Save support structures as stl

[johnsculpt]

Hi,
I am a new user of your fantastic software. I have two types of printers one is a FDM-Rostockmax and one DLP-B9Creater.
Would it be possible to export an STL file including the support structures this would be great for models to be printed on
my B9Creater and it would also be good to have the option the alter the support structures to tapper down to a specified width
at the point where the support meets the model. I am very happy with your software and with the addition of the two suggestions above
it would be able to be used by my fellow B9Creater users.

[scampa]

I agree that saving STL would be nice. Creator allows us to "layout" and support the items we wish to print. If something doesn't print right, we may want to modify that for another run....Today we need to re-add the components and supports again, basically start over....

It would be nice to be able to save the STL after adding supports and adjusting the layout so that it may be opened/reused again.

Thanks!

[Simplify3D]

While this doesn't particularly help the B9Creator users, you can use .factory files to save the support material and STL placement information. We try not to modify the original STL files, but after adding manual (or automatic) support, you can go to File > Save Factory File As, and the .factory file it creates will include all the information you are looking for. No need to start over from scratch, you can just open the .factory file and you will have all the manually added supports back.

Hope that helps! And we will investigate how hard it would be to start supporting some SLA-type supports.

[scampa]

While this doesn't particularly help the B9Creator users, you can use .factory files to save the support material and STL placement information. We try not to modify the original STL files, but after adding manual (or automatic) support, you can go to File > Save Factory File As, and the .factory file it creates will include all the information you are looking for. No need to start over from scratch, you can just open the .factory file and you will have all the manually added supports back.

Hope that helps! And we will investigate how hard it would be to start supporting some SLA-type supports.

Thanks! This helps me...I wasn't aware of that!!

[Access3Dservices]

After searching these forums I came across a few threads from 2013 where Simplify3D stated they would add the ability to export a model along with supports in the next release, however there's been multiple releases since then and there still doesn't seem to be a way to export the supports along with an STL model file. Any chance this feature is ever going to be added?

Thanks,
Joe, Access3Dservices

[brian442]

They already did. That's what the factory file is. It includes the model, support structures, and pretty much everything else about the print

[Access3Dservices]

Yes but other software doesn't recognize factory files since they're proprietary to S3D, meaning you're limited to the editing features of Simplify3D. Would be nice to be able to export as an STL with the Simplify3D supports then load that file into Tinkercad (or whatever modeling software) and make additional adjustments as needed. If the ability to export is already there why not make it play nice with other software?

-Joe, Access3Dservices

[brian442]

I don't think it would work that way. The support pillars are really just a visual representation in S3D. They don't actually print that way. If you look at the preview, all of the pillars get combined into a webbing pattern. So if you try to just export the STL, or import it back into S3D, that won't work. It just a visual representation for the internal stuff that S3D does.

[Steve-o]

for stress analysis of the printed part it would be beneficial to be able to export the part "as printed" with the in-fill

[thaichii]

Yes but other software doesn't recognize factory files since they're proprietary to S3D, meaning you're limited to the editing features of Simplify3D. Would be nice to be able to export as an STL with the Simplify3D supports then load that file into Tinkercad (or whatever modeling software) and make additional adjustments as needed. If the ability to export is already there why not make it play nice with other software?

-Joe, Access3Dservices

I'm actually interested in this functionality as well. I'm testing some other slicers that don't do quite as well as S3D when it comes to supports.