Allow Layer Based Coloring in Color Tool

[GnollProblem]

At the moment, you can only paint the outer faces of a model. This works in general cases, but there’s a number of pretty common use cases that require more control.

Use Cases
(I’ll be referring to both color and filament interchangeably)

• Ensuring there’s enough layers of a filament to get the color you expect (A requirement with some filaments). Extra important in cases where you can’t add more top layers.
• Printing a “base coat” layer between two layers of extreme color difference. Take a case where you have model that is mainly printed in a very dark color. You wish to print some text on top in a much lighter color. Depending on the filament and the number of layers you print, you get a much duller color than expected. Especially noticeable if you use the same color somewhere else in the model which doesn’t have this issue. Printing a few layers of white first before the light color would help make sure the color is consistent.
• Dealing with situations where the generated G-Code wants to use a filament in a layer you don’t want it. It’s rare, but I have had a few cases where the generated code lets a different filament “peak” through a layer (mainly when two thin walls are next to one another). At the moment, I need to try to find the opposite wall that’s causing the problem. If I could go in and layer by layer enforce the color I want, it would help avoid searches like this.
• Layering transparent and standard filaments. This would open up some new interesting use cases.

Work Flow
Enter the paint tool inside Bambu Studio

Use “Section View” to view a slice of the model

Paint as normal within the section

Alternatives
There’s been a few other requests who’s use-cases overlap with this one, but their requests solve them in a different way. Since we’re all requesting the same general thing (more fine control over the coloring tool), I want to list them here so people can compare.

• Backing color to color painting
• Color thickness when filling faces
• Allow painting Parts on all faces (This one hasn’t been formally suggested, but a user on one of the requests assumed this would have worked and was surprised it didn’t. On its face, it makes a lot of sense, so I wanted to include it here)

Let me know if there’s any part of my request that isn’t clear or needs clarity. Thank you!

[arciarc]

My solution for full color control is to generate modifiers (or for color, simply a multi-part-STL) in my CAD-Files and add these in Bambu Studio. Doing so eliminates “surprises” of what the coloring-tool does or does not.

[Joern-Thilo]

I fully support these suggestions from Gnoll
and
furthermore I would like a layerwise painting functionality so I could control each layer’s colours
in detail before printing!

[chmarr]

@Joern-Thilo

furthermore I would like a layerwise painting functionality so I could control each layer’s colours
in detail before printing!

I’m fairly certain it does this already, and this has been my experience. One of the options when colouring is to use layer based. It’s the tool I’ve highlighted in the screen capture.

[ricemb]

while this does color the layers. I have found the tool still changes colors on the inner layers when slicing the print. Even though I have used the layer color tool. This makes printing objects much slower.

[chmarr]

Yeah, the logic appears to be “If the visible layer is colour X, then the parts of the print that need to support that layer also need to be colour X”.

[ricemb]

is there a way to request a feature to select color by layer? or have a drop down to select how the infill is colored. a) by layer b) by supportinh structure

[rache6987]

Have you found any fixes to this? It is very frustrating when it adds color changes/extra time to the interior of the print that are just not needed

[Hamburger123598]

This would be especially useful for a print where there are multiple different colors at the same layer height.

I have an object I am coloring where I have a black perimeter, and a red top layer in one area, and a black top layer in another.

I cannot for the life of me, get the red top layer to be the color I want - I can color it, but when slicing the slicer will still fill the layers below the top layer with black! Turning my vibrant red into more like maroon!

Allowing painting by layer or specificying an X and Y section or area for the height paint tool would be useful, but when the slicer simply overrides the color on the inside… it is not very helpful.

[sikoprint]

I built my own model and set the different color ranges extra at different heights. Unfortunately, it is not possible to color the area exactly in the Bambu Studio. Actually, I would have to make do with 5 color changes, but the Bambu Studio makes 29 changes out of it.