Filament to Nozzle Map
New in v2.3.2-fos.8.6.0. This page covers the filament to nozzle map and the filament-side features that arrived with it: translucent filaments and the HEX color field. For multi-material supply systems (multiACE), which build on the map, see Supply Systems.
Up to 8.5, a filament printed on the nozzle with its own number. Filament 1 went to Nozzle 1, Filament 3 to Nozzle 3, and nothing else was possible. On a machine with the same nozzle in every head that is fine - the two numbers are interchangeable. On a machine with different nozzle diameters fitted, it quietly breaks: the filament dropdowns, the line widths, the speeds and the flow limits all followed the filament's index, whether or not that was the nozzle the filament was about to print through.
The filament to nozzle map separates the two ideas. A filament is a material with a color; a nozzle is a hole of a given diameter in a given head. The map says which nozzle each filament is sliced for, and everything downstream - line width, speed, flow, the filament presets you are offered - follows the nozzle the filament is mapped to, not its number.
In the sidebar, the Filament Pool header carries a Map filaments to nozzles icon. Click it to open the Filament and nozzle mapping window.
The left column lists the printer's nozzles with their diameters. The middle column lists every filament in the pool, with its vendor, material and color swatch. A filament that is not wired to any nozzle sits on the right with an orange border - unassigned.
- Drag from a nozzle's pin to a filament's pin (or the reverse) to wire them. Any filament can go to any nozzle, and a nozzle can take more than one filament.
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Right-click a filament for Assign to nozzle, Change filament, Unlink, or Delete this from pool. Right-click a nozzle for Assign filament.
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Add filament adds a new filament to the pool. More filaments than nozzles is allowed - whether the print can then run is decided at slice time, see the guards below.
- Auto align tidies the layout. Reset to default restores the obvious map: Filament 1 to Nozzle 1, Filament 2 to Nozzle 2, and so on for as many nozzles as the printer has. Filaments past that are left unassigned for you to place.
- OK commits the map and marks the plate for re-slicing. Cancel discards the changes.
The map is stored in the project, not in the printer preset, so it travels with the 3mf. A fresh project starts with the default map. Each link is drawn in its filament's color so you can follow it across the window.
- Line width, speed and flow for that filament now come from the process preset of the nozzle it is mapped to. On a 0.2 / 0.4 / 0.6 / 0.8 machine, moving a filament from Nozzle 2 to Nozzle 4 turns it from a 0.4 mm extrusion into a 0.8 mm one.
- The filament dropdowns filter to the mapped nozzle. A filament on a 0.2 mm nozzle is only offered filament presets profiled for 0.2 mm. If you move a filament to a nozzle of a different diameter, the map warns you that the preset no longer matches - Check filament presets - and leaves the preset exactly as it was. Pick a matching one before slicing.
- The plate needs re-slicing. Changing a mapping invalidates the slice, the same way changing a line width does.
Without a supply system, the map does not choose which head prints a filament. The G-code tool number is still the filament number: Filament 3 is still extruded by the third head. The map decides which nozzle's settings the filament is sliced with. That is why, on a plain U1, a filament must be mapped either to its own nozzle or to another nozzle of the same diameter - the slicer refuses anything else, see below. Mapping across different diameters only becomes useful once a supply system is in the path to re-route the filament to the right head.
Three situations that used to produce quietly wrong G-code now stop the slice with a message that names the filaments and the reason. They are FOrcaSlicer guardrails in the sense of Technical Guardrails: the software is telling you no for a reason.
If a filament is used anywhere in the print but is not wired to any nozzle, slicing stops:
These filaments are used by this print but are not assigned to any nozzle: ... Open the filament to nozzle map and assign them, or remove them from the print.
Each line names the filament and how it is being used - painted on the model, a Filament for Features setting, an object or part filament, a height range, support, the prime tower, or a filament change in custom G-code. Previously such a filament silently inherited Nozzle 1's diameter and offsets.
What is checked depends on whether a supply system is configured:
| Setup | What is required |
|---|---|
| No supply system | A filament must be mapped to the nozzle that will actually print it, or to one of the same diameter. |
| Supply system, wiring not declared | The diameter a filament was sliced for must exist on some nozzle. |
| Supply system, wiring declared | Additionally, no more filaments may demand a diameter than the wiring can physically load at once. |
On a plain U1 the message reads:
The filament to nozzle map changes which nozzle's settings a filament uses, but not which nozzle prints it - that still follows the filament number. These filaments would be extruded through a nozzle their line widths were not computed for: ... Map each of these filaments to the nozzle that prints it, or to a nozzle of the same diameter.
The supply-system cases are described on Supply Systems.
On a mixed-nozzle machine Support/raft base, Support/raft interface and Wipe tower wall (named Wipe tower before 8.6.4) must be chosen explicitly rather than defaulting to whatever is loaded. Since 8.6.4 each also offers a Custom entry that picks the exact nozzles for the job. See Technical Guardrails.
This fix matters even if you never open the map. Up to 8.5 the first layer line width was a single value applied to every nozzle. On a machine with 0.2 and 0.8 mm heads fitted, layer 1 was extruded at the same width through both - correct for one and badly wrong for the other. As of 8.6 each process preset's own first layer line width is used for the nozzle it belongs to, including for brim, skirt and support. If you printed anything on a mixed machine with an earlier version, it is worth re-slicing.
A filament can be marked Translucent in Filament settings -> Basic information, with a Translucency percentage from 1 to 99. The percentage is grayed out until the box is ticked.
The mark is used in two places, and in both it is a visual aid only - it has no effect on slicing or on the G-code.
In the map window, translucent filaments' color swatches are drawn over a checker background, so a clear PLA reads differently from an opaque one of the same color.
In the sliced preview, a Solid | Translucent switch next to the slice buttons draws translucent filaments see-through, each at its own percentage. The switch only appears when a translucent filament is actually in use, and it defaults to Solid at every launch.
Limitation: this is not a render of how the print will look. Overlapping translucent paths in particular are approximate. Use it to check that the right regions are on the translucent filament, not to judge the finished appearance. The Color Patch page has real examples of what translucent filament does on a print.
The updated Snapmaker profile bundle (02.02.55.03 as of 8.6.1) ships PETG Translucent and PLA Translucent presets, among others - see Release Notes.
The filament color dialog has a HEX field. Type or paste a color as #RRGGBB or RRGGBB and the picker, the swatch and the HSL / RGB boxes follow as you type. Pick a color anywhere in the dialog and the field shows its hex value, ready to copy - handy for matching a filament color to a vendor's published value, or for keeping the same color across projects.
The field sits where the Define Custom Colours >> button used to be. That button was permanently disabled here because FOrcaSlicer always opens the dialog fully expanded. Everything else in the dialog - basic and custom colors included - is the standard Windows color dialog and works as before. On macOS the native color picker already has a hex field.
- Supply Systems - multiACE, where the map starts to route filaments across nozzle diameters.
- First Launch - setting up mixed nozzles and the per-nozzle process presets.
- Technical Guardrails - every check FOrcaSlicer makes before it lets a print leave the slicer.
- Known Limitations - what the map does not yet do, including automatic filament arrangement.