The request is to add a secondary infill option (skin infill or support infill) to set a more dense grid pattern in the last 5-10-20 mm near the wall to provide better support, whereas the regular sparse infill will use a coarse setting to save material, electricity and printing time. For example, 20% skin infill and 5% sparse infill. That will make a huge impact on larger models.
The user must be able to control:
- The offset distance of the skin infill;
- The thickness of the inner offset wall (0,8-1 mm should be good);
- The percentage of the skin infill and sparse infill individually;
- The printing speed of the skin infill and sparse infill individually.
2 Likes
Have you looked at modifiers?
3 Likes
I took a look at the approach from your link, but it looks very time consuming and lacks the ability to set a proper offset region for the more dense infill to reinforce the outer wall of the entire object. Also, it lacks the ability to build an intermediate wall between the dense infill and the sparse infill, thus wasting material while not providing the necessary strength where both infills meet together.
Pictured below is a model of a cat phone stand. I made a secondary 3d model with a negative offset of 10 mm. Note that the dense infill is not properly connected to the sparse infill.
My proposal is for adding a single-click solution that automates the whole process based on a few numerical parameters. Just like the current infill settings.
2 Likes
Yes, I fully agree that this functionality would be rather useful. Implementing similar Cura functionalities has been requested before (Gradient Infill) but no luck so far in Studio. Orca will probably have it earlier.
1 Like
Addendum: I just played around with it. If you specify a different wall count for the modifier, you can get pretty hefty inner interfaces. Note that I never use crossing infills like grid but am a fan of honeycomb. A bit more wasteful than gyroid, but even aborted prints look good that way 
Still, I have to admit that this approach is usually more hassle than it is worth. In particular on fully 3D shapes (like miniatures) which would require multiple custom modifier shapes. But it is all we have in Studio atm.
1 Like
One option for weird shapes is to scale a copy of the model down and then use it as the modifier.
1 Like
For simply extruded shapes, this works. But for slightly more complex 3D geometries this requires chopping the geometry into sensible parts. A miniature with arms for example will unfortunately not neccessarily fit within the original geometry if scaled down.
It can be done by separating the individual volumes, but I expect that in most cases, it is probably more hassle than it is worth.
3 Likes
Scaled copies donāt work for the majority of models due to the uniform shapes that get out of the boundary of the original. A proper offset is required to make the wall thickness evenly distributed across the entire model.
1 Like
Iām new to 3d printing (just got my P1S with AMS recently), but immediately noticed the lack of a secondary boundary infill. Iām surprised that the developers didnāt had this implemented years ago, considering that potentially it can save ton of time and material while providing the necessary strength for bigger models. Imagine saving hours for not wasting material for an infill where itās not needed.
Mechanical parts still need a strong infill everywhere, but stuff like figures and other models for decoration could benefit a lot from having a dense boundary infill combined with almost zero infill in the core.
1 Like
Yes. In Cura there have been some such options for a while now. But in Studio (maybe already from Prusa-Slicer but I have no experience with that), such options can only be approximated by workarounds.
I speculate that it comes from a focus on the external geometry. I noticed in the past that fully enclosed objects can be completely ignored in Studio.
A shame really. It would not be such a big step from there to integrating load optimized infill. Even if it just a simplification based on either the centre of mass or inertia. Would be a killer for TPUā¦
1 Like
I design structural parts for a living, so mass and strength optimization is something natural for me. The user must be able to set more dense infill and thick solid walls around features like mounting holes and other areas, while having a thin wall elsewhere.
While this is somehow possible currently with importing custom shapes as modifiers, itās an extremely slow and inaccurate process compared to what could be achieved with an automated solution. Imagine if a model has 20 mounting holes in various places of the model and with variable diameter and depth. The user will be forced to import a cylinder modifier for each hole and then adjust their scale and orientation individually. This could easily take more than a hour of a preparation time. Just for holes. Then add another hour or so to generate a proper offset 3d model (may take an entire day if the geometry is complex) and apply it as a modifier for the skin/boundary infillā¦
Itās a missed opportunity to not have such an option in Bambu studio already. Fingers crossed whether the developers will implement it at some point. 
1 Like
Excellent idea.
Iād love to see the practical strength this would bring to prints without simply adding more walls to everything.
It would almost be like a superficial exoskeleton right under the top of the āskinā.
I donāt know of a creature that has this so I donāt think it has a name. I guess Evolution is still looking into this requested feature.
1 Like
Mechanical parts are built with reinforced areas and thicker material only where itās needed. Itās a simple principle also seen in the human and animal bone structure where the āinfillā is gradually more dense the closer it gets to the outer wall.
It would be nice to be able to paint areas of the 3d model directly inside the viewport of Bambu studio to tell the program where the density of the infill must be increased or even made solid. That would require the ability to make the 3d model semi-transparent or use a cross section view to access the internals.
For example, like those areas shown at the 11:20 minute in the following video:
1 Like
