PrusaSlicer 2.6.0-alpha2

PrusaSlicer

Summary

This is the first public alpha release of PrusaSlicer 2.6.0 (alpha1 was not public). It brings the most anticipated Organic supports, measurement tool and text embossing tool. Cut tool now allows orienting the cut plane and adding connectors, there is a possibility to download files directly from Printables.com and several new features were added in order to improve FDM print quality. There are of course many more 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.

Github clips this text at the release history overview. Please open the 2.6.0-alpha2 release log ↗ to see the complete change log.

Organic supports #1514

Until now, PrusaSlicer's supports consisted of 2D "scaffolding" created on a regular 2D grid. While the approach produced reasonably good results in many cases, they often consumed quite a lot of filament, took a long time to print, ended up in spaces where they are difficult to remove from and left visible scars on the model when removed (especially when the settings were not tuned correctly). We improved some of these downsides by introducing the "Snug" supports in PrusaSlicer 2.4.0, but they are still an upgraded version of the old and limited approach.

An alternative approach, which was pioneered by different 3D modeling softwares and slicers are "Tree supports" - support structures designed to save material and printing time as much as possible. Branches of supports are generated where needed and limit contact areas to a necessary minimum. This results in a better surface of the original model. The community has rightfully complained that not having this style of supports in PrusaSlicer is a severe disadvantage.

In this release, we are presenting our implementation of tree supports, which we decided to call 'Organic supports' because of their smooth shape. The algorithm is based on @ThomasRahm 's implementation of tree supports, which are significantly improved tree supports originally from Cura. We would like to thank Ultimaker Cura ↗ and @ThomasRahm (see his Reddit post) ↗ for the effort they have invested into the problem.

The supports are easily removable, do not scar the surface and are fast and cheap to print. The algorithm automatically uses double perimeter walls for the trees where needed to improve structural capabilities. Like other support types implemented in PrusaSlicer, Organic supports can be enforced or blocked using the Paint-on supports tool.

We recommend to use the Organic supports together with the following two new features (see their respective sections below):

• Automatic FDM support painter produces the right amount of supports for sufficient model stability.
• Avoid crossing curled overhangs reduces risk of print head kicking the model and angled tree supports off the build plate.

The Organic supports currently pose the following limitations:

• For large models with a lot of supports, 16GB RAM minimum is recommended.
• Top / bottom vertical separation distances are rounded to multiples of layer height.
• Variable layer height is not supported.
• Interface layers are not always produced reliably. As of now printing with zero interface layers is recommended, which produces easy to remove supports.
• Rafts with Organic supports are buggy.

Measurement tool #3651

Measurement tool is another feature long demanded by our community. The tool utilizes a geometry detection algorithm that recognizes points (vertices), edges, circles and planes. Users can check model sizes and angles directly in the slicer, so there is no need to open 3rd party software anymore for this purpose. At the moment, it is possible to measure between parts to simplify their better manipulation and organization inside objects (but not between separate objects). Last but not least, the tool allows to uniformly scale the object to the required length by clicking a button in the scene.

One of the current limitations of this tool is its behavior on objects with overlapping parts. In such cases, the parts are considered individually, meaning that edges created by the intersections are not detected, and planes hidden inside other parts are. The tool also does not work well with negative volumes, which are considered as parts.

Text embossing tool

This tool opens a new capability to insert, manipulate and edit text created like a new volume of an object. It allows to add notes, signs, serial numbers, etc. directly in the slicer.

The text can be placed on any type of surface, not only a planar one. There is an option to "Use a surface", which forces the text to follow the parent object surface along the whole text length. Text manipulation can be simply performed by dragging text around the object to be placed in the desired position. There are also possibilities to rotate (Z-rot) and elevate (Z-move) text directly in the Emboss panel. The text editor automatically imports fonts from the user's system library. Basic or advanced properties of text are available to change and edit.