The Monoprice Voxel 3D Printer does not only bring high-quality 3D print technology right to your doorstep by means of its huge internal memory and WiFi- radio with an in-built camera, but it does so at a price that cannot be beaten by any manufacturer in the industry. Just a single tap on the touch screen and the leveling system is brought to. Cloud Slicer and Makerbot Slicer are virtually identical in terms of their UI and functionality. Like in other 3D slicer software tools, you can choose between varying levels of complexity ('Simple', 'Advanced' and 'Expert'). As a bonus, the app can also estimate the price of the printed file. Once you have selected a material, view a detailed article with pros and cons, hardware requirements, best practices, pro-tips, example projects and more! Whether you're new to 3D printing or an advanced user looking to experiment with a new material, this guide has everything you need to make the most of your next project.
- Top 16 Free 3D Printer Software for Beginners in 2018
3D printing can help you create a three-dimensional object by computer and 3D printer. However, it may sound a little difficult for beginners to use 3D printers. This article will introduce 16 free 3D printer software to help beginners use their 3D printer much easily. Learn about: How to slice 3d STL file and 3d print Iron Man?
1. Ultimaker Cura - versatile 3D Printer Software
Ultimaker Cura 3D is a slicing software for 3D printers, it can create a 3D model and slice it into layers, as G-Code, which a 3D printer can understand. Cura 3D is easy to use and you just need 3 steps before printing. Create a model first and then export your 3D files as STL or OBJ formats, these files will be imported, sliced and outputted as G-Code so that the 3D printer can read and follow. You can also set quality, material, speed,cooling and infill in Cura by yourself. Cura 3D is a fully open source software and can be used with most 3D printers. It supports for Windows, Mac and Linux.
2. TinkerCAD - useful 3D Printer Software
Unlike Cura, TinkerCAD is an online computer-aided design software for 3D printing. You can directly access the browser-based app after creating an account on its website. TinkerCAD offers pre-defined shapes and geometric structures, so you can create your models just by dragging and dropping the box to the WorkPlane and adjusting the length, height and width. TinkerCAD is an easy tool for beginners to start up 3D printing.
3. 123D Catch - easy-to-use Free 3D Printer Software
The 123D Catch APP can be used in your smartphones (both iOS and Android operating system), which means that you take photos within your phone and the 123D Catch can turn your photography into a 3D model. This is much convenient and funny for beginners to learn 3D printing. What's more, you can transfer your photos from digital camera to 123D Catch on your computer and print them out a high-quality product.
4. 3D Slash - 3D printer software for free
3D Slash is much different from other 3D printing softwares, it is also a logo and a 3D text maker. It means that you can turn your logo into a 3D model or import your text to export 3D text. 3D Slash is easy to use and suitable for people of all ages, you can design a 3D model by using a simple building-block concept, which just like a modern stone-cutter. As its user-friendly experience, 3D Slash is a wonderful software to get you started with 3D printing.
5. 3D Tin - Good-to-use 3d printer
3D Tin is an online 3D printing software like TinkerCAD, which is intuitive and easy-to -use. Best mkv converter software. All you need is a Firefox or Chrome web browser enabled with WebGL. It's a perfect 3D printing software for beginners. What you should do is choosing 3D templates on the Internet and adding them to your sketch, which will be stored in the cloud and freely accessible, and can be out-printed in STL and OBJ file formats.
6. SketchUp - 3d modeler
SketchUp is an ideal 3D printing software to design complex 3D print models for beginners with a user-friendly interface and relatively flat learning curve. 3D Warehouse of SketchUp is a huge library of 3D templates which is uploaded by users. You can choose one and add it on your SketchUp, which is the easiest way to print a 3D object. What&rsquo's more, SketchUp provides free tutorials which can help you develop into an intermediate or advanced engineer form a beginner.
7. FreeCAD - 3d slicer software
FreeCAD is a free and open-source general-purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler and a building information modeling software which is supported by FEM (finite-element-method). This program can be used interactively and its functionality can be accessed and extended using the Python programming language. FreeCAD is a great starting point for mechanical engineers who are new to the 3D modeling world.
8. CraftWare - 3d printing cad software
CraftWare is a 3D printer slicer software which is developed by CraftUnique to support its CraftBot 3D printer. And it can be used for many other 3D printers that accept G-Code. CraftWare is fast and easy-to-use, it allows users to see printing process layer by layer from any angle and modify or delete any places before printing. A clean and simple user interface, as well as big and colorful buttons on the left side, make CraftWare one of the most user-friendly 3D printing software.
Software For 3d Printing Design
9. Sculptris - 3d printer software
Sculptris is a virtual sculpting 3D printing software with a core emphasis on the concept of modeling clay. It comes to be free and easy-to-use, which provides excellent rudiments for people who want to start up the world of 3D sculpting. If you want to print statuettes such as comic characters, Sculptris is a fantastic choice for you. It&rsquo's often described as the most powerful, flexible 3D modeling software in the industrial or professional sector.
10. Blender - 3d modeler
Blender is an open source and free 3D printing computer-aided design (CAD) software. It&rsquo's an ideal software for skilled users who want to create more sophisticated 3D modeling such as contour modeling and polygon modeling. Blender is very popular among media workers and artists for creating animated films, visual effects, art, interactive 3D applications and video games. Blender gives its users enormous design freedom with nearly innumerable tools. But it isn't a good choice for 3D printing beginners.
11. Meshmixer - free 3d printing software
Meshmixer is a free 3D editing, fixing, and sculpting tool. Its great points are viewing, checking, editing AND repairing STL files as well as spotting potential problems and automatically repairing them. Meshmixer allows users who want to create organic designs like people, animals and creatures to sculpt digitally and mash different 3D models together.
12. OpenSCAD - 3d printing cad software
OpenSCAD is a free software for creating solid 3D CAD models. Unlike Blender, it focuses on CAD aspects rather than artistic aspects in 3D modeling. It might be a good choice for you if you want to code your CAD models for it uses a programming language to create 3D objects. Therefore, it gives designer full control over the modeling process and enables designers to easily change any step in the modeling process. OpenCAD is available for Linux/UNIX, Windows and Mac OSX.
3d Printing Software Design Free
13. AutoCAD - 3d slicer software
AutoCAD, a software for 2D and 3D CAD, was developed by AutoDesk and first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers. Up to now, it has been used across a wide range of industries, by architects, project managers, engineers, graphic designers, and many other professionals. AutoCAD supports a large number of APIs for customization and automation such as AutoLISP, Visual LISP, VBA and ObjectARX.
14. ViewSTL - 3d slicer software
The view is an online and open source way to view Stereo Lithography Files as shaded on-screen images. It is the easiest way to preview STL files. What users need is just open the web page and drag their STL files onto the dotted field. The online STL viewer allows you to display a model in one of three views: flat shading (for quick viewing), smooth shading (to get a high-quality display), or wireframe. It is a perfect 3D printing software for beginners who want to view STL files.
15. Netfabb Basic - 3d printing software for free
Netfabb Basic is a 3D printer slicer software with some nice features, for example, you can analyze, repair and edit STL files before you get to the slicing stage. It is a good choice if you need something more than just slicer software and you want to repair STL files quickly without having to learn to use additional tools like Meshmixer or MeshLab. Netfabb Basic provides a 30-day trial version. When the trial expires, the software will continue to run with the same functionality.
16. SelfCAD - Online 3D Modeling and Slicing Software
SelfCAD offers an easy to use platform that allows one to sculpt, slice and print 3D models all in one program, hence you don't need to launch multiple programs in order to work on your models. It's easier to learn hence ideal for users who are inexperienced like students. In addition, this software has a built-in slicer, so you can prepare your model for 3D printing without needing any additional software which can be hard to handle if you are in a classroom or workshop. SelfCAD is free of for the educators and students and for the general users, they have a one month trial period and later pay $4.99/m. Easiest video editing software for pc.
Conclusion
All of the 16 3D printing software are free and friendly to beginners. But the big problem is that quite a lot of 3D printers are not compatible with them. It may take you a long time to select a 3D printing software to correspond with your 3D printer. Dobot Magician is an excellent 3D printer which supports all of the above software and saves you a lot of trouble.
Object Placement
Import one or more 3D models and place, scale, rotate or duplicate them on your virtual bed.
2Slice
Slice your plate with different slicers and optimal settings for perfect results.
3Preview
Check the result completely, in regions or layer for layer.
4Print directly from the host via USB or TCP/IP connection, via SD card or via Repetier-Server.
Windows
The Windows installer comes already with everything you need. It includes Repetier-Server, Slic3r, CuraEngine, Skeinforge, Python and Pypy. Requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.
Linux
The Linux installer comes already with everything you need. It includes Repetier-Server, Slic3r, CuraEngine, Skeinforge, Python and Pypy. A recent installation of the Mono framework (3.2 was tested to work with the latest release on Ubuntu 14.04) is required. After unpacking the tar file you need to run configureFirst.
Mac
The latest stable release of the Repetier-Host for Macintosh comes already with everything you need. Download and run the package to install. If you are using the new Mountain Lion, you need to allow installation of unsigned code!
The software is very easy and intuitive to use. To help you get started, please see our documentation. For specific questions and problems our community will help you in our forum.
Here we show how to program your own plugins for Repetier-Host: http://rhplugins.repetier.com
Repetier-Host works with almost all popular 3D FDM printers!Repetier-Host is your ALL-IN-ONE software solution, which gives you countless benefits:
Proved with more than 500.000 installations on different computers.
Multi Extruder Support
Repetier-Host can handle up to 16 extruders with different filament types and colors simultaneously and visualize the result with individual filament colors, so you can see your result before printing.
Multi Slicer Support
Repetier-Host includes directly 4 different slicers: Slic3r, Slic3r Prusa Edition, CuraEngine and Skeinforge
If that is not enough, you can use any other slicer you want with Repetier-Host.
After slicing you can see all extruder movements and support structures. You control the whole model, a particular area or individual layers and recognize potential problems before printing – this saves a lot of time and money.
Easy Multi-Part Printing
You can load or duplicate as many models that fit on your build plate and print them simultaneously. The efficient use of the build plate saves a lot of time!
You can arrange them manually or just click the autoposition button and Repetier-Host does the rest.
Gain Full Control over your Printers
Good 3d Printing Software
Repetier-Host is easy to use, even for beginners, but gives you full control of your printer, slicer and printing process if needed.
This is the reason why you can print any filament in perfect quality like PLA, ABS, PETG, chocolate or metal, if your printer hardware supports it. Biotech companies even print organs with Repetier-Host.
Access and Control your 3D Printers from Anywhere via Repetier-Server
Repetier-Server is the perfect complement to Repetier-Host and already included!
- You can access and control your printers from anywhere via a browser from any PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet.
- Watch your printer working via webcam and create astonishing timelapse videos to share or control your prints.
- Drive multiple printers simultaneously.
- Repetier-Server runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, even on small and cheap systems like Rhaspberry Pi.
- Print without running Repetier-Host.
- Small Memory Requirement – Print files of any size with new file management.
- Price Calculation – You get the production costs before printing. We even split usage by extruder.
- Preview Images – Fully configurable high quality rendered images for all models for easy recognition.
- Heatup and Cooldown Wizard – This feature measures heating and cooling speed needed for accurate printing time prediction.
- Upload new printer firmware via Repetier-Server web interface – updating was never easier.
Receive Status Messages on your Smart Phone and/or Tablet
3D printing is cool, but it always takes some time and nobody wants to spend all the time sitting next to the printer. This is where the Repetier-Informer app enters the scene. This will give you the desired status reports via fast and free push messages to your smartphone and/or tablet.
In Repetier-Host (for Windows and Linux) and in Repetier-Server you can specify for which events like print paused, stopped, finished, fatal errors, … messages are sent.
With the Repetier-Informer app you are always up to date with your printer status.
Custom Repetier-Host for Manufacturers
Many manufacturers ship their 3d printers already with a custom version of Repetier-Host and use a number of advantages:
- Get a digitally signed Repetier-Host with your own branding.
- Get listet as distributor of your Host in 'About Us'.
- Your drivers and all printer, slicer and filament settings are already included, your customers get a PLUG & PRINT EXPERIENCE.
- Less support questions and satisfied customers with your predefined presets.
- No personnel and hardware costs for expensive software development.
- With constant updates the software remains always up to date.
- You get banner ads on our homepage to show you are an official supporter and get high quality visitors for your website.
