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Simplify 3d

Discussion in 'Software' started by John Rygg, Dec 6, 2013.

  1. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I tried this several months ago, also with the offer that I would blog and promote it if I liked it and they pretty much blew me off. I did decide to just go ahead and buy it. I like it for some things, not for others. Definitely also not a fan of the rafts.
     
  2. Ryan Ridings

    Ryan Ridings New Member

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    OH!!!! Nvm then hahah

    Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
     
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  3. Dark09

    Dark09 New Member

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    I sent an email to them yesterday, and they replied this morning.

    Unfortunately they do not have a trial/limited version... >.< . I may purchase this software sometime this week, but i'm still skeptical considering I will need to change the robo3d firmware again to change the baud rate to 115200.
     
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I did not change the firmware to start using this.
    The 3.14 firmware was installed (and modified for my E3D). Unless that already had the changes needed...
     
  5. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I only run by LCD, so baud rate isn't an issue.
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    So a quick review. Having used it for a bit now.

    Overall it works very well. Even the occasional UI crash has not be fatal in that you can restart it back to pretty much exactly where you were. I am talking only about UI/navigation/configuration wise--not talking about printing. It has never crashed while printing. The printing process workflow is as John Stack pointed oout, far more involved/complex than most of the other choices. The issue is that it gives you almost total control over each and every aspect of the print. You can even have different profiles for each object in a multi-object print and more control within each of these (i.e. given layer ranges can have differing settings within a single model, each model can have a different profile if you are printing multiple models at a time). The speed of slicing is phenomenal. It uses its own slicer, not Slic3r, not Cura... something of their own.

    If you are doing more complex prints and/or are trying to get more control over how your prints are working, this seems to fit the bill. I have not yet had to engage them for support so I can not comment on that.

    Usage wise (the workflow of setting up a print) it is different than the others and that does take a bit of getting used to. You have to create a profile and associate it with each model on the print.

    In the attached screenshot you can see the objects to print in upper left, the print process settings in the lower left (in this case all the models are using the same process settings, they could be different). The pop-up dialog is the actual machine control screen. You do not need to ever see this, but if you want to manually control the printer this is where you go.

    Clicking on the processes brings up the per-process configuration settings, I have attached a couple of shots from that screen. You do get a lot of control (particularly over temperatures) that you do not see in the others.

    So, is it worth the cost?

    If you need this level of control over your prints then yes. If you need to handle more complex prints, yes. It will be good if they actually do routine maintenance/enhancement releases and if they are responsive to support issues. Too early to tell on that.

    Hope this helps...
     

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  7. CAMBO3D

    CAMBO3D New Member

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    So far I'm liking the software. Nothing bad to report. However, I've only used it for 2 days now. It takes some getting used to the interface/gui if your coming from repetier host. I've got some sample photos/videos of test prints i'll post up. Prints come out really nice speed far better than my other printers. (although that might have something to do with the printer)
    20140504_091522.jpg 20140504_094149.jpg
     
  8. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    just to be fair to the poor repetier/slic3r guys 3600mm/min equates to 60mm/sec so it is not all that much faster but I wonder what it could be cranked to with the bowden setups where I was running 100mm/sec or 6000/min
     
  9. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    thanks for the screen shots does it allow for dual extrusion or more and or delta printers
     
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, here is a couple of better screenshots. One of the machine control (where you can manually select/control the tool head) and the other the profile editor used for models when slicing and you can see the tool head selection there as well.

    Not having one to play with :) I would assume you just create a profile for each tool head for each model.
     

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  11. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    I may have to look into this a bit more closely I just hope that if I do not like it I can get my money back
     
  12. Dark09

    Dark09 New Member

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    Gave in an purchased the software last week. I'm really loving the supports in this... I wasn't for the life of me able to get supports working on a few select models using Cura/RepHost, but now supports are placed around the model, and over-hangs are not printing in mid-air. The support is also fairly easy to remove without damaging the model itself, so much control... What they need now is a time-lapse video capture at z-height movement, and Mac Retina support for the manual placement of support (without going into the .app file and changing the properties of the checkbox "Open in Low Resolution").
     
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  13. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I'm not sure why these guys decided to go with different units for speed and acceleration than every single other program around. That's kind of annoying!

    I've started playing around with using different slicing profiles throughout a single model.
    For example, first 1" might have 10% infill with .2mm layers, then it might drop down to .05mm to capture an area of detail, then finish off as a spiral vase to capture an odd outline at the top. Pretty neat toys to play with here.
     
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I agree, there is a lot to consume :) Like Dark09 the key for me was the fact that all my struggles with usable supports just vanished.
     
  15. CAMBO3D

    CAMBO3D New Member

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    im still learning a lot of this SD3 software but something i found that some were complaining about may solve your problems with the rafting sticking too much to the part... there seems to be a setting for that which is adjustable...

    Per the sd3 tutorial page http://www.simplify3d.com/support/tutorials/rafts-skirts-and-brims/
    • Raft Infill controls the density of the interior of your raft. The infill percentage of a raft should be high enough to insure that the first layer of your model is flat, but not so high that the raft becomes solid and bonds to your model. We used 80% infill for the test part.
    there's a lot of other useful tutorials recommend reading it...I learned a lot of useful info today.
    http://www.forum.simplify3d.com/viewforum.php?f=8&sid=ca412cf1ca092c903971452fb56015b6
     
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  16. Bob64

    Bob64 Member

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    Does this export g-code... If so perhaps someone would be kind enough to "share" their copy by slicing problematic stl's. Heck, if it really does a good job, I might even buy a copy for myself.
     
  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, there is a big button "Save Toolpaths to Disk" that does this.
    If someone has an STL they want sliced with this, let me know.

    The advantages are not just in the slicer*, but if you want to see how that differs go for it.

    *(the parametric control of the slicer is much finer, but you have to know what you need to tweak)
     
  18. Bob64

    Bob64 Member

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    Ah true.

    Heres a question: hows the surface quality where the support attaches? Or hows the surface quality on overhangs?
     
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  20. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    I'm always up for doing something like that if you don't mind waiting a bit when I'm busy. Same holds for netfabb. I have the full version and it is able to repair much more effectively than the free or cloud versions.
     

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