OrcaSlicer 2.5.0-alpha

What's Changed

This is the OrcaSlicer V2.5.0 Alpha, the most feature-packed release in OrcaSlicer's history, built from more than 950 pull requests by over 140 contributors. You can now extend the slicer with Python plugins, print on belt printers, design parametric parts in the experimental Design tab, blend new colors from the filaments you have loaded with color mixing, give surfaces real 3D texture with Texture Displacement, and print two to four parts at once on IDEX and IQEX printers.

On top of that come the new Speed Dial, support for the Bambu Lab H2C and A2L with mixed nozzle sizes on the H2D and X2D, much faster startup, slicing and G-code export, Precise Seam modifiers, new infill options, and hundreds of fixes.

Note: This is an alpha build for testing. Several of the new features are experimental and may change before the stable release, so back up projects and profiles you care about and please report any problems on GitHub.

🧩 Plugins

OrcaSlicer 2.5.0 introduces Python plugins, a supported way to add your own features to the slicer without maintaining a fork. A plugin can add one-click scripts, step into slicing to reshape layers or rewrite the G-code, add its own tab or docked panel, or react to events like a finished print. Open Plugins from the main menu to install a plugin from a file or from Orca Cloud. A plugin must ask your permission before it reaches outside OrcaSlicer's data folder, goes online or starts other programs. The plugin system is new and its API may still change, so feedback from users and plugin authors is very welcome.

Getting started with plugins ↗ · Plugin development guide ↗

☁️ Find and share plugins on Orca Cloud ↗. Browse the plugins the community has published and subscribe with your Orca Cloud account. OrcaSlicer installs them, offers updates when their authors release new versions, and brings them to every computer you sign in on. Built a plugin of your own? Publish it on Orca Cloud and anyone can use it.

github.com/user-attachments/assets/4e92d363-aa03-4b07-b876-9ae90ff593e3 ↗

• Python plugins by @peachismomo and @lamweilun in #14530, #14776, #16070, #16473 and #16552 — Plugins run on a Python runtime that ships with OrcaSlicer, so there's nothing extra to install. A plugin is a single .py file or a .whl package, and the Python packages it depends on are installed automatically (on Windows ARM64 too). On Windows, plugins install correctly even when their files end up past the 260-character path limit, such as in a portable install inside a deeply nested folder. One plugin can provide several capabilities: Script actions run from the Plugins window or the Speed Dial, Slicing Pipeline steps run while you slice, Pages add their own tab to the main window, and Resource Texture packs add height-map textures to the Texture Displacement picker.

Browse plugins subscribes to plugins on Orca Cloud, which OrcaSlicer installs and offers updates for. Subscriptions unload when you sign out and return when you sign in. Install local plugin side-loads a file instead, handy for private plugins and development. Presets remember which plugins they use: on a computer that's missing one, a notification offers to install it from Orca Cloud (when it's published there) or switch it on if it's disabled, and the Slice button stays disabled until that's sorted out. Wiki ↗

github.com/user-attachments/assets/abbd7900-3062-4e33-8f77-5d30d567be1d ↗

• Slicing-pipeline plugins by @SoftFever in #14721 — A plugin can take part in slicing itself. Pick one or more under Process > Others > Slicing Pipeline Plugin (Advanced mode) to read and edit the sliced layers, with the walls, infill, preview and G-code following their changes, or to post-process the exported G-code. Plugin errors show up as ordinary slicing errors rather than crashing OrcaSlicer. Sample plugins twist, taper or wobble any model as it slices, and apply fuzzy skin to the sliced outline so the infill follows the fuzzy wall too. This is experimental and aimed at plugin developers and testers. Wiki ↗

github.com/user-attachments/assets/d1309ea8-b01c-4708-adf1-821b3b00a4cc ↗

• Plugin settings, globally or per preset by @peachismomo and @SoftFever in #14746, #14944 and #14862 — The Config tab in the Plugins window holds each capability's settings, in a built-in JSON editor or the plugin's own settings page, and Restore defaults puts the defaults back. The process, filament and printer settings each have a Plugin Configuration group (Advanced mode) whose Configure button overrides those settings for that preset only. The override works like any other setting, with the modified marker and revert arrow, and travels with projects and cloud sync. Changes to a slicing plugin's settings take effect on the next slice, settings survive plugin updates and reinstalls, and leftover overrides are cleaned up when a preset stops using a plugin. Wiki ↗