Splicing open source slicer into open source design software

I spend a heap of time bouncing between open source Bambu Studio and Open source Blender (the software I use to design objects).
Bambu could join the Blender Org (or the FreeCad org) and build proper object design into their software offering.
Maybe it could start as just a link between the software packages, where edits on one, are immediately transferred to the other?
Blender studio creates a 3d representation of the sliced print which is then presented to the user. This could be ‘bounced’ to Blender, and the user could get a true raytraced representation of their print. They could dial in the properties of the plastic specified in the slicer and that would be represented in the Blender render.
An object created in Blender could be sent to Bambu Studio, for slicing, and if any problems become apparent, a fix in blender could immediately appear in the slicer.
Blenders interface could be used to colour 3d prints which much greater detail then is currently possible within Bambu Studio.

These are two very different programs with very different tasks.

They are also managed by two very different teams that are entirely unconnected to each other started at two very different times (years apart).

I think you are hoping for too much.

You could ask the blender people to add a direct export to Bambu Studio, I don’t they would though as blender isn’t a 3d design printing package it is a 3d design package.

Others may have different views.

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No Sir I think you pretty much nailed it!


To the original OP: There was another suggestion about porting Bambu Studio to a web-based version, and I’ll make the same point here. What’s the business case for Bambu? How many more printers would this sell?

These kinds of ideas sound appealing, but developing a complex bridge between Blender and Bambu Studio is a huge undertaking. Bambu Lab is a for-profit entity, and projects like this would need to generate significant returns or sales to justify the investment. Consider that Bambu is already stretched thin, as seen with their delayed support times, filament shortages, and the one-year delay on their flagship printer.

Blender is great for 3D animation, but as you know, it’s an open-source project with goals that don’t align with Bambu’s. The Blender team’s mission as you know, is to democratize access to advanced 3D modeling tools, and they’re passionate about that. So, your suggestion would be more in line with their goals than Bambu’s. If you want better 3D printing integration, it’s more realistic to look at Blender.org for potential changes than to expect Bambu to allocate resources to this.


Can you imagine the reaction of one of their people going into the bosses office saying:

Employee: Hey boss, I know we’re a year late on Project Flagship Printer, and yes, I’m aware tech support is backed up three weeks… oh, and we don’t make any money from Bambu Studio, but I’ve got a great idea for another project!

Boss: How much revenue will it generate?

Employee: Uh, none. It’ll be open source.

Boss: How many more printers will it sell?

Employee: Not sure, but it would be really cool.

Boss: Right… :thinking: Let me think about it. And don’t let the door hit you on the way out.


3D Printing support is going less mainstream and becoming even more isolated and Niche.

  • I know, this sounds like heresy but read the rationale behind this statement before pre-judging.

Consider this: Autodesk has been trying for the better part of a decade to promote their Fusion360 interface to the 3D printer prototyping market. They have baked-in tools that allow one to print directly from Fusion360 into Bambu Studio, Orca, Prusa etc… they are deprecating support for that and none of the other CAD software companies are adding more resources to their products outside of the occasional partnership you may hear about with HP and their industrial manufacturing 3D printers.

Consider this too: Microsoft, the founder of the 3MF Consortium, embedded 3D printing support into Windows 10, only to deprecate it this past year. You can no longer install 3D Builder (first released in 2013), a basic 3D concept program that allowed exporting STL files and printing to cloud providers. Even Microsoft, with all its resources, dropped 3D printing support, realizing there wasn’t enough business value. And yes, 3D Builder was free in the Microsoft Store, just like Blender is free—yet they still discontinued it.

Given that both of these two Software giants threw in the towel on 3D printing still being a niche, what hope do we really have of someone else taking up the baton for no money?

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I think the biggest problem is the lack of APIs provided by the Slicer. If the slicer provided a comprehensive set of API’s then it would be possible to write blender addin’s to tightly integrate the two products.

The recent enhancement of Bambu Studio to automatically colour based on the materials in obj files is a start, plus it is possible to import Gcode into blender and render the sliced print. - see this thread. Blender Multicolour BambuStudio Gcode Importer

Another issue is that the Blender interface has a fairly steep learning curve - so if the main interface to the slicer was via Blender then I don’t think it would be popular with most casual users.

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An API is completely unecessary for this. The slicer has a command line option that could easily be called from within blender Python scripting language or from a batch file. If one wanted to automate this, for Windows 10 for example, a batch file might look like this.

REM Define paths for Blender and Bambu Studio executables
set BLENDER_PATH="C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 3.0\blender.exe"
set BAMBUSLICER_PATH="C:\Program Files\BambuStudio\bambu-studio.exe"

REM Define the input .blend file and the output .stl file
set BLEND_FILE="C:\path\to\your\file.blend"
set STL_OUTPUT="C:\path\to\output\file.stl"

REM Run Blender to export the .stl file
%BLENDER_PATH% -b %BLEND_FILE% --python-expr "import bpy; bpy.ops.export_mesh.stl(filepath=r'%STL_OUTPUT%')"

REM Open Bambu Studio with the exported .stl file
%BAMBUSLICER_PATH% --load %STL_OUTPUT%

Prusa has command line documented and I know at least passing a %file%.stl param works because it’s also baked into the browser execution for MakerWorld, Printables and Thingiverse. It’s also how Fusion360 passes the parameter. Anyone who’s launched a print from any of those sites or from within Fusion360 via Windows has already taken advantage of this interface.

Prusa, in turn, ported that command-line support from its predecessor, Slic3r, the de facto granddaddy of all these slicers in a way.

https://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/command-line

Not to make light of this, but we’re not talking about a high level of coding here at all. Blender has a similar command line structure so writing a script to automate this is by far not a huge challenge, we’re talking maybe two lines of code. I’d put this at maybe 10 grade high school computer geek level of hacking. My coding skills are as rusty as they come, and even I can figure it out, but I don’t have a stake in the Blender suggestion, so I’ll stop short of proving how to do it in Blender. Let someone more motivated… and younger…:wink: go beat their head up against that challenge.

https://manual.slic3r.org/advanced/command-line

Hmmm… but now that this thought comes up. Maybe I might just do this for OnShape for which I do have a stake. :+1:

These are valid points, but I wouldn’t trust Autodesk or Microsoft as far as I could chuck them. I have avoided Autodesk’s ‘free options’ because Autodesk was always going to pull that carpet up out of under users of their ‘free’ software. I hear that they are already in the process of doing that.

Proper progress is going to have to come from the hardware side.
When Apple released the laser printer, they had to develop their own ecosystem. Programs such as Mac Draw. They had to actively promote Post script.

Bambu labs seems to be intent on mainstreaming 3d printing, and they are going to have to contribute to building better tools then what are currently available. Bambu Studio might be good enough for the traditional printer market, but they aren’t up to scratch for the general population. Consumer and Pro.

They desperately need content, which is why they are pursuing those little AI gen apps.

There is a company called Ondsel that participates in the free cad community.
In return for financially supporting the open source software, they have a branded fork available which they add custom facilities to.
I think it might be possible for bambu studio to have their own branded open source design software by contributing to this community?
Free cad currently has work spaces devoted to CNC machining
This might be an attractive option for the prosumer market that bamboo is pursuing with their new release next year

I feel that something needs to be done.
If people sat down and worked out how much time they lost swapping between the program that they created the object in, and the program that they prepped that object for printing, they might be a bit shocked :slight_smile:

I didn’t say it was impossible, I said it didn’t make sense to those involved.

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