prusaslicer versus simplify3d

[curious aardvark]

yep - found it. Seems weird that it's not part of the machine setup routine.
Well the phione stand damn near worked.
Looked good.

Some of the print speed settings can be set as percentages - and some can't. This just makes no sense to me.
Instead of just changing a single print speed I still have to go and do 4 or 5 different settings.
And as print speeds are something I change a LOT. That's really bloody annoying.

I think on balance if i were starting printing today and not 6 years ago.
Would i pay £117 for simplify3d when PS is free ?
I would not.
I might go find a 'free/hacked' version. And yes they are out there - and no don't ask me where :-)

I think I paid around £70 for my sed licence and at the time - there simply wasn't anything else around to touch it.

I actually got a fairly comprehensive demo and run through of s3d at a TCT show by the very nice people behind the 3DP giant printers.

Also s3d was the only slicer to fully support the replicator clone mighty boards and the s3g file format at the time. well appart from the worst slicer ever: makerware desktop.
So it was money well spent and I have definitely got my moneys worth from it.

And today if i did need the s3g capability - I'd just use flashprint, great little slicer and free. And in fact while my klic-n-print does use s3g files - I don't use s3d for it anyway. I've never managed to get dual extrusion to work with s3d - while it's really easy and works well with flashprint.

While s3d is good and really easy to use and the print preview is the best in the industry - honestly if I were starting today I'd probably use PS and flashprint.

One thing I have spotted in PS is the top layer infill patterns.
External infill patterns. s3d offers rectilinear and concentric, while PS offers some interesting aklternatives: hilbert curves, archimedean chords (i have no clue) and octagon spiral as well as the two s3d has.

Going to play with this - actually having an interesting pattern on top of something could work really well and look good too :-)

So while I do think s3d is the easier to use software, from a print quality point of view - it's no better than PS or flashprint, come to that.
And while some of the settings in PS are annoying, it does have some useful features that s3d does not have.

Profiles - I use profiles in s3d a LOT. I have 4 working printers all with their own settings and material profiles. And I can load as many as I like and switch between them with no hassle.
I can't see any options for something similiar in PS.

There must be a way to save something similiar in PS - but I have yet to figure out how.
perhaps as project files.

On balance s3d is definitely still the most user frinedly slicer around - particularly if you have a bunch of totally different printers and use a lot of different materials and different settings.

But I do really like Prusa slicer.
And there's nothing in s3d that would be a deal breaker.

Like a lot of software companies - I think s3d got their marketing wrong.
Sell the software at a much lower price to a LOT more people, would bring in more money and also a rolling supply of new customers.
By aiming at industrial users and people with more money than sense - they've cut themselves off from the largest and constantly growing 3d printer market: the home/hobby user.

How many people would still fight cura if they could buy simplify3d for $29.99 ?
An awful lot less than do now that's for sure.