t43

Tools for 3D (printing)

A tiny 3D slicer written from scratch, featuring:

• A commandline interface
• Slicing bad/messy meshes more robustly
• Detect and enlarge features/perimeters too small to print
• "Accentuate" outlines to make details stand out more
• Optimized toolpath to reduce need for retraction
• From mesh or voxels to gcode
• Wirtten in C99 with no dependencies

_{▲ Test models sliced using t43 and printed on Ender 3 v1 with Overture Matte PLA light pink. 0.2mm layer height, 0.4mm nozzle, 220/60°C. US dime for size.}

Usage

This toolkit consists of several standalone commandline programs. Each program can be compiled from a corresponding C file, independent of others. To compile all the programs with gcc, type

make

Or see the Makefile for the commands to compile each program separately.

Each of the program is responsible for a single task in the 3D slicing pipeline. For example, the generate_support command generates structural supports for a voxel model, and does not need to be executed if the model does not require supports.

Example usage, slicing an OBJ file and generating gcode:

# convert the mesh to voxels
./mesh_to_voxels dragon.obj -o dragon.bin --inv_flood 3 --fit_z 68 --swap_yz

# (optional) make details on the surface stand out more
./accentuate_voxels dragon.bin -o dragon-acc.bin --rate 7 --zero_sum

# (optional) generate supports
./generate_support dragon-acc.bin -o dragon-acc-sup.bin --sink 8 --hang 5 --ero_xy 5

# (optional) visual inspection (uses OpenGL)
./voxel_viewer dragon-acc-sup.bin

# output gcode from voxels, ready for 3D printing
./voxels_to_gcode dragon-acc-sup.bin -o dragon-acc-sup.gcode --config profiles/ender3.ini --step 3 --sink 18

Use --help option for each of the commands to see what each of the arguments does.

The Makefile in example/ folder lists a lot more examples, both for slicing meshes (automated .obj download) as well as voxels (procedurally generated). To build all examples (will take a while):

cd examples
make all

To build one particular example, e.g. bunny, dragon, etc.:

cd examples
make bunny

(Work in progress) online gcode viewer

Some Features

Work in progress...

Explanatory blogpost coming soon...

Gallery

More test prints coming soon...

Known Limitations

• Slow
• Few error messages
• Tested on few hardware (Ender 3, Ender 3 V2)