Slic3r vs. Cura

I've been using version 14.1 of Cura for quite a while now but was curious about newer versions of the primary two slicers that ROBO usually uses. Still waiting on my bed upgrade, and unable to print the things I really need/want to print, today I downloaded the latest version of Repetier that includes both Slic3r and Cura engines and tried out the identical print on both of them. Slic3r was a bit slower in generating gcode, but faster to print and used less than half the instructions of Cura. Slic3r was also measurably more dimensionally accurate though both products could be used. Finally, the finish and layers of Slic3r were much cleaner than Cura on this particular piece. Because my experience in the past has been the other way around, I am pleasantly surprised at the progress made in Slic3r. I shall try a few more pieces to see how it all works out. Though I am still a Cura fan, if Slic3r gives me better results, I'm all for it.
Feel free to chime in on your own experiences with these slicers... I'm as curious as the rest of us!

 

1d1, what version of Slic3r are you using? I always install/upgrade Slic3r separately from Repetier Host.

 

@SteveC: 1.1.7.23 I shall check and see if there is a newer one. Thanks.

 

I've been using 1.2.0 with no problems so far.

 

I stopped using Slic3r because it took forever to get passed the "saving intermediate file". I'm talking upwards of 45 minutes for complex models. Using MatterControl, I use the new Matterslicer and it takes 3-4 SECONDS to print. With the exception of chunks of filament dropping on my prints, I'm extremely pleased with my prints. Maybe Slic3r prints faster and looks better, but I'll take 5 seconds over 45 minutes any day.

 

Matter Control using Slic3r, 6 hours 59 min

Cura 3 hours

There is a cool feature in Cura that allows you to print just the walls of the object without any.infill. It won't print the top or bottom, but just he walls of the object. Very thin walls.

This would be great for making masks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk in Canada

 

I'm still playing around just slicing and not printing everything. On more complex objects, Cura far outstrips Slic3r in slicing time, and can be quicker in printing time on smaller objects. On bigger ones, there has been discrepancies of 30 minutes or more (in favor of Slic3r print times) between the two. I have yet to experience anything over a minute slicing in Slic3r, but have experienced interminable waits in the past with older versions. I like the work horse/race horse analogy though there doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern either way except that Cura slices far more quickly.

 

Long story short, here is a fix if you wish to continue using MatterControl with Slic3r as your G-code and slicer engine.

Uncheck "Avoid Crossing Perimeters" under Slice Settings > Print > Layer/Perimeters > Perimeters. Trust me, it works.

Note: If you are just wanting an answer, do what I said up above, but if you want to know how this fixes it and how I figured it out then continue reading.

I was using this setting when printing, but only when I was doing one object. When I copied/multiplied the object more than once, when generating the gcode and slicing it took FOREVER.... Actually I never even sat and waited for it to run.

I have used Slic3r before with another printer, but never within MatterControl, so I knew that Slic3r was not this slow... So I decided to just put all of my setting from MatterControl's Slic3r and copy it into the original program of Slic3r.

After about 15 minutes of making sure everything was good and getting kind of irritated at the inconvenience of this "bug" for MatterControl thats when I noticed it...

I noticed in the original program Slic3r under Printer Settings > Layers and Perimeters > Quality (slower slicing) I saw "Avoid crossing perimeters (slow)" : This feature both slows down both the print and the G-Code generation. (Default: no). After unchecking it in MatterControl using the Slic3r engine it generated super quick and prints like a champ.

So, in conclusion, I am not sure if this is a MatterControl bug. I assume it is because using the original application of Slic3r it still works and generates in a decent amount of time, but not hours and hours like in MatterControl. I hope this helps both the people having this problem and who still wish to use Slic3r and MatterControl together, as well as the developers of MatterControl be able to figure out why this happens and whether or not this is a bug.

Hope this helps!

 

Does anyone have a Slic3r config file I can get? I tried copying all the setting from MC and my prints turn out terrible.