Slicing software

[king3d]

When you say "completely" compatible what do you mean? I've used Makerbot Desktop 3.8.1 a number of times now with great results on my new 2015 Flash Forge Creator Pro. I've not ran into any problems yet and I've used both SD Card printing and USB. I'm just wanting to make sure I'm not missing out on something really important by not using RepG.

[curious aardvark]

lol hell no - rep g is the worst bit of software connected to 3d printing I've ever played with. It lasted approximately 4 hours for me - 3 hours and 50 minutes of that was getting halfway through slicing a lefab shop elephant.
Every other piece of software I've tried slices it in a couple minutes at worst. S3d does it in seconds.
Ignore it, don't use it and cary on with the makerware desktop - that's actually pretty decent once you get your head around the custom profiles and advanced settings text files.
You can pretty much just change speed of first layer and keep the rest as defaults.
I prefer simplify 3d - but for dual extrusion printing mwd is still the better piece of software.

[EagleSeven]

When you say "completely" compatible what do you mean? I've used Makerbot Desktop 3.8.1 a number of times now with great results on my new 2015 Flash Forge Creator Pro.

To get info about that, go to this thread on this website:
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.p...g-Makerbot-3-7

I think it's not compatible with the version of Firmware in our CTC printer,
as are Most Other slicers Not compatible with that Firmware.
But as long as I have version 2.4 working, I'm Happy !

Note: That was mainly about version 3.7 but since then I tried version 3.8,
on a different computer, and it did the same thing

[king3d]

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess that "your mileage may vary" applies to slicing software. I've had vastly different experience using software on my Windows desktop vs. my MacBook Pro. For me MB 3.8.1 works very well.

[Bobby Lin]

My favorite slicing software is Slic3r.

[EagleSeven]

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess that "your mileage may vary" applies to slicing software. I've had vastly different experience using software on my Windows desktop vs. my MacBook Pro. For me MB 3.8.1 works very well.

I know the problem is Not with the Computers and their OS version,
It's with an older Firmware version in printers, I think !
But that has not been Proven !

[Bassna]

Lets put it this way. I purchased Simplify3D 1 year ago, on Christmas. I would consider it one of my top 3 purchases of the year, if not the top 1 spot. That's how great it really is, in usefulness, and time and material saved from so many various things that happen with 3D printing.

[curious aardvark]

s3d is the mutts nuts.
Only thing missing is a working purge wall.

[Sebastian Finke]

s3d is the mutts nuts.
Only thing missing is a working purge wall.

And dual extrusion support, apparently...

This weekend I hope to test Slic3r 1.2.9...

[jdg56]

tl:dr -- Has anyone used MatterControl? Did the Z axis not set correctly? Did you find a fix?

Hi all,

After a hiatus from printing, I've been playing around a bit lately, and have been looking at how best to organize my workflow.

A bit of info: if you run Linux, as I do, you have to be a bit careful about versions of your OS: I run Ubuntu, and keep up with OS versions, which has broken both my replicatorG and Makerware desktop version. They start and then crash the moment I try to open an .stl file. It may be possible that Makerware will revise their linux version to run under the more recent Linux versions, but I'm not all that hopeful. ReplicatorG, well, I think that's not going to be updated before the heat death of the universe

So, I have been looking at options.

I have been successful at running slic3r, which seems to produce good results for me. However, I would prefer to connect to my printer and print out of the desktop app, and I now have to generate my .x3g file with gpx and load it onto an SD card.

I know, printing off an SD card is what most folks recommend, but I prefer to stay connected and print out of the desktop, and that's not likley to change.

So, since replicatorG is essentially a dinosaur and likely to be extinct to new OSen, and Makerware has their own problems and can't be counted on, I started looking for options.

One option I found is MatterControl, which has a linux version and which connects to the Flashforge Creator Pro (and PowerSpec clone), and prints directly from the application.

It does connect, I can set all my options, and though the slicer is rather slow and doesn't offer any kind of progress indicator that I can see, does complete and try to print.

However, it doesn't seem to set the Z axis. It moved the print head and then started to print the calibration object I selected, with the bed at full bottom position.

Has anyone in here tried MatterControl, and figured out how to work it? I'm thinking it might be something in the gcode, and will look there, but I thought I might ask the collective as well.

I'll follow up as I get any info on this.

Cheers,

John