A quick introduction to the slicing software Slic3r.

Slic3r is a program that converts a digital 3D model into G-code, a language your Asterid 3D printer can interpret. This introduction to Slic3r will provide you with the basics of how to use Slic3r to get you printing 3D parts. Slic3r is a powerful robust program and many of its features are beyond the scope of this guide; please consider reading the official Slic3r manual for more information. This guide assumes you already have all required software installed. If you do not already have the required software installed, please visit our guide on installing software to install all the required software.

Opening Slic3r

You can open Slic3r directly from the Pronterface interface. Please read our Getting Started with Pronterface guide if you haven't already done so to get familiar with Pronterface, To open Slic3r from Pronterface, from the pull down menu in the toolbar of Pronterface select Settings then choose Slicing options.

Slic3r Tabs


Slic3r is divided into 4 tabs. These tabs are Plater, Print Settings, Filament Settings, and Printer Setting.

Plater:

The plater tab is where 3D models are loaded for slicing. The models are also exported into G-code using this tab. The models can be rotated, additional copies of the model can be added, the models can be split, and the models can be scaled To add a model into the plater simply drag and drop an .STL file into the platter or select Add... navigate to the location of the .STL file you want to add, select the file and press OK.

Print Settings:

The Print Settings tab consists of a variety of parameters that control how the printer will print and what it will print. We'll discuss some of the features and parameters located under this tab later in our guide.

Filament Settings

It is under this tab that information relating to your filament can be set. More on this later.

Printer Settings

This tab has parameters relating specifically to the printer you are using. Most likely you will not need to adjust any settings in this tab.

Profiles

A really nice feature of Slic3r is its ability to save profiles. Not only can custom profiles be created but they can be created for each of the 3 setting tabs. This means it is possible to create, save, and load separate settings for each tab and load then settings in a profile for one tab and load the settings of different profile in another tab. Plastic Scribbler has provided several pre-configured profiles for a variety of different printing options.