive. There are hundreds of thousands of different configurations for PC hardware, while there are only a dozen configurations of apple hardware. How many different android firmwares are out right now?

Now beyond that, if a company writes its own 3D design program, slicer program, and control software, then it will have 'apple' status where it only needs to be updated for internal reasons. But there are too any 3d design programs, too many STL plugins, too many printer control programs for a single slicer program to be compatible with on the level of proprietary.

But you are 100% correct that expecting a model to be perfect is not acceptable. I work in industrial automation. If an assembly machine required all of the parts that are fed into it to be perfectly to spec, it would never run. Everything has a tolerance level, and a machine that has to deal with parts that vary (they all do) needs to be able to handle the variation of the parts being fed into it. The machine design needs to incorporate handling that variance. Otherwise, it will never run and get replaced by something that will handle that tolerance.

If Johnathon wants to put his head in the sand, someone else will eventually make something that will and people will stop using his software.

THat was a fun read...especially the Vogon tie-in. 

Claghorn, I read your blog post.  People writing software and putting it out there for free is not enough for you?  They should maintain old versions until you don't want to use them anymore and release on a schedule convenient for you?  Unlike paid for software, the developer is typically solving his own problem in the way that best suits him.  He is kind enough to say anyone else can use his creation for free.  What exactly did you pay or contribute to have this sense of entitlement?  If you don't like the way they are doing it, pay for some software that does or contribute to or start your own project.  To me complaining about open source projects not going how you want is like complaining the the bread-line soup is too salty.

Kisslicer is commercial software that people do pay for.  If you did, feel completely entitled to bitch about their attitude.