Spoiler alert: This cannot be done from Bambu Studio, you need a slicer that can export “Toolpaths” as OBJ-file, for instance Prusa slicer.
I have stumbled over a method for making photo realistic rendering of 3D prints, so that the layer lines are shown in a realistic way. This can be used to for instance simulate text inlays in a contrasting color (which has become easy with multi color printers), in a way that gives a far better visualization than the slicer preview; like this:
The process goes like this (using Prusa 2.8.0 and Fusion 360):
Single color object
Import the file into Prusa and slice it using the settings you would use in Bambu Studio for
Layer height (including variable layer height)
Line width
Slice the object in Prusa Slicer
Optional step: To reduce the file size, you can open the “Feature type” panel and disable (click the line you want to disable) all features except Perimeter and External Perimeter:
Export the file: Menu > File > Export > “Export Toolpaths as OBJ…”
Doing something similar with a multi color object requires some careful manipulations of objects in Prusa Slicer, and exporting separate OBJ files for each color, that are imported individually to Fusion 360 using the described method. I’m confident those who are interested will find out how!
I can make this work for multicolor prints with fill-in text, as described in the writeup above. I do this by placing the fill-in face down on the print bed and slicing / exporting separate OBJ files for each color.
However, I cannot figure out a way to do it for general multi-color prints, like this example:
. I can split the object to parts (not objects!), then remove the “bulk” part, which results in the letters hanging in mid-air over the print plate. But Prusa refuses to slice this:
If anyone figures out a way to get around this limitation, please speak out!
Correction to my previous message:
You can get a visual impression of the print lines, by exporting the multicolor OBJ file. But you will only be able to assign the same appearance to the entire print, not show the two colors.
Like this:
I’ve done some renders of simulated prints using Blender rather than Fusion - based on an addon that can read gcode directly. I enhanced it a bit to handle multi colour and create timelapses. Could share it if there is any interest,
Yes Blender is quite tricky to learn - but for Rendering it is a lot more flexible and a fair bit faster than f360 - especially if you are happy with the eevee engine.
I usually do my modelling in f360 and simple static renders in f360. But large complex multi file models or animated models for me work a lot better in blender.
Might try the toolpath obj approach you suggested with blender too - to see if it handles colour.
Very cool. I wonder if the render could be used to compare “expected” vs “actual” print results with a better camera and some processing done on an SBC (e.g. depth-anything) to get a better idea what errors are happening, how close to your expected print it seems to be, and in the long run, integrating real-time compensation to try and save a print that seems to be failing, or on the verge of failing.
Definitely could be used to compare actual print with expected. When you use blender cycles you can get the ‘fish eye’ effect that comes from the x1c built in camera - see this video as a demo of a real timelapse compared to simulation.
