Newb Slicing Questions

[Tru3DScans]

I am a new user of S3D (coming from Cura). I am trying to get familiar with the software and so just imported an STL which I have printed previously via Cura on my Ultimaker2.

After slicing the object, I was puzzled with the way S3D chose to slice this object.

The various sub-objects that make up the whole object seem to be treated as separate objects by the slicer. I would have thought that the whole object would have been booleaned into one union object prior to slicing.

Is there a setting somewhere in S3D that would make the entire 1st layer include the bottom of all the objects on that 1st layer? And would have no gaps where the arms meet the outer ring?

Or is the preview not properly showing me everything on the 1st layer?

Thanks for any ideas!

Mike

[rrdavis]

I would have thought that the whole object would have been booleaned into one union object prior to slicing.

Well, it is easy to check that in S3D. Go to the Repair menu and check for non-manifold or self-intersecting surfaces. If it finds an issue, then it probably means there is a problem with your mesh.

Just from the photo, it looks like the person who made the model may have forgotten to boolean the "T" part to the rest of the model. If that's the case, you could try going to Mesh > Separate Connected Surfaces. That's a nice built-in thing in S3D that will break apart models that were not joined together. So then the software knows they are actually 2 separate models that have not been joined instead of one giant invalid mesh. So that option sometimes works for these cases as well. Just separate the original STL using that option and then slice.

[dkightley]

In your included screenshots you've noted that the bottom of the ring is at the same level as the "T". As the "T" has printed on its own in the first layer, your statement is clearly wrong! There's a difference of approx. 1 layer thickness!

You can sort this out quite simply......once you've used the Separate Connected Surfaces option to resolve the other problem you have....by double-clicking on the ring part of the model and then lower it by a tiny amount....say 0.1mm and see if everything then slices in the first layer.

[Tru3DScans]

Thanks for all the info!

After I posted, I went back and checked the model and sure enough... the components were NOT all at the same level on the bottom so I corrected this and then the layer1 view of the model looked much better.

I didn't realize that the components of the model would have to be booleaned together prior to making an STL. Cura does not require this and must perform a boolean operation upon import as the slicing there does not treat the object as separate components... it treats it as one whole.

Is there a function in S3D to boolean the components to a whole?

Thanks again.