Broad 'HELP' info?

[OOMDAS]

Does anyone know if there is a kind of 'book of help' explaining each and every S3D setting?

I have Frederik Forquignon's "3D Printing with Simplify 3D" which I've found really useful. Just wondering if there is anything else.

I am a little surprised and more than a bit disappointed not to have better documentation from Simplify3D themselves, V5 would be a golden opportunity to have done so, something I would gladly pay for.

There are probably somewhere around 200 individually-adjustable settings, each of which affects the others - and applicable to every different filament. This makes guessing a little tough.

[S3D-Jason]

We actually wrote a few sentences about every setting in V5 and already embedded it into the software. You just hover your mouse over the settings and is displays an explanation of what the setting does.

There's also a few articles on the website we updated recently for V5, so that's another good place to look.

Was there a particular setting you had questions about?

[OOMDAS]

I have seen that, but it usually consist of a short phrase and only on a few items.

I want to learn everything I can about this software - little point in having several thousand dollars worth of hardware and software if you can't use it well.

For example: Under advanced process settings, one of the option is Retract Vertical Lift. I understand basically what it is and does, but I'm offered choices to two decimal places, which effectively states there is significance to at least one decimal place. So, why would I choose one number over another? Beyond a simple numeric .1 difference, what's the effect of choosing say 0.6 vs 0.7? How about 3? What are normal values, what are the preferred values and why?

If the settings are there, and they are adjustable, then presumably one should understand how and why & when to use them.

[S3D-Jason]

The "Retract Vertical Lift" setting on the Extruders tab is literally how far the extruder should raise in the Z axis before moving to a new location. The default is zero, meaning it doesn't lift before moving.

[OOMDAS]

The "Retract Vertical Lift" setting on the Extruders tab is literally how far the extruder should raise in the Z axis before moving to a new location. The default is zero, meaning it doesn't lift before moving.

As I said, I understand what retraction is, and I used it as an example. I specifically chose a simple one so we wouldn't waste any time discussing WHAT the option is, but how and why to make best use of it with this program.

The point remains: If offered choices to two decimal places, evidently there is significance to at least one decimal place. So, why would I choose one number over another? Beyond a simple numeric .1 difference, what's the effect of choosing say 0.6 vs 0.7? Why not say 3?

Why is it so difficult to produce some information about a piece of software that was presumably written to be very specific? If there isn't a clear explanation as to why people should choose one OPTIONAL value over another, why bother?

The Support Inflation Distance help pop-out says something completely meaningless - when and if the pop-out actually works which is a crap shoot all of its own.

This is the first - and last - product I've ever bought without a detailed explanation (.i.e manual) of how everything works.

Without providing this sort of information, it makes it exceptionally difficult to say much positive about the product and how it is supported, especially given that your competition is fierce and very effective.

[S3D-Jason]

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking what's the different between using a retraction vertical lift of 0.6, 0.7, or 3mm? It changes the physical distance that the printer lifts so the value is 1-to-1 with the distance that the Z axis moves. I'm not sure how to describe it better than that.

[OOMDAS]

"I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking what's the different between using a retraction vertical lift of 0.6, 0.7, or 3mm? It changes the physical distance that the printer lifts so the value is 1-to-1 with the distance that the Z axis moves. I'm not sure how to describe it better than that."

No, either my writing is really bad or you aren't reading; probably a bit of both.

I'm not asking you to explain retraction, which is obvious. What I'm asking for a is a common or garden variety manual, the kind of instruction book - paper or PDF - that explains each characteristic of your product, how to adjust and why. I would happily pay for it, even though this rather obtuse piece of software has already cost $200, and there seems to be no way to discover how to use it to its fullest capability.

Let's use another example and there are many: The flyout or pop-up for "Use relative extrusion distances" option, says "Enable this option to generate relative E-values for each loop instead of absolute E-values that increase throughout the entire print". What percentage of users do you think have any idea what that means?

You've built the product, you've been paid (quite well) by your customers. Finish the job please and provide a detailed manual.