2012-01-21
After much work, a new beefy release of Slic3r is ready for download.
New features:
- thin walls!
- new Output Filename Format option to allow for complex output filenames using option values (like foo_3perimeters_0.15height.gcode)
- automatic retraction at the end of the print
Improvements:
- much better overlap between infill and perimeters in those situations where previous version was still producing gaps
- smarter order for hole perimeters to save travel and time
- large internal refactoring (less memory and some speed)
- bridges now have higher priority than other solid regions
- loops are now closed better
- use solid print speed for internal solid layers too
- checkbox in GUI to enable comments in G-code
- warn if no layers were detected
Changes:
- Windows package is now distributed as a ZIP file rather than a self-extracting executable
Bugfixes:
- some island having no holes and contained in holes themselves were ignored
- fatal error in arc detection code
- wrong month number in output
- small regions were infilled even with fill_density = 0
- fill was escaping perimeters near some corners
- other fatal errors removed, especially when dealing with dirty files
2012-01-07
Okay, Slic3r was born in September and in a few months I was able to bring it beyond what I expected, in terms of features, speed and stability. Things have started to change very quickly, and community is playing a big role in testing and discussing new features.
A Slic3r forum was created in the official RepRap forums. Also, about 50 people sit in the FreeNode IRC #slic3r channel.
Some notable things appeared in the web recently. Neil Underwood (well known as Spacexula) posted pictures and a video of a print he did on the official RepRap blog. The first outstanding thing is that he reached a 0.01mm layer height. The second outstanding thing is that he used Slic3r!
Richard H. (well known as Richrap) is posting a multipart illustrated Slic3r guide to his colorful blog. It's a very good work, so thank you Rich!
Michael Andresen (well known as blddk) posted some screenshots to show differences between the various fill patterns available in Slic3r. Don't miss the interesting article Gary Hodgson posted about new possible fill patterns.
Pointedstick (Nathaniel Graham) posted two good blog articles about high-resolution printing, in which he talks about using Slic3r: this and that.
Brazen Artifice posted a couple articles about retraction and preloading last settings.
Sparr posted a picture of an object he printed with and without enabling the native arcs support in Slic3r.
The good Kliment Yanev added an option to customize the slicing command in his excellent Pronterface, to allow for easy integration with Slic3r. (See the Slic3r README for guidance.)
2011-12-22
New features:
- Slice and save as... command to choose the output file name
- Compatibility with Windows XP 64
- Total filament length is written to the output file and showed on command line
Improvements:
- Improved flow and overlapping for solid surfaces by using a better physical model in internal calculations; this gives much higher quality making it less sparse then it was before
- Improved the slicing algorithm; this should reduce the STL warnings
- Better overlapping for loops
- Concentric infill now uses the adjusted flow spacing for better surface quality; it also starts infilling always from the center point.
- Reduced packages size by 10-20%; they also launch faster
- Always use rectilinear infill for internal solid surfaces
- Limit skirt height to print height
Bugfixes:
- Concentric infill was throwing errors
- Extrusion was calculated incorrectly for clock-wise arcs when using the experimental --gcode-arcs option
2011-12-15
Improvements:
- New extrusion math for more accuracy
- Make sure there are no empty layers at the bottom
- Don't slow down retractions on bottom layer
- Remember last opened directory (until application is closed)
- Don't die when config has unknown options
- More STL files are now accepted
Changes:
- Default infill angle is now 45°
- Default retraction speed is now 30mm/s
- Comments in gcode must now be explicitely enabled with the new --gcode-comments option
Bugfixes:
- Objects had slight dimension errors
- Removed fatal errors thrown during infill (small regions and infill every N layers)
- Fixed bolding and font issues on Windows
- Removed fatal error when nothing in a single layer could be parsed
- Duplicate was giving bad number of copies
2011-12-05
New features:
- optimal bridging direction is detected for more bridges
- flow width is auto adjusted to avoid leaving gaps at the border of solid regions
- customizable speed for small perimeters
- customizable multiplier for the flow rate used when bridging
Improvements:
- important settings are marked in bold -- new users can start printing by changing only those ones
- infill segments are now connected to allow better sticking to the perimeters
Bugfixes:
- 0.5.4 was less tolerant than 0.5.3 about dirty STL models
2011-12-01
A new juicy release is ready!
New features:
- distinct speeds for perimeters, infill, solid infill and bridges
- warn about non-manifold or dirty models
- allow solid fill layers to be zero
- new --extrusion-axis option
Improvements:
- high tolerance for dirty models; it will attempt to repair any missing layer (all Prusa Mendel parts now slice correctly!)
- options on command line now override loaded config file
- note used settings in exported gcode
Changes:
- all feed rate options were renamed using the word speed
Bugfixes:
- concentric infill threw errors
- plate was lifted erroneously at Z change
- fill density = 0 prevented generation of extra solid layers
- some bridges, when very close to other solid surfaces, could lead to overlapping infill
- the extrusion width ratio setting produced wrong flow rate sometimes
- removed sparse errors
- could not read back a config file with empty start or end gcode
2011-11-27
Bugfixes:
- options having zero values were broken 0.5.2
- hollow objects were printed with wrong sparse infill
- minor errors
2011-11-26
A new release just after two days!
New features:
- new Extrusion width ratio option to force a given
ratio between extrusion width and layer height instead of
having Slic3r calculate it automatically
- new super-fast concentric infill pattern
Improvements:
- GUI progress bar is not determinate and shows some information
- avoid unnecessary retractions during infill
Changes:
- Filament packing density was renamed to Extrusion multiplier
Bugfixes:
- Infill every 'n' layers was broken after recent changes
- setting Temperature to zero didn't remove it from output
2011-11-24
10 more days and a new release is there!
New features:
- if Temperature is set to zero, no temperature control will
be added to the resulting gcode file
Improvements:
- large refactoring of the bridging logic - all bridges should now be detected (although some work needs to be done on optimal infill direction); the quality of solid surfaces and regions near bridges and solid surfaces has improved a lot
- use solid infill under pillars and small regions instead of
using an internal low-density infill
- don't die on non-manifold models; always try to generate some output
Changes:
- print settings moved to first tab
- M109 is used instead of M104 for temperature control
Bugfixes:
- bottom layer speed was ignored
- some solid layers were skipped
- some ghost lines were extruded in open air outside the object when a 45° infill angle was used
2011-11-14
After 10 more days of work, a new release is out!
New features:
- four new exciting fill patterns (including line)!
- new algorithm for re-processing layers with dirty geometry, this makes the parser more tolerant
- start and end gcode is customizable in the GUI too
- new --retract-lift option to lift Z while doing travel moves
- new --no-extrusion option to disable E codes
- new --skirt-height option
- new --first-layer-height-ratio option
- new --close-after-slicing for easy integration with external programs
- new --g0 option to output G0 for fast retractions (experimental)
Improvements:
- perimeters are extruded at once for each island, saving on travel toolpaths
- perimeters are extruded using a shortest path search, avoiding unnecessary travel
- smarter toolpaths for infills with different density
- multiply was renamed to duplicate
- infill is now overlapped with perimeters by 15%
- GUI was rearranged using tabs
Bugfixes:
- fixed fatal error occuring on Windows
- infill solid layers even when --fill-density is set to zero
- membranes were not printed correctly
- G2/G3 coordinates for experimental arcs were wrong
- print first layer at Z = 1 * layer height instead of zero
