SIMPLIFY 3D V 5 IS NOW OUT

Proschi3D

Hard to believe that the V5 is still coming

https://www.simplify3d.com/

chrishamm

@Proschi78 I thought it was dead TBH. At first glance it's a shame they've removed the Tools -> Firmware Configuration option (or I'm just blind) and they still don't support firmware retraction.

alankilian

@chrishamm Yeah, I bought it a few years ago and now they want another US$59 to upgrade?

Hard-pass.

Alex.cr

It was worth the cost a few years back. I will have to wait and see a few reviews before considering upgrading. I have a hard time putting my money towards a company that has had almost no interaction with the community for years (that's at least my perception).

Maybe it will be really good and worth it, but PrusaSlicer/SuperSlicer and Cura are so good right now, its going to be an uphill battle for Simplify3D.

R4ffers

@alankilian it almost seems like a calculated move to wait until all new licenses purchased were over 12 months old. Nobody then gets a free upgrade.

tecno

Got my refund

alankilian

It's really too bad, my machine came with mattercontrol (or something like that) which I couldn't get good prints with so I bought Simplify3D and it's been an excellent slicer even without any updates.

I do like the way I can very easily switch settings at a particular layer so if my model needs some settings on the lower half and different settings on the upper half I can do that without difficulty.

It's also the only slicer I got to do dual-extrusion through a single extruder although honestly I didn't try very hard with others.

I don't know which slicer to start experimenting with. I'll probably just keep using Simplify until it can't do something I need and then start the learning curve on something else.

Phaedrux

@alankilian said in SIMPLIFY 3D V 5 IS NOW OUT:

I do like the way I can very easily switch settings at a particular layer so if my model needs some settings on the lower half and different settings on the upper half I can do that without difficulty.

Cura has pretty good options for this. There's a post processing menu item that you can change certain things at a layer/height. And then there are modifier meshes which are far far more powerful and aren't limited to layer heights. Load another model shape and wherever it superimposes over the main model you can define custom settings.

Prusa slicer can do similar with meshes as well.

R4ffers

Prusa slicer and super slicer are my main go to slicer

GeneRisi

Does anyone have a good reason to upgrade to v5?

I've been using Simplify3d for years and have been hoping that development was ongoing so I could upgrade. Having looked briefly at both Cura and PrussiaSlicer I can't see any advantage to what Simplify3d v5 is offering. Getting good results from a slicer takes experience gained over time so I haven't switched/upgraded yet.

Proschi3D

I'm not a fan of paying double and triple, but the quality of my printed parts with Simplify V 5 convinces me.

0,6 mm nozzle
The quality is awesome

sebkritikel

@Proschi78 Can you upload the GCODE file for the vase print? Certainly looks great, but I can't imaging they're doing anything special in that print file.

Better yet, upload a comparison GCODE file from another slicer (where you attempt to match the settings as closely as possible).

Proschi3D

once simplify v5 and prusa slicer

Nerys_Vase_2 prusa.gcode
Nerys_Vase_2 (1).gcode

sebkritikel

@Proschi78 Thank you! To be clear, I'm not digging on S3D, I just nerd out and dig into whats going on 'behind the scenes'.

A couple of interesting things stick out - S3D is varying both the print speed/feedrate and extrusion amount along the model's height.

From bottom to top, the S3D print speed varies from 6.0mm/s -> 9.1mm/s -> 2.8mm/s -> 4.4mm/s - this is likely to achieve a minimum layer time. In contrast, PrusaSlicer prints at a consistent 15mm/s (difference in speed is also evident from print duration).

Whats more interesting is the variation in extrusion amount occurring in S3D. PrusaSlicer is again consistent, but S3D increases the extrusion amount during the more vertical sections of the vase. There doesn't seem to be varying layer heights during this vase-mode print?

Thanks for sharing!

Proschi3D

@sebkritikel The constant speed of the Prusa slicer Fürth means that the layers melt at small diameters. You can also see a seam with the Prusa slicer, which does not exist with simplify, since the print does not pause when infeed in z

sebkritikel

@Proschi78 Oh wow, I see what you mean in PS. Weird!

Proschi3D

@sebkritikel It also seems to me that the outer contour of PS is somewhat distorted. With s3d, each layer lies perfectly on top of the other

Proschi3D

@sebkritikel What software are you using to display the gcode?

sebkritikel

@Proschi78 said in SIMPLIFY 3D V 5 IS NOW OUT:

@sebkritikel What software are you using to display the gcode?

I'm using Craftware
https://craftbot.com/craftware

Can open GCODE files. I'm using an older version, but the newer one is still quite similar.

rainy

Going through the s3d v5 feature list (https://www.simplify3d.com/products/simplify3d-software/whats-new/version-5-0/)
prusaslicer already has:

adaptive layer height
3d infill patterns
z seam hiding (it's not as automatic as s3d but gives you more control)
support painting; it seems like s3d's new supports are trying to catch up to this; PS does it really well imo
short perimeter speed reduction
small feature reinforcement
XY size compensation, though s3d has a special setting for interior holes (not sure why you'd want this though)
flow rate control (it took me a minute to figure out what they're saying, but it's limiting speed by the max extruder flow rate)
live updating of model geometry after file update
3dconnexion mouse
automatic mesh repair

unique things from the s3d update:

the "automate common changes" feature looks really useful
dynamic infill might be nice in some scenarios
new gui looks nice?

Maybe there are more features they haven't mentioned in that page, but the main list doesn't promote confidence. S3D used to be way ahead of the competition; now it feels like it's trying to catch up.