Favorite Slicer? What's your favorite slicer? (I'm using Windows). I know about Skeenforge but I've heard some warnings about it being complicated and slow. I've downloaded Slic3r and was thinking to use that one but just heard about KISSlicer and it might even be easier to use. What's your favorite and why? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,191596#msg-191596 Sat, 13 Jun 2026 01:58:37 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194923#msg-194923 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194923#msg-194923 -------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks - I didn't realize there was a newer one
> out there. That's what it means to be on the
> bleeding edge I guess.

Right now for sure. But I think after the release it will be a few months before we see another Alpha release if my impression of his process is correct.

>
> Thanks too for the bed roughness setting. It was
> indeed 0.25 and it would account for the higher
> first layer. Any reason not to set it back to 0?
> I've never had an issue with unevenness of the bed
> (and 0.25 seems like a large compensation factor
> anyway)

Again I think this is a result of its origin in BFB and dual head machines. they seem to use a raft all the time and don't really care if the bed in level so they just compensate on the first layer. Where as in RepRap we have gotten used to printing the first layer at close to the normal layer height. I personally have it set to 0 and it acts as expected. Also you will want turn of Z-Settle as well unless you have a bed that moves downwards and does not have any antibacklash system (like BFB).

>
> I also found the bug in the time estimation. It
> wasn't actually in the gcoder.py file, but in a
> separate file. I merged it into gcoder.py when I
> adapted the code for my purposes. Anyway, for
> gcode lines that change the speed, but have no
> movement (eg. "G1 F30000") it would add in the
> time it took to accelerate from the current speed
> up to that speed and then decelerate the same
> amount. Once I fixed that logic, the time
> estimation was accurate

Nice I could never get Pronterface to give estimates that were even close to the real time so I stopped looking at it.]]> Sublime General Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:36:50 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194921#msg-194921 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194921#msg-194921
Thanks too for the bed roughness setting. It was indeed 0.25 and it would account for the higher first layer. Any reason not to set it back to 0? I've never had an issue with unevenness of the bed (and 0.25 seems like a large compensation factor anyway)

I also found the bug in the time estimation. It wasn't actually in the gcoder.py file, but in a separate file. I merged it into gcoder.py when I adapted the code for my purposes. Anyway, for gcode lines that change the speed, but have no movement (eg. "G1 F30000") it would add in the time it took to accelerate from the current speed up to that speed and then decelerate the same amount. Once I fixed that logic, the time estimation was accurate]]> jbernardis General Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:24:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194912#msg-194912 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194912#msg-194912 -------------------------------------------------------
> There ARE two things that I have to bring up:
> 1) on every layer, the outside perimeter starts at
> exactly the same point. There's quite a blob
> there right now. I left the retraction (suck)
> settings alone, but they might need more work.

Oh a few hours to early. He released RC2 (also in Linux) and it now has a jitter function as well as a control for the depth of the seam. Try the seam at 0.5 and the jitter about 90 and see how that works out for you.

> 2) for some reason, the first layer height was
> 0.450mm. My layer height setting is 0.2mm. I use
> this same value in slic3r and skeinforge, and my
> first layer is at 0.18 (because of my settings in
> bottom plugin, etc). I can't find a setting that
> would make the first layer so high, except perhaps
> for the skin thickness (which is set at the
> default 0.8).

Its the bed roughness setting. It adds that amount to the layer height for the first layer.

>
> I'm encouraged by what I see, and I'll keep
> experimenting]]> Sublime General Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:11:38 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194911#msg-194911 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194911#msg-194911
The object I am printing is the X motor bracket I designed for an aluminum extrusion printer I am making. It's a decent sized object. When I slice it with kisslicer, kisslicer itself gives me time estimates that range from 4:48 to 8:17 (hh:mm) depending on the precision setting. I went with a middle of the road precision of 50% and the time estimate from kisslicer was 5:18.

When I imported this into pronterface, it gave me a time estimate of 12:54, and when I imported into my own host software which uses the pronterface underpinnings (gcoder.py) it game me an estimate of 13:20. The object is actually printing so I don't know the actual print time, but based on my host software's constantly revised ETA, it looks like it's going to take 5:10 - so obviously I need to look at the gcoder.py code. It seems to me that the big difference in print time I am seeing between this slicer and the others is due to the perimeter times. kisslicer seems to have the strategy to go slow on the perimeters. So in about 3 hours, I will have a good look at the object to see if the time sacrifice was worthwhile. I can always speed it up.

There ARE two things that I have to bring up:
1) on every layer, the outside perimeter starts at exactly the same point. There's quite a blob there right now. I left the retraction (suck) settings alone, but they might need more work.
2) for some reason, the first layer height was 0.450mm. My layer height setting is 0.2mm. I use this same value in slic3r and skeinforge, and my first layer is at 0.18 (because of my settings in bottom plugin, etc). I can't find a setting that would make the first layer so high, except perhaps for the skin thickness (which is set at the default 0.8).

I'm encouraged by what I see, and I'll keep experimenting]]> jbernardis General Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:08:06 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194543#msg-194543 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194543#msg-194543 martybee58 General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:51:07 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194534#msg-194534 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194534#msg-194534
Quote

does anybody else have issues with slic3r not liking certain .stl files? It seems about 50% of the .stl files I create with SolidWorks 2013 create errors in slic3r.

It's an issue with how SW generates STL files. If you feed them through cloud.netfabb.com it will fix the errors.]]> crispy1 General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:03:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194506#msg-194506 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194506#msg-194506 Sublime General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:29:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194484#msg-194484 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194484#msg-194484 Spk64 General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 11:00:54 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194475#msg-194475 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194475#msg-194475 KDog General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:46:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194473#msg-194473 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194473#msg-194473 martybee58 General Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:40:12 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194181#msg-194181 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194181#msg-194181 www.ebay.com]]]> hendo420 General Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:43:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194176#msg-194176 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194176#msg-194176
Cheers,

KDog]]> KDog General Sat, 23 Mar 2013 04:19:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194131#msg-194131 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194131#msg-194131
Beta [kisslicer.com] which is only Linux because Windows and Mac are onto RC1 which is available [kisslicer.com]]]> Sublime General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:48:44 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194129#msg-194129 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,194129#msg-194129
I figured some of those parameters were for older style extruders. I basically ignored them and got good results.

When I said Advanced Settings, I meant the settings dialog box with the 5 or 6 tabs. That is what it is called in the menu - at least in the version I tried.]]> jbernardis General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:40:14 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193991#msg-193991 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193991#msg-193991 ------------------------------------------------
> - on the Materials tab I don't understand what
> to do about the warm-up factor. Does this imply
> that you may insert some waits in the gcode

This is for dual extrusion so it knows what temperature to set the idle extruder so it does not drip every where. I you are using a single extruder just ignore it.

> - there is very limited fan control - always on
> or off, or on for perimeters. What about on for
> small layers?

As I have said repeatedly everyone should be trying the beta or RC1 not the really old release that is lacking features.

> - on the extruders tab, what is mm/rev. I
> wouldn't know how to measure that - is it inflow
> or outflow - and even if I could, it should have
> no bearing on the resultant g code.

Again you are using the old release that mentions many things that relate more to old RepRap and BFB commands which confuses most people. If you use the beta or RC1 it does not mention RPM anywhere.

> I also don't like how/where the parameters are
> stored. The settings from the "Advanced Settings"
> dialog box are stored in 3 ini files right in the
> KISSlicer directory. The settings from the main
> screen are stored off in a kisslicer.prefs file in
> some arcane directory that is OS dependent. This
> is only an issue to someone like me who wants to
> integrate the slicer into their host program, but
> it seems awkward.

I am not sure what the advanced tab is since it does not exist in the latest versions but if it is the stuff only available in the Pro version you should never need to adjust them for any reason. I like where the configs are saved because I have a separate folder for each machine so I can have the settings for each machine separate and not have to load anything except the program in the correct folder. But I think that all configs should be one file because the way Kisslicer and Slic3r try to separate them is wrong. If you adjust the layer height it effects settings under all the categories like speed and temp.

>
> Perhaps the biggest issue I had was with printing
> speed. I have a relatively small STL file - 3
> clips that go around a 15 mm aluminum extrusion.
> I sliced and printed with skeinforge and the print
> time was 15 minutes. I then sliced in KISSlicer,
> and the time estimate for the resulting g code was
> just under 5 hours. I didn't let the print
> finish. I don't know if it was really going to
> take 5 hours, but it was going to be significantly
> longer that the skeinforge job. Admittedly, I
> didn't change any of the pre-populated speed
> values, and I sliced with the precision at 50%,
> but even with that, I don't think the difference
> in print times should have been so dramatic.

What told you that? Not Kisslicer? I have found its estimates off but never seen results like that and from all the video tests comparing it with SF and Slic3r it was always the fastest because it retracts less often and has better path planning.

If I were you I would test the new version and remember it is not a branch of RepRap so it did not follow the same path that all other RepRap slicers took. He did things different and I believe that is why it works better while confusing people. I personally do not think the normal RepRap promoted methods of doing things is always right and sometimes completely wrong.]]> Sublime General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:33:18 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193969#msg-193969 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193969#msg-193969 lotw General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:29:08 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193917#msg-193917 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193917#msg-193917
When trying to set up the parameters, some of them were strange:

- some of the parameters on the main screen - precision and raft/skirt - seem to be more logically placed on the styles tab.
- on the Materials tab I don't understand what to do about the warm-up factor. Does this imply that you may insert some waits in the gcode
- there is very limited fan control - always on or off, or on for perimeters. What about on for small layers?
- on the extruders tab, what is mm/rev. I wouldn't know how to measure that - is it inflow or outflow - and even if I could, it should have
no bearing on the resultant g code.

I also don't like how/where the parameters are stored. The settings from the "Advanced Settings" dialog box are stored in 3 ini files right in the KISSlicer directory. The settings from the main screen are stored off in a kisslicer.prefs file in some arcane directory that is OS dependent. This is only an issue to someone like me who wants to integrate the slicer into their host program, but it seems awkward.

Perhaps the biggest issue I had was with printing speed. I have a relatively small STL file - 3 clips that go around a 15 mm aluminum extrusion. I sliced and printed with skeinforge and the print time was 15 minutes. I then sliced in KISSlicer, and the time estimate for the resulting g code was just under 5 hours. I didn't let the print finish. I don't know if it was really going to take 5 hours, but it was going to be significantly longer that the skeinforge job. Admittedly, I didn't change any of the pre-populated speed values, and I sliced with the precision at 50%, but even with that, I don't think the difference in print times should have been so dramatic.]]> jbernardis General Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:50:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193688#msg-193688 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193688#msg-193688 lotw General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:20:05 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193619#msg-193619 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193619#msg-193619
I think I'll start out with KISSlicer and worry about bridges later. Sounds like spanning a gap is a later "tuning" step anyway after I get the basic printer working. Maybe by then KISSlicer will support it and if not I'll try one of the other slicers.]]> cobrageek General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:10:25 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193617#msg-193617 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193617#msg-193617 Sublime General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:07:27 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193607#msg-193607 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193607#msg-193607 jbernardis General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:06:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193604#msg-193604 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193604#msg-193604 cobrageek General Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:00:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193472#msg-193472 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193472#msg-193472
The other area that gives me trouble with slic3r is with very thin walls, or with holes that are too close to an outside edge. I've had objects with thin walls that slic3r didn't even render. Just the wider objects at each end with nothing at all in between. And if I have a hole that is too close to an edge, slic3r will not make a continuous perimeter, but will instead go around the other 3 sides of the hole, and then come back and try to put a little segment on the fourth side as if nobody would ever notice it there in plain sight.

I like the slic3r user interface and speed, and I would LIKE to use it as my everyday slicer, but there are simply too many objects for which I have to keep coming back to skeinforge.]]> jbernardis General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 23:31:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193424#msg-193424 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193424#msg-193424
I generally haven't had problems even with versions that have been loudly disparaged as totally broken by some people, but there are two things I would really like to see addressed:

Slic3r still can't put down both the perimeters and infill at the same visit on each island on a layer. In some prints this results in a huge amount of unnecessary moves. This is mainly just an annoyance.

Bridging is still so bad that I don't whether to laugh or cry. A long time ago Skeinforge automatically dropped perimeters to 1 and tried to draw the brigde over the whole area in the best orientation, not stopping at the edges of the bridge. This worked quite well. Not so with Slic3r. It will happily try to draw the all perimeters around the bridge area with full speed and then try to make the bridge by attaching the seemingly randomly oriented bridge threads with submillimeter overlap to the edges of the bridge, which may be the just printed, slightly hanging perimeters.

Here are my latest bridging disasters with 0.9.8:



davew_tx Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> has anyone noticed that firmwares generally
> support G2/G3 arcs, but I've never seen that in a
> Gcode file.
> Nothing but G1 moves usually.
>
> I have plenty of rads and arcs in parts, most are
> fixed rads, and not compound curves and splines.

Filament construction method rounds corners enough so that you can get very round shapes with a reasonable amount of G1 moves. Building a proper arc support into the whole toolchain would be more work than it would be worth.

That said, I had a mill running with reprap electronics+firmware and milling round shapes with G2/G3-containing Gcode from HeeksCAD gave really nice results. Doing the same without arcs would have required a very large amount of G1 moves. But that's just the difference between milling and FDM construction.
]]> ttsalo General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:38:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193367#msg-193367 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193367#msg-193367 -------------------------------------------------------
> Based on everyone's comments here and on the
> reprap magazine article, I decided to give
> kisslicer a try. It looks pretty nice, but one
> thing I haven't found is what I can do via the
> command line. Right now, I jump back and forth
> between Slic3r and Skeinforge. It's all
> integrated into my host program, and I invoke the
> slicers through their command line interfaces.
>
> I'd like to do the same with kisslicer. Is there
> a way I can specify the file to slice and the
> profile/style to slice it with via the command
> line? So far I've gotten it to recognize a model
> file, but it always slices it with the default
> profile.

I know it should be possible since the program started as a command line only program. With that said I have not seen anyone using from the command line since I started using it. I think this is one that Lonesock will need to answer.]]> Sublime General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:40:15 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193347#msg-193347 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193347#msg-193347 -------------------------------------------------------
> has anyone noticed that firmwares generally
> support G2/G3 arcs, but I've never seen that in a
> Gcode file.
> Nothing but G1 moves usually.
>
> I have plenty of rads and arcs in parts, most are
> fixed rads, and not compound curves and splines.
>
> Dave

The problem is all of that information is lost when you export the STL file, trying to fit curves to line segments which is what you'd end up doing is going to introduce inaccuracies. Where slicers could use G2/G3 is on interior corners where the correct path involves a curve, having said that unless the offset is large it's probably not worth it.]]> Polygonhell General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:38:08 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193340#msg-193340 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193340#msg-193340
I'd like to do the same with kisslicer. Is there a way I can specify the file to slice and the profile/style to slice it with via the command line? So far I've gotten it to recognize a model file, but it always slices it with the default profile.]]> jbernardis General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:10:04 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193319#msg-193319 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,193319#msg-193319 Nothing but G1 moves usually.

I have plenty of rads and arcs in parts, most are fixed rads, and not compound curves and splines.

Dave]]> davew_tx General Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:54:31 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,192868#msg-192868 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,192868#msg-192868 Sublime General Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:43:24 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,192859#msg-192859 Re: Favorite Slicer? https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,191596,192859#msg-192859 The 5mm hole in the middle of the test piece creates lines at +2.75 and -2.75 (0.5mm width requested) which is correct given what was requested.
KISSlicer does correctly (assuming you're tool is circular) create arcs for the corners of the inside perimeter, and hard corners for the outside ones.
The only odd thing it does on perimeters is the overlapping start stop thing which does help hide the seem but I could see it causing an issue for something with a tight fit.]]> Polygonhell General Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:09:12 -0400