There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to 3D printing. Obviously, having the best 3D printer is great, but did you know you also need specific software to make a 3D model ready for printing? These programs are called slicers, and they are essential for making your 3D printer, well, 3D print.
What is a slicer for 3D printing?
A slicer is a piece of software for your PC, Mac, or laptop that can convert a 3D model file — normally with the file extension .STL, .3MF or .OBJ — into a file that is usable by your 3D printer. A printer is essentially a sophisticated plotting machine that moves to certain coordinates told to it by the slicer in the form of something called GCODE.
A slicer does exactly what it sounds like; It cuts a 3D model into small «sliced» layers that are printed individually but stacked on top of each other. A slicer is also responsible for:
- How hot the printer should be
- How fast the printer should go
- Where to put the supports on the model
- How much infill is required for the model
- Where the print head should be at any given second
- How much material to extrude in each layer
- Many many more settings that can be tweaked
Basically, everything that makes your printer useful is told to it by the slicer, so it is the most important piece of software you can own.
Now that we know what a slicer does, we can talk about which ones are the best to use. Which slicer will be determined by what kind of 3D printer you have and what you use it for. Resin printers often require different slicers to FDM machines, so this article will tell you which is which.