PrusaSlicer 2.9.0-alpha1

PrusaSlicer

Summary

This is the first alpha release of PrusaSlicer 2.9.0. This release introduces support for multiple beds, Printables integration, scarf seams, better fuzzy skin and other improvements and bugfixes.

To let you enjoy the alpha without worries, the alpha builds save their profiles into PrusaSlicer-alpha directory, so you may use the alpha side by side with the current release without ruining your production configuration.

Important note for Linux users: As noted during 2.8.x releases, we are now using Flathub ↗ as the only official distribution channel of PrusaSlicer on Linux. The reasons behind this decision and what it means for you are described at the end of this release log. Thanks for your understanding

Multiple beds (#10704)

It is now possible to work with multiple beds in the scene. This allows the user to handle more complicated projects (which do not fit a single bed) more easily than before. This feature is already known to BambuStudio users (the implementation in PrusaSlicer is completely independent).

Beds handling

To make the workflow fluid and not intrusive to users using only a single bed, there are no buttons to add or remove beds. A new bed is offered anytime you are dragging an object outside of bed for more than 1 second (unless the object is dragged to the new bed position faster, in which case it shows up immediately). This allows to create a bed and place an object on it in a single operation. The beds are placed in a compact grid pattern, with a hard limit of 9 beds. One bed is always set as active, which is controlled by left-clicking it. Operations such as "Import STL" and similar are processed on the active bed.

The individual beds can be thought of as almost independent projects, each having its own set of color changes, its own wipe tower and so on. Currently the only limitation is that all the beds must use the same configuration (i.e. you cannot have an MK4 bed next to a MINI).

Multiple beds

Arrange

The Arrange button in the top toolbar was duplicated. The arrange function can either do the global arrange (as it always could) or arrange only objects on the active bed (which includes objects partially on it). The settings dialog shown when right-clicking the button is common to both.

Compatibility with older PrusaSlicer

To keep the number of changes to our 3MF project files as small as possible, the positions of the beds are not explicitly saved, but they are instead inferred from positions of the objects. The new project files can therefore be loaded into older versions of PrusaSlicer (they obviously do not show the extra beds, though). As for loading older PrusaSlicer projects. PrusaSlicer actually had minimal concept of virtual beds for many years, which is obvious from Arrange function. When there were too many objects to place on a single bed, PrusaSlicer would keep adding them spaced as if there were other beds next to each other.

If you load such a project into PrusaSlicer 2.9.0, this situation is detected and the objects on these virtual "beds" are moved so they actually end up on a non-virtual bed in the grid.

Preview

When switching to Preview, a bed selector toolbar is shown in the top-right corner, which was the last remaining space where nothing was placed yet. We were considering a bigger reorganization of the Preview scene, but in the end we decided to purposefully leave the controls where they were so we do not break what people are used to. We are planning to do a general overhaul in future, so it makes sense to us to postpone the big changes to do them in one go. Switching the beds in Preview moves the camera so the bed switched to is in the same position as the one switched from.

The 'Sliced Info' statistics and 'Export G-code' button in the right panel are related to currently active bed.

What is in the works

It is currently not possible to slice all the beds in one step. This will be added before the 2.9.0 final. We only released the alpha a bit early to start collecting feedback.

Printables integration (#13207)

Printables.com ↗ has been fully integrated into the PrusaSlicer ecosystem, complementing the earlier integration of Prusa Connect in version 2.8.0. Printables is now a persistent tab in the top bar, available to all users regardless of login status. While anonymous users can browse and download models, logged-in users gain access to additional features such as managing collections, viewing liked and downloaded models, and sending G-code directly to Prusa Connect.

On model pages, three key functions — Slice, Download and Print — interact seamlessly with PrusaSlicer. The Slice button, identifiable by the PrusaSlicer logo, mirrors the functionality of the browser version. Clicking it redirects the user to the Plater tab, where the download starts automatically. The destination directory for downloads can be set in Configuration -> Preferences -> Others. The download notification now includes a link back to the model page on Printables. Once the download is complete, the data is added to the Plater using the same logic as the drag-and-drop mechanism.

The Download button provides similar functionality with two key differences. First, the user remains on the Printables tab, with a simple notification confirming the download in the bottom-right corner. As with Slice, a detailed notification is available in the Plater tab, including a button to open the destination directory. Second, the downloaded file is not opened or added to the Plater.