I often print models that contain a large amount of detail containing well over 1 million triangles. Currently I always print the model as is without simplifying however I was curious what others are doing. It seems simplifying the model which will greatly reduce triangles so will this also degrade the looks of the model? Will this reduction in triangles also include the ones on the surface? Any feedback on this would be appreciated.
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Try a test print and see what you prefer.
I’ve simplified a few small models with lots of triangles just for testing purposes and yes the quality becomes for lack of better words lowpoly
If you are looking for as round a quality possible (like a sphere) then the more triangles the better but as you already know that adds time to the print
Kind of a catch 22 situation
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Does it make a difference in processing time or printing time?
I just did a simplify on a model (noting it drops all the colour so I had to re-paint it) and it didn’t seem to impact print time. It’s actually a couple of minutes longer (over an 11 hour print), but that could be something with my painting.
If it’s just CPU time to get it sliced and you have the resources, does it actually matter?
I’d love if anyone could share a complex stl that shows a tangible difference.
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I wouldn’t bother, I have simplified a model.
I often create models with many millions of polygons, the slicer warns me I have over a million triangles, I have far more than that.
It may take another few seconds to slice, but, who cares, that is the slicer’s job.
When I am exporting my designs, some take a couple of hours to generate, I leave the computer to it and then do something else until it finishes.
If you want the model as the designer intended, wait a little bit. An algorithm to remove details may remove the very details you wanted to see.
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my raw models are about 10 million triangles. before publishing them i reduce them to about 1.5 million. this way the stl file is less heavy.
I am new around here (and in 3D printing), so I have no hard scientific evidence… But I have found that on a couple of prints simplifying a model can cause issues on build plate adhesion. I guess it comes down to the fact that the first layer is missing information and becomes more prone to detaching from the plate. FWIW I wear cotton gloves when handling the plate, so no finger fat gets dumped on to the plate. Personally, I won’t bother to simplify in the future.
The slicer has its own resolution settings (they are exposed in Orca, can remember in BBS) to reduce slicing times and to prevent the printer from choking on too many gcode commands in a short time period. There is no need to reduce triangles unless the count is so high that your UI is slow, or slicing takes many minutes.
Thanks for that, my Mac Studio doesn’t slow down on the slicing, so I guess I’m good.
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Thank you Jrock this is helpful as I wasn’t sure what to do when the message came up for me, but I am new at this 3-D printing.