Since I briefly lived through the “I don’t have AMS” experience, I sometimes add a no-AMS version of my profiles. Buuuut, I’m seeing a 10 to 1 ratio of downloads between AMS and no-AMS versions, and I’m starting to question if it’s worth the effort anymore. The no-AMS versions can take a bit of time to create because usually means rearranging/condensing the plates, re-printing to make sure I did in fact include all the parts, taking pictures, etc…
What does the rest of you do? Do you make a profile or assume that someone without AMS can adapt an AMS profile themselves?
By the nature of my designs, the majority require an AMS.
I try to add a NO AMS version when I provide an AMS profile for the remaining models.
For my Gyros and spinners, I provide 7 profiles.
Edges AMS - two colours, the edges are different to the main body
Triple AMS - three colours in three equal slices or close if the design makes exact thirds look strange
Dual AMS - two equal colours
Single
Edges PAUSE - same as Edges AMS except the user manually swaps the colours at each pause
Triple PAUSE - same as Triple AMS except the user manually swaps the colours at each pause
Dual PAUSE - same as Dual AMS except the user manually swaps the colours at the pause
I usually add three types for each model; Gyro, Full Gyro and Spinner.
This means I generate 21 versions in total.
I almost gave up on the PAUSE versions, but then the Chinese site came online and they lean far more towards non-AMS than the international audience does.
I also have a series of articulated fidget toys called Willies. These always have an AMS version and a single-colour version. The AMS ones are far more popular, but, the small amount of effort required to generate the single-colour version makes it worthwhile as I do not wish to leave out any users who may not know they can print in one colour by selecting the same colour for all choices presented.
I have the AMS and it works great for multi color PLA prints. Works well but depending on how your model is set up it could take a lot of time.
I’m running PETG on the side spool for single color durable parts. I like that too because it doesn’t retract filament at the end. It does poop out some material which is ok.
I think it’s worth having AMS but depending on what you plan to do, not essential. Note that many folks showing printer farms don’t use them.
Btw I read, but haven’t proved this, you can’t mix filament types in the AMS and print multiple colors. So I just run black from the side lately. I could get other colors of PETG but not sure why I would need that.
@Contributing_Factor asked if it is worth creating both AMS and non-AMS versions of the models he publishes.
The question wasn’t “Is an AMS worth the money”, which is the question I think you answered.
Back to this comment of yours.
I am confused by what you are suggesting here. I believe it is one of these scenarios.
You believe you can only use the same colour filaments within an AMS.
You believe you cannot have both PLA & PETG in the AMS at the same time.
You can have as many different colours inside the AMS as you wish.
You can have different types of filaments in the AMS at the same time. Example; PLA, PETG & ABS.
Mixing those types in a single print depends on the materials not if they are within the AMS units. You can’t print PETG & PLA in the same model as they do not fuse together. That said, depending on what you are designing, the fact that PLA & PETG do not fuse can work together can help a design in a few different ways.
I use to do two profiles, one for AMS and one for no AMS, but like you said I am noticing more of the AMS files are being downloaded these days, even if the user doesn’t utilise all four colours; they still print using the AMS file over the no AMS file.
So, these days at least, I don’t provide a no AMS option anymore with my freebies; the extra time to make the file, only for a very small portion of people to use it, doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
That’s actually kind of cool though might not be appropriate in all use cases.
Setting all the colors to the same color will still leave all the other color pieces. Outlines will be visible and it will go through all the motions like it was printing color, just without the filament changes.
For some models I’d like a uniform finish if color accents aren’t going to be used. Depending on how the color areas print, there can be swirls, lines, and even gaps.
For stuff like that, I’ll include a file without the color features to get the best finish.
I don’t create any special non-AMS profiles for my AMS/Multi-Color prints. I get request to do non-AMS versions often enough, but I’ve never fulfilled one of those request. The models typically aren’t built to accommodate it, and it’s typically outside of the scope and goals I personally have for a given model.
I almost lean into the idea that these printers shouldn’t be sold without an AMS. I know the reality of that isn’t so cut and dry. There’s lots of reasons that people might not get the AMS. I think it’s core to the experience though, and what Makerworld is trying to be.
Both my printers have AMS, I tend to include the version I printed. Some things are by their nature single color, Where there is text and it makes sense I try to indent or make the text stand proud so it can be seen if there is no second color.
If I were building a super complicated model I might generate a no AMS version but it’s not come up yet.
Also I often adjust build plates on models I download moving component to separate plates becasue I print on an A1 Mini and an X1C simultaneously.
I understand that not everyone has the budget to add an AMS at the time of purchase, but, it is so worth it.
The speed of the printers is excellent, but, the true benefits come from the ability to integrate colour into a design in a way simply not possible with PAUSE.
The entry price for an A1 mini with AMS is roughly the same as one of the thousand Creality printers a couple of years ago.
I had a Creality CR-6 SE, a few pegs up from the ones I just compared, it was great, but it still works perfectly after I donated it to a school.
But, as the philosopher MC Hammer once said.
Can’t touch this.
I grabbed two AMS units for the new P1S, I can see the appeal of having more, despite not understanding the reasons until I moved beyond the limit of 4 I have with the A1 mini. Mostly laziness.
That one means if a multi-color profile has been provided, there is no need to add one using only one color because users can asign all the colors to one color and make it into a single color print.
But I thought your question is whether or not a designer should provide a profile specifying pauses at various layers so a user can print in multiple colors by manually swapping filaments.
I believe that was intended to discourage third parties from adding profiles to another designer’s models who have only provided a colour profile.
I do not believe that is related to a designer adding a profile of their own however they see fit.
It is sometimes necessary to create distinct solutions to make a colour model print successfully that would not be required for a single colour version of the same model.
That is not the only reason why providing a single-colour version makes sense if the designer wishes to.
While a Bambu Handy user can select all the same colours for a colour-ready print profile, this might confuse a new user who may believe it is unachievable.
Users trying to determine how long a single-colour print will take, will have no idea as that information is not provided.
I do not believe designers need to, I choose to, I do not believe there are rules over what designers can do regarding their profiles.
I am a strong believer in giving choices and let the users decide.
Many of my designs are functional models that do not require multicoloring per se. Nevertheless, in addition to a single-color print profile, I often also upload a multicolor version. After all, the eye eats with…
I don’t have an AMS, but I don’t care if the thing I’m downloading has an AMS or not. I just delete all the filaments, then change the one that’s left to whatever I need.
I haven’t thought about the arranging of the parts being different in a no-AMS version, so maybe there is something to get out of such versions - but I’m betting most people without AMS just do like me, and adapt the AMS profile themselves.
As I usually add support for both the AMS & single colour in my models if possible, I thought it would be worth seeing some simple statistics from one of my more successful models.
Notes
Both profiles were added at the same time
The AMS profile “Edges” creates a two-colour model with thin edges (top & bottom) in one colour and the main body in the second colour
The single-colour “Single” profile is exactly what you think, it makes the model all one colour
Percentages
Edges (AMS) 72%
Single (no AMS) 28%
It is important to consider, that this is a fidget spinner (a gyro), and the colours are uniform based on height.
I decided a second version is worth a look. This is another fidget toy, a spinner version of the gyro.
Percentages
Edges (AMS) 83%
Single (no AMS) 17%
Both of these had PAUSE versions of the AMS profiles, the numbers of those were statistically irrelevant.
28% & 17% for single colour profiles are nothing to sneeze at as they represent over 1,000 downloads for just those two models.
