Is Simplify3D worth the price? S3D vs Cura vs PrusaSlicer
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- Is Simplify3D worth it? Once upon a time it definitely was, but the free competition have made tremendous progress. In this video, S3D is compared in detail to Cura and PrusaSlicer.
I still like S3D, but it's hard to recommend it with the future being so uncertain. Hopefully news will be released soon on V5 with some concrete dates, features and prices.
Simplify3D: www.simplify3d.com/
Cura: ultimaker.com/software/ultima...
PrusaSlicer: www.prusa3d.com/prusaslicer/
CHEP’s Cura tree supports video: • CURA - Tree Supports v...
Prusa’s modifier meshes in PrusaSlicer video: • "Modeling" with PrusaS...
Models featured in this video:
3DBenchy:www.thingiverse.com/thing:763622
Support test piece: www.thingiverse.com/thing:282...
Cura printer list: github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/tre...
Simplify3D printer list: www.simplify3d.com/software/s...
S3D forum thread: forum.simplify3d.com/viewtopi...
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Really good comparison, it's very difficult to do because it really is so subjective - most people "learn" one slicer and refuse to even consider another. Interestingly regarding supports - the tiertime printers used to be the best for YEARS before other slicers caught onto the "dense layers" approach to supports. Maybe we'd all be slicing with that if they didn't decide to be closed ecosystem... hah.
@_ David _ I have never used simplify3d, but I like cura a little more than prusaslicer because the settings are right there in front of you if you want them to be, and prusa tends to hide the print settings under organization menus. I do think the prusa visuals are much better though.
fghj
Simplify3D's price is unjustifiable, if it was something reasonable like $50 many more people would buy/use it. not to mention not getting lifetime upgrades for the $150 makes it not worth it
It was 8 years ago when I bought it, back then the only usable free slicer was slic3R paired with repetier
You don’t get upgrades for free? That makes it even more unjustifiable IMO
@@TravisStamper Ik its annoying especially because all the previous updates where free
I do agree the price is steep especially considering it's market advantage is evaporating. Maybe 5+ years ago it was worth the $150 and I agree with Michael that things are adapting too rapidly. There's also the upcoming options with the embedded Fusion360 slicer and if E3D continues working on their advanced slicer.
@@TravisStamper For its entire existence it has been free upgrades. Now with the vaporware known as the upcoming version 5, they announced it will cost money to upgrade. I think it was fairly generous for that long.
I can't help the feeling that S3D is becoming the Nokia of 3D industry: back in the days when touchscreen (resistive! lol) smartphones were a novelty, Nokia slept it through, thinking it's just a gadget and the hype will pass. And S3d seems to be doing just the same: they're reaping fruits of their once the-very-best-there-is even though that is not the case anymore.
"To be victorious and not to give in is victory, to win and to rest on one's laurels is defeat." - Józef Piłsudski
not quite. the problem is income. think about it. how does Simplyfy 3d make a profit? from their slicer. How do they pay their employee's? from slicer sales. How do they pay their taxes rent etc.. ? from slicer sales.
NOW. how does cura pay any of that? Slic3r ?
Trick question. they don't. they have angel backers who do not need to profit from the slicer as they profit from their printers. so as long as people buy ultimakers or prusa's they can afford to pour development resources into the free slicers they adopted.
simplify 3d has no such backing. they have to fund everything from SALES of the slicer.
a more correct analogy would be exactly what actually happened to nokia but in reverse (hardware instead of software). APPLE made their own software ecosystem and GOOGLE made their own software ecosystem.
the chances of ANYONE and I mean ANYONE breaking into this software ecosystem market is 0. or so close to 0 it might as well be zero. do you want to maintain 3 ecosystems and 3 sets of purchases? See how that works?
SO nokia had a choice that was very unpalatable. Make their own ecosystem which WILL fail 99.9999% of the time or "give up" almost all control and profit to GOOGLE (since apple won't let anyone into their ecosystem)
basically. BECOME google or more accurately a cog in googles machine. for a company like nokia you might as well say shoot yourself in the head.
The same thing is happening here to simplify 3D. free software is being "adopted" by hardware kingpins who can afford to THROW CASH at cura and slic3r since it "benefits" them as they make printers.
How do you compete with that? well for the most part you don't. you can't. its a disadvantage you can't easily overcome IF AT ALL. because you still need income to pay expenses and your losing that income to people who DO NOT MAKE slicers. they make PRINTERS so they can afford to put resources into someone else's software for their own advantage.
THis is not a bad thing necessarily. I am not saying its unfair or illegal or anything. but its also a disadvantage I don't see any way for Simplify 3D to overcome. Even if they come up with some AMAZING upgrades in 5.0 (I do so badly hope we GET 5.0) in a few months ultimaker and prusa can afford to simply replicate such functionality in their slicers and it won't really cost them anything at all. but will cannibalize the sales S3D needs to do any further development. why by S3D when I can just wait a few months for prusa or ultimaker to figure out how to copy the nice new toys I want?
DO you see how this must be playing out for simplify 3D? what can they do? to innovate they need to PAY PEOPLE to pay people they need SALES to get sales they need us to buy their software.
but ultimaker and prusa DO NOT need sales of their slicers to do this.....
@@nerys71 You make some very good points, and i cannot disagree on pretty much anything you said.....BUT this really means a whole lot of nothing to the end user. The problem is purely S3D's , at this point anyone needing a Slicer can just as easily grab a free one....done and dusted. What S3D could do, and really isnt, is being active and honest in this market. You cannot expect people who are wanting a Slicer to just wait. They have made no comment since January, and very few comments regarding V5 prior to that other than a couple of what could be called "Marketing Releases" . I have been a customer of S3D since 2014 and I use it all the time, I have tried other slicers, including the ones mentioned here, along with the manufacturer supplied ones for all of my printers but always end up back at S3D, why because i know its functions and when i want something to happen, i know how to get it to happen easily. However, as I buy newer printers im finding myself looking at the features that S3D is missing over the others and to be honest, the paid update to V5 will need to be worth the money over moving to another Slicer....i have no issue in paying for this, as you said, they need profits to survive, but their lack of community interaction followed by a sometimes "arrogant" approach to certain issues has disheartened me somewhat, and they will need to win alot of people back with a feature rich V5 to make it worth someone rebuying the software at this time.
@@nerys71 Well.. S3D could invent a top-tier 3d printer to fund their slicer development. Prusa did it. Ultimaker did it. The difference is S3D would then turn around and charge you for your printer all over again every few rolls of filament and lock you out of the menu with malfunctioning DRM. *mic drop*
The Kodak sydrome ;)
The company tht made the first digital camera, but didn't want to mass-produce it, becuse it could hurt their film industry… oh well
@@roysigurdkarlsbakk3842 Not quite. Kodak was doomed the moment the CCD was made.
You see kodak is a unique case. they should never have existed. by all normal rules and logic kodak the company was literally impossible. its a paradox. it should never have existed.
Their revenue did not seem to support such a VAST corporation. the reason it did was because it the stupid insane profit margin that film permitted. so they could some what make half the revenue of a company twice their size but act like a company 4 times their size.
their was literally nothing kodak could do. such a profit margin is simply not possible in almost any other market or with any other product. its kind of like inkjet printers. your paying $5000 a gallon for ink that costs $5
This was a conundrum kodak could not resolve. Their was nothing they could do. NO "non film future" could support the company at the size and scale it existed. not enough profit margin. not even remotely close.
Whats worse is they knew it and their was still nothing they could do about it but stretch it out as long as they could.
The real problem with S3d is they suck as a company and we don't really believe in them.
I actually have a licence for S3d. When to re install it today and the installer won't even start. It prints well from my experience, It's over priced and is to restrictive licencing for your machines!
so what u say is that u cant get it to work properly ... aha ok..
fghj
And one day soon, Blender is gonna have a slicer plug-in...
cura has a plug in for blender
Blender is the most unintuitive piece of software I have ever used. Everyone needs to look at tinkercad for movement, manipulation and boolean operations.
@@zacharyyoung8807 Was going to mention that there is an "extension" that allows a link between Blender also.
@@goofyfoot2001 you got to try microstation then, its quite cancerous. blender isnt exactly the moost intutive piece of software but have you tried it recently?
@@goofyfoot2001 That's no longer true in version 2.8 and later. There is a learning curve, but it's much more learner friendly than it used to be. It's extremely powerful, and in my opinion worth learning for people interested in digital 3D authoring.
I was at work dealing with this exact question yesterday. You saved me so much time and showed me a new trick for simplify3d. Thank you as always.
Good review. Personally, in Cura I have always used "show all" in the settings visibility configuration. Otherwise the settings interface would be frustrating. I think "show all" should be the default 👍
It took me way too long to realise this. I was so frustrated why I can't adjust anything even though I'm in advanced mode...
I recommend also checking out the "Sidebar GUI" extension for Cura.
@GivesNoFux FPV I used cura daily for half a year before I found that feature lol. Curas layout is really fuckin weird if you're not used to it
That is crazy. There's like 575 settings!
Aggreed
Thank you for this video, this is exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for this your timing was perfect. Needed this explained.
Oh heck yes! Can’t wait to watch this later. I’m a big fan of S3D due to the easy ability to add manage supports. Can’t wait to see your thoughts on the others
Check the prusa slicer alpha updates coming
Ideamaker pretty much duplicates the support ease of S3D and it's free. It's main limitation is that it will only communicate with Raise3D printers but for me that's a non-issue as I use Octoprint.
+1 for ideaMaker. It has the same manual supports feature as S3D, but with tons of modern features not found in S3D. I recently started using adaptive supports. It's pretty nice
@@vanceblosser2155 the new beta can interface with Raise Cloud. I haven't tried it yet (I'm still using OctoPrint) but it looks really nice
Manual support in Cura is just as easy... BUT... once you go Tree, you'll never use the old supports.
Honestly most informative channel on RUclips. Really helpful. Thanks Michael.
Great video - Appreciate you including the section on support material.
Well great review. I was thinking of buying Simplify for the past couple of weeks but didn't see any major developments on their site since I last visited it a year ago. The review of all 3 really put things in perspective. I think I will stick with Cura for now or at least till Simplify comes out with some worth the price.
Great video! I couldn't have said it better myself. I started with Cura and eventually moved over to Simplify3D because of it's features. Now I only stay because of personal preference... I've actually started playing around in Cura again to experience the newer features. I am also very frustrated with no communication from Simplify3D. In the snippet you showed on the S3D forum, I am actually the user "anthonype" with the longest post there and I said I couldn't recommend S3D either. Love the video and love your channel! Keep it up!
Great video Michael! I've personally used all of these slicers and several others, and I think you're pretty spot on here. It used to be pretty clear cut, but it really isn't anymore. Simplify3D used to have quite an edge in terms of feature and usability, but it seems to have lost that, and I wouldn't go out recommending it to anyone.. At least in my experience, you can get equivalent results from any of these if you have the right settings, so at this point I think overall flexibility is becoming the new king. I'd love to see a new update for S3D, but I'm not holding my breath. Just go with what makes you happy and gets you parts. If it's Cura, S3D, Prusaslicer, Ideamaker, KISSlicer, who cares.
This was very helpful, and exactly the sort of objective comparison I was looking for. Thank you.
Great job Micheal! I bought a S3D license as part of a Kickstarter campaign a few years back and saw they were going to have a paid upgrade to 5.0 shortly afterwards so I’ve held off activating it waiting for the upgrade. I’m still waiting (actually hoping) that the program doesn’t walk itself into obscurity as I wait. I’ve got several 3D printers that have their own slicers and have become accustomed to them (Cetus is my go to currently) as I look forward to getting my shop in order after I complete my recover from surgery.
This was a very good review and definitely worth watching for people getting into 3D printing and not having an idea of what to use. Thank you very much for the non bias explanations and straight forward comparisons. Please continue to make videos like this. I have just started in the 3D printing world my self and have been going at it for about 2 months and have learned tons of tips and tricks from you and greatly appreciate the help on this crash course adventure. I too have the same issues with the infill showing on Cura and would like some advise on what to adjust to correct this issue!!! Thank you!
I've used CURA for like 99% of all my prints since I started printing like 5 years ago. It really has come a long way. I can absolutely see why the UI would be frustrating for anyone that's not used to it, though. However, that's the thing I think I like most about it. If you're into tweaking, calibrating, testing, and tuning your prints to within an inch of its life, you'll love CURA.
There's just SO many settings and variables to mess around with, and once you really learn what most of it does, you can tune prints to come out perfect for the intended application.
I actually find the slicing process to be pretty fun- getting everything *just* right for a particular print.
Although, I can also see why people would want something quick and easy that prints things very well also. At this point, I just don't see any reason to pay for a slicer... especially when the people charging for that slicer aren't communicating and planning to charge more for updates....
After using S3D at work I switched to cura at home because I'm cheap and can't be bothered with cracks. The interface is a clusterfuck imho. After getting used to it you can make it work just as well as S3D though. I miss the support features though
Described our process and results perfectly, very helpful comments and information, thank you for posting.
Great comparison Michael, My first slicer was Slic3r in Repetier host, after a couple of months I bit the bullet and bought S3D in Fed 2016, at the time it was awesome. Since then I have used both Cura and Prusa Slicer. When Prusa started releasing Slic3r PE I started using it more and more, I prefer it's UI over that of Cura.
I doubt I will be paying for the S3D v5 update (unless they introduce something amazing) mostly due to the lack of updates or communication. Like you said, Prusa and Cura have been very on the ball with updates/development, another area the S3D have fallen down.
Personally I will be continuing to use Prusa Slicer.
Sorry to be "that guy", but...
There's no K in Slic3r. It's just pronounced "slicer" :)
Anyway, on a more productive note...
Maybe give ideaMaker a try? It has all the features of S3D, a similar workflow, and also offers a lot of modern features not found in S3D.
(I left S3D for ideaMaker, myself)
@@JoeyTen You're quite right, clearly a typo on my part. Fixed for completeness :-) IMO there's nothing wrong in correcting me, that's how we all learn to be better 👍
I did give IdeaMaker a try some time ago, I think it was after a Makers Muse video, but wasn't a fan of the UI, although it did have some nice features.
I'm so happy for your review. I was going to pull the trigger on Simply3D. I will wait for
5 version
When S3D was released it offered things others didn't in a world where entry printers cost an awful lot more than they do more and a smaller community. With good free options available to new people, paying the better part of a second printer in software will clearly be unappealing, and as it stands there's no clear hook or reason to my view that is worth leaving the free options behind once they've gotten used to it. Finally the free options such as Cura have such a large user base now it's easy to get support and advice to get the right settings. S3D needs to look at either reducing its cost in order to increase its user base, or possibly adopting a model like Fusion360 with support for both business and hobby users
Best thing is, the next update isn't free but has to be bought again ...
Il bet there are few business users unlike with fusion360. I think that would mean they need to hobbyists most of all. I think probably there best bet would be moving to a low yearly subscription model. 20-30 bucks a year sounds stomachable if they have advanced features. 150 every 3 years sounds much worse comparitively.
$50 with lifetime updates or go bust. $150 maybe if you are a big business and offer technical assistance, say suggest materials, settings, etc but at that point you should have your own technitian / operator which should already know about that..... either way its not a very good deal, much less when they dont even offer anything that the others dont already offer.
I really appreciated the way that you delivered your analysis. It was balanced and fair as much as seems possible. I personally have used Slic3r and now mostly Prusa Slicer for my 3D printing. I also shared your frustration with the Cura interface as for me it seemed to get in my way more than help me. It is good to know that a this point there really is no solid reason for paying such a large sum of money to get what is essentially feature parity with two FOSS packages.
Great overview Michael. I used Cura for just over 6 months then bought S3D in Jan of 2018. I thought the custom supports would my biggest use case but multiple processes ended up being the highlight for me. Like you, I'm familiar with the S3D workflow and continue to use it. It still works for me and it's not costing me anything to continue to run it. The "deafening silence" from S3D isn't great, but it still works so I'm not forced to change. Cheers, JAYTEE
Just starting out with 3D printing and this video is very useful. Thank you very much for providing this comparison. It's now 4 months later and there still is no version 5 of S3D, so I've chosen to wait until this comes out and review it then again. Until then I'll try Cura.
Prusa slicer have evolved mutch in this year and love it when making stunning print.
The workhorse for me is the Idearmaker slicer.
Thanks for your great work and video 👍😀
I came to learn about S3D, I'm going away now with nice tips in Cura i've missed so far :-) Thanks for this nice as-objective-as-possible comparison!
Thank you for highlighting the all too common issues with paid-software-services, & their lackluster approach, after gaining a very-loyal-customer-base, it is sadly not limited to 3D printing but as a whole it is a very-broad-range tbh [take the money & run-syndrome] springs to mind...
$149 USD, for what was once per year updates does not cut it for me, they would need at least 3 updates per year fore I pay for software-services...
Considering the very strong competition from FREE-SOFTWARE with REGULAR-UPDATES, one would think that SF3D would be kept updated at the very least...
There is Ye Olde saying "Do not be mischievous in your contracts" aka be honest with those you want to contract with you & fulfill the contracts, & keep those in contracts updated every step of the way...
Breaking a contract is a kin to breaking the law & those contracted can sue for the breach of contract...
Excellent review and ability to take an unbiased review of all three! The fact that S3D lacks updates and transparency has me rethinking wasting $150 on them. Thanks and great job!
I agree with your assessment Michael. I love the interface of Simplify 3D and find that it's really easy to make changes, do multiple processes, place custom supports etc. But I also find that Cura really has some appealing features that I wish S3D had. For whatever reason I seem to get better prints with S3D but I'm getting closing to the same print quality with Cura as it continues to improve. I too feel I can't really recommend S3D to anyone right now with the uncertainty of version 5, and the current cost as well. For now I'm using both S3D and Cura for different things and am overall happy with that method. But it would be nice to get more features in S3D so I only had to use one slicer.
I used Simplify3D almost exclusively. But ever since getting my MK3s, I've switched to PrusaSlicer and never really looked back. The only thing I really do like about Simplify3D is the automatic support inconjunction with the manual support removal feature. Setting up support blockers or enforcers in PrusaSlicer is a royal PITA. I had to print something that needed a bunch of supports recently, and I ended up going with Simplify3D for this reason. But for my normal day to day printing, PrusaSlicer is hard to beat. I will admit however, that I have not looked at Cura in a very long time. The last feature I tried was ironing, which although interesting, didn't quite turn out to be as useful as it sounded.
Great review.... Just for your info. In Cura, under "Setting Visiblilty" just mark "Check ALL under custom selection, and you will have the all the settings at your slider every time you load a model.
I used to be a heavy s3d user, and i tried cura, which while it gave good results, it lacked the simplicity of s3d. Then with new prusa slicer i found my new favourite. Almost as simple as s3d and all the features you would want from an updated slicer.
I got my first printer early 2017 and bought Simplify3D late summer 2017, I felt like it was miles ahead in the supports department. And I used it until november 2018 when I got myself a Prusa MK3S and started using Prusa Slicer and almost never wanted to go back to Simplify3D.
I have tried all slicers I have been able to find and concerning these three slicers I have these oppinions:
Simplify3D:
The best interface, except to enter values when you rotate a part you have to know to double click the part, this menu could've easily been open all the time.
Good support editor.
Processes are powerfull
Profile functionality are not that great, you can't choose what values gets saved in the slicer and you have to edit all of the profiles in notepad if you want to add one value to one profile but not the others, as when it loads a new profile it simply overwrites the values that are in the file. This could be solved by having one base profile, and when you save a profile, ask the user if it should be saved to the current or the base profile.
I would like better options when moving or rotating with the gizmos, like snapping to angles and such.
Prusa Slicer:
OK interface.
Fairly good supports but it doesn't always go where I want it even with support enforcers and suppressors.
Mixed results with modifier parts, as I don't want it to add perimeters in the middle of the parts when I just want to upp the infill in that area.
Good profiles.
Octoprint intergration is good. And with a small external edit to the printer profile and a octoprint plugin you can get image previews in octoprint.
Frequent improvements and function updates.
Cura:
Horrible settings menu.
I still don't know how to change the hotend temperature when I use ultimaker printers... Works great on every other printer though.
Despite the interface looking modern it is horrible to work with, all settings are in a scroll menu... They are illogically categorised and the search function is slow.
Frequent updates.
Settings hierarchy is pretty smart, where you can sett desired wall thickness and it will automatically sett wall count for example.
Gcode preview and output are not always the same, I print faceshields on my schools ultimakers and I get gaps in some places where it shouldn't even though it is not underextruding.
My ranking of these programs:
Prusa Slicer
Simplify3D
Cura
If I didn't own Simplify3D cura would be in second place. With all this said I feel like I could get the exact same print done with all of these slicers and that every drawback or positive is subjective at this point. As these slicers are now I can't objectively say that one is better than the other.
Extremely grateful for your thoughts and experience, thank you for taking the time to post !
Time-saving review: Excellent info & thanks
Thank you for this very good and honest review. In the beginning I was ready to buy S3D, but in the end I decided to stay with PrusaSlicer.
thanks for the unbiased video your insights and the comments from others have led me to cura and saved me $$$ as i was willing to pay for it
Thank you for this. As a brand new person to the world of 3d printing, I looked at various videos, tips, tricks, and advice before settling on a CR-10S Pro V2. I have not had the chance to really get it going and I admit, just leveling the bed is a real challenge for me at the moment. I went with the Cura slicer, well because it was free, and we just newly updated. I considered Simplify 3D but the price tag was keeping me away. After seeing this video, I am more informed about the price/update problems with Simplify so I am glad I avoided that. I never considered Prusa simply because I do not like the interface.
Thank you for this great review
Good to know. I was thinking about getting Simplify3D but after this video I know that I should wait to see what is going to happen and mean while try other slicers too.
Simplify3D owner here: IMHO, Simplify3D has failed to keep up with the level of innovation and development of Slic3r/Prusa Slicer and Cura. Despite having paid $150 for it, I generally reserve its use for its one great feature, easily customizable support structures.
Prusa Slicer and Cura have continued to develop novel infill patterns with unique strengths. Cura has simplified the onboarding process and expanded support to more and more models of printers and made their software easier to use. S3D's interface is by comparison much clunkier to use with their model of print processes and profiles which are confusing at times even for veteran makers and a chore to backup and restore when switching between different printers. In contrast with Cura you just select which printer you are using from the dropdown and it automatically loads in all your print print settings for that printer.
Additionally, for years S3D has failed to fix issues with it's DRM for Linux users so that we can upgrade between even minor releases without having to write in and ask for a special installer for each and every version. Constantly we are finding ourselves locked out of S3D because it believes it has been installed on too many computers even though it's actually installed on just one computer.
Ultimately, with such other great options out there and S3D's huge cost, I could never recommend one of my students purchase S3D when they could use great, innovative, free software without DRM.
You should try then Prusa Slicer 2.0, the user defined support structures are even more customizable.
I had that same screwy Linux issue. They resolved it fast but still odd.
Good stuff as always.
I've been working my way away from S3D lately, and I'm really starting to enjoy Cura. For years I 'just got better prints' from S3D. That was the only way I could describe it. But lately I seem to be getting better output from Cura, and that's exciting.
Another great video. I am a fan of paid software normally because I like regular updates and the offered support. After watching your video I can see a clear case for the non paid, open source options. I am expecting to get my first 3D printer today so i will like start out trying Cura for my printing needs. Thanks again!
Thank you for the review of these three greater slicers. When I bought my first 3D printer about a year ago I really stressed about whether I should buy Simplify3D or stick with Cura. It was really difficult to find quality comparisons. This really hits the spot. I definitely think anybody learning 3D printing should really dig into Cura and Prusa Slicer first and understand what they can do before considering S3D. That said, I really hope the folks behind S3D step up and really hit a home run with version 5!
Good comparison thank you. I’ve been a S3D user for a while and bought it back in the day for the custom supports feature. Cura was my backup when S3D couldn’t repair/slice a model. I never got used to/liked the Cura interface. Now I’ve moved to PrusaSlicer as my primary with S3D as the backup. Like many I’ve been waiting patiently for an S3D update... there is no way I’ll be paying for any update. They’ve missed the boat 🚣♀️
I just purchased my first 3d printer and really appreciate this video. Here it is, more than a month after it was posted and S3D is still stuck at version 4.1. I can't see the sense of paying $150 for a piece of software that [apparently] has only one feature that is truly superior to the free competition, who, I expect, will someday get caught up anyway. I think I'll try Cura given the large following and active support family. Thanks for posting this.
In cura you can click on the little gear icon in each category to jump to the show/hide menu for that setting group.
I'm fairly new to 3D and using Cura, getting some very high quality prints thanks to channels like yours and lots of hard work and experimentation. I understand about the Cura interface and drop down menu, tabs across would be so much better. That said I still see no reason to buy S3D which I would despite the price. Thank you for your excellent thoughts and especially to all who commented; we stand on the shoulders of all who cared enough to put their ideas and experience online for all to share. Our learning curve with our 1st printer was cut by magnitudes, many thanks and best wishes.
Excellent info. Subscribed.
That helped a lot cheers mate.
Good review Michael, I guess your view about the slow rate of updateing of S3D , will push me to strat using another slicer & get used to it.
Thanks.
Another thing. Cura has support via plugins for Inventor, Solidworks, and Siemens NX. This makes going from design to part faster and easier.
Thanks for the comparison.
You forgot to mention the artifacts that S3D produces on top surfaces. You could see it on the floor of the benchy towards the back. It lifts the nozzle and moves to a different region for no good reason and produces a thicker fill line where the two sections meet.
For those who use S3D because of the support editing feature, I'd like to recommend ideamaker. It has the same support interface and many more features such as ironing, variable shell thickness, excellent bridging, and speed control as well as layer by layer adjustments, etc. I've been using it for years and it gets regular updates and is free.
Thanks for making this comparison. I personally use Cura and I'm really happy with it. A small tip is to just enable advanced mode to show all settings. Then you can just scroll through and look at the different sections to find what your looking for. You don't need to remember anything.
Good tip but.... Cura has just so many options. For the purist, it's like being a kid in a candy shop... lol
@@karlosss1868 Yes, there's a lot of options but you don't even have to use more than 5% of them if you don't want. The important settings are the first one of each section and the sections are the same as any other slicer. Same as simplify3d but you scroll instead of click on them. Everyone can of course use their preferred slicer. I'm not trying to force anyone.
@@3Drcnc Same
@@als1023 👍
Great review, and thanks for the warning about V5. I wanted an honest review as I am thinking about using it, was recommend by Tim at TH3D, but after seeing this I don't see the advantages worth the money over PrusaSlicer.
Got my first 3d printer [Labists ET4 (Anet ET4 Pro)] last week and saw in one of your other videos you used Simplify3D and was wondering what would making it worth the money (I thought maybe it did actual CAD as well as slicing), this video has been very helpful in explaining what it is and how it works. Think I'll stick with Cura for the time being, though I do want to see if I can tweak it so infill doesn't show through the side as I've seen that too. Anyway, great video, very helpful!
Good review, I have used all the slicers in the past and eventually settled for Cura. Their experimental settings and consequent updates give me a lot of confidence in having the bugs fixed and having the newest options available when they come out. Tree infill has helped me a great deal with faster slicing, printing and less material waste. I have also used Slic3r up until last year and Simplify3D up until the end of 2018 but since June 2019 I have moved over to Cura completely because it's just very reliable. Also, I have started using Fusion 360 which works really well with Cura when it comes to STL export. I now do not have to keep a library of STL's and manually select everything in Cura. It's simply fire & forget when everything is set up well. This makes it so that the process for me becomes intuitive. Designing, exporting, printing, testing, developing, iterating, it's all a flow. Cura and Fusion 360 also 'speak' the same language a little bit.
On top of all that, Simplify3D costs too much, you would expect either a lifetime license or instead have a lower fee for a license for each separate upgrade from v3 to v4 to v5 and of course free bugfixes and free intermediate feature updates. For me the order would be:
1 Cura
2 Prusa Slic3r
3 Simplify3D
Simplify3D would have 2nd place if it would've been differently priced.
Thanks for the balanced review. Personally I like Cura but I do really like the look of Simplify's support handling . Seems to be much easier. Ive used Prusa quite a bit but find the multiple tabs too busy.
i really liked when talking about UI and UX you talked about inherent bias. I use PS occasionally, but I mostly use Cura. it makes the most sense *for me* having the options always there for the things I need to change without having to go to a new screen, no having to save or update profiles when I just want to change one variable etc. when i go to PS I can use it, i know where most things are, but moving from the platter to the print UI, to the printer settings to the filament settings etc just seems more hassle than it needs to be, but I know people that cannot stand the fact Acura is always there and auto saves every change you make. I will say though, something I've noticed is that people who were very big on Simplify3D seem to be able to convert to PS or IdeaMaker much easier than they can Cura due to that UI as well, for whatever that is worth.
I have to agree. I started with cura, but was wondering if it is the best for me, never missed any feature, but after trying other slicers I didnt felt at home and I was missing the workflow of Cura, all settings always visible, auto save, nice experimental features. There might be some missing features, but I found some workarounds on youtube and getting better with cura with every resoluted problem makes it difficult to switch to other slicer.
Your comments are spot on. When I purchased S3D in 2016 it was worth it and it is still my go to. But the others are becoming more feature rich and I refuse to pay for any further upgrades moving forward.
I really enjoyed this comparison. Still feel its relevant at the end of 2020.
Thank you so much. I like the adding and removing supports feature but with such limited updates it wont be long before one of the free ones does it. In fact cura has an extension that already does it although it takes a little more effort. You place a cube where you either want or dont want supports... cant wait to see how Prusa implements that.
Im one of those upset s3d clients. Just bought it and they announced the upgrade at a cost. Between cura and s3d i like s3d more but its exactly like Michael says personal preference. The settings presentation in cura annoyed me a little even before going to s3d. Now ive given prusa slicer a go and im keen on trying to stay with it just because its updated and im mad at s3d. Id like nothing more than a decently developed and frequently updated slicer that im more than willing to pay for. Thats what i thought s3d was..
im at same level... And even if they release 5.0 i think im going to pirate it.
just pirate it thought most likely i bet it will be just graphical changes and single bottom solutions like most software companies do when they start becoming irrelevant. They will add a "print and send me an email" or some cloud stuff but nothing really important to the actual software so id say it wouldnt even be worth pirating.
I mean, i could pirate s3d 4 right now, but i use prusa slicer and it works great (and i print 24/7) and i dont see why i would want to use s3d, so even for free i wouldnt use it.
To be honest i once used s3d like 3 years ago, but back then slic3r was awful and cura didnt fair much better but a few month after prusa released their slic3r prusa edition and since then i never went back.
Thankyou very much for this, I was considering purchasing S3d but will give the free ones a go and wait to see if version 5 is worth the price.
Thanks for the very balanced approach especially for an S3D user! I have a similar configuration - I have an upgraded Ender 3 (direct drive, Swiss hotend) and a Prusa MK2S and have used all three slicers. My opinion mirrors yours - I think S3D for core slicing functionality is probably better even today, than the other two, but the gap is so small. Definitely today I would not spend $150 on S3D - not enough bang for the buck over the others. That said, I await v5. If the bang for the buck is there I'll get it, just right now I can't imagine what that would be.
After watching this and a few other utube channels I decided too use Cura for my artillery great decision and saved me some dough
I am new to 3D printing and been less than satisfied with supports with some of my designs (wound up modeling custom ones), so having a comparison of the performance on this aspect was very useful. Thanks.
He only review the stock supports. All Supports can be adjusted.
Good comparison, I agree on your conclusion. Thanks
Thanks for the balanced comparison. I'm just getting into the hobby and fell into Cura since it seemed to have the largest community. I was curious to know what I was missing, if anything, about S3D and Prusa Slicer; now I'm much better informed and realize the answer is "not much".
No gyroid in s3d or octoprint integration feels really old
Main reason not to use S3D: No night mode! ;)
Yup. And the interface in general... Like don't get me wrong, the gcode preview is really good, but having images of a USB cable to signify "Print over USB" seems old. Like 2000s computer program old.
@@Gromic2k lol that's funny. Changing into night mode is literally the first thing i do with every Cura update.
@@ivomo_ yea, who uses USB cables to print from their PC anymore? If windows has an update or decides to do something without your permission, or crashes.. forget finishing that 12-24 hour print. Used to have a weird issue where long prints from the laptop I was using to print from would stop but the extruder stayed heated resulting in a horrible ABS clog. Raspi + Octoprint = much more reliable!
You can hack s3d to have Octoprint integration, download curl for windows, and then in your process, under scripts, add something like:
curl -k -H "X-Api-Key:XXXX" -F "select=true" -F "print=true" -F "file=@[output_filepath]" "192.168.1.101/api/files/local"
Where XXXX is your Octoprint API key, and of course put in your Octoprint's actual IP address. Then you are good to go :)
Prusaslicer is my prefered slicer : custom supports and background re-slicing are 2 of my favourite festures 🤩👍
After using the S3D for almost 2 years I decided to try other slicers because I wanted to try the ironing feature. I couldn’t adapt to the cura interface, and it’s a kinda slow software, so I decided to try the Ideamaker and I cannot be more happy: it’s free, have the recent slicer features like ironing e adaptative layer height/infill and the interface is based on S3D so the migration couldn’t be more easy, the only thing that it lacks is the machine control panel and print directly from the app
Sounds like a winner to me
I recently switched to slic3r++ and love it! I was using simplify but honestly I think slic3r++ does more and some of its better.
Only thing it doesn't do is automatically connect to your printer to print.
I'm very glad you did this video. I stayed open minded to the very end. All 3 are very good, but for me two things stand out after considering this video.
1. Why learn new software when I'm use the interface? Especially if there is no real gain in print quality?
2. Changing your business model and leaving customer waiting and taking away free upgrades is not a company I want to do business with.
For me, Cura works, has the features I need and as you stated - is constantly being updated. Tree supports are my go-to support when ever possible. saves some filament and super easy to remove.
My only wish is that the awesome people over at Cure dive into the Resin 3D market and either add support for Resin printers. I would be happy with a standalone software or if they added a "Resin" mode for the current software. Chitubox is very good, but I struggle with the software at times due to how it is executed.
Good video, well done! I'm in the blue section somewhere, so here's my 2 cents... A few years ago, I got myself 2 printers (a fairly big one & a desktop one) that both came with Repetier host software - I had both configured to use the Cura engine)... This software wasn't delivering what I needed and I ended up picking S3D instead: after some tinkering, that product was getting me the results I was looking for on both my printers. All's well, so far. The remarks people have on S3D not updating are - of course - fully justified: it's very quiet in their corner & I'm, like many others, genuinly concerned on their ability to keep developing their product. Up until now, however, S3D slicer is still delivering what I expect from it, so I'm still using it.
Another great video, I purchased my S3D back 2018 I was using repetier before that as that was the recommended to use with the printer but after tested S3D it way outperformed repetier so I have been happy with it for a while, however, due to the lack of updates S3D has (not) been getting and that I have recently become an owner of an Ender 3 Pro I decided to change slicers to see if I could get any better results, I tried Cura but could not get on with the interface so I have just started using PrusaSlicer and I'm getting far better results than I have ever done with S3D in relation to Support removal and underside surface finish. A year ago if anyone asked me what's the best slicer it would have been S3D if you can handle the cost, but now I would say PrusaSlicer all the way.
The long wait is over... hope you do an updated video for V5!
Nice video thanks...
My first foray into 3D Print Slicer/software was the Stratasys Suite of Insight/Control Center and I thought it was quite good and intuitive (especially the ability to repair curves slice-by-slice, add supports, stabilizing walls etc. as you see fit) but then got into home printers and have used Cura ever since and find it amazingly versatile for being a FREE program.
Had wondered if S3D would be worth the investment but now believe I will stick with Cura.... However, I am admittedly a blissfully happy Anet A8 owner/operator so perhaps its all relative.
Awesome vid! You're right, 7 years ago it was the way to go, nowadays the print quality in Cura is better using an UM2 and support is easier to remove. Hope that S3D will be developing even though I don't think that there will be loads of people buying it.
Thanks! I spent long hours getting Cura to run a couple years ago. When I got finally got it running the random the support guessing made it unusable---when it ran long enough. S3D solved all that. Install was simple, never crashed, good support editing; I was so frustrated with Cura, S3D was worth money twice over.
I just punched in sudo apt install cura---I'll see what happens. Edit: my repo only has Cura 3.1.0. I just installed ideaMaker now and it looks really nice.
Thanks for the informative comparison. I've been using curators for 8 months and think I will switch to prusa slicer as the menu diving is a bit of a pain to remember where setting are.
Sorry cura
Great video, I think you did a pretty good job at being as unbiased as you could. Some things could have been clearer, like prusa slicer having setting changed on height as well and what not but if you went into every detail it would be 4 times as long.
I just prefer the UI of Prusaslicer far more. It's so much easier to switch settings than Cura. That's mostly the main difference to me. But I keep going back to cura just for the tree supports. They can be extremely helpful on miniatures. S3D seems interesting and I really like the UI from what was shown. But it not being open source is a hard sell for me personally. I just love the open source communities and it's a big part of what makes me love 3d printing so much.
I recently got in a fight with another youtuber who called me a vape smoking junkie for criticizing his recommendation of simplify3D and saying it was too expensive of a software for budget 3D printers like the Ender 3. He still thought solidworks was worth thousands of dollars and didn't know about free or student license cad software that were more suited to general people. Times change but that doesn't mean people change with it.
And, yes, I liked simplify3D for all the time I used it in a fab lab I worked at, fantastic program still, just the community surrounding it are just so toxic and defensive I just cannot stand it anymore.
So you don't like a product because of what some random internet stranger (who isn't associated with production, promotion, or sale of that product) said?
@@JacobScherer unfortunately, yes, the community is really important for most products. Imagine buying a product and finding out the person promoting the product in videos with thousands of views was a vocal racist. On top of that, the promoter of the product is attracting people of a similar disposition to the very product being advertised.
I've had a lot of good experiences talking to random people on forums for various products, yourself included, and it is something I expect and endorse for the medium to grow.
Also, I can be petty sometimes.
I’ve used all three of these softwares pretty extensively. I think your comment about how Simplify3d was worth it back in the day was very true. I bought it in 2016 because I was frustrated with my machines rebranded Cura and then never looked back. I upgraded to the Duet WiFi which was worth every penny and by that time, simplify was starting to lose its edge so I decided to try cura. Once I found the DuetRRF plugin, I never went back to simplify just for the ease of use of being able to send prints straight from the slicer to my printer without viewing the web interface every time. I like Cura’s simplicity and aesthetics over simplify and it gave pretty good results but I was missing my detailed slicing settings in simplify. Switched to prusaslicer because I liked the layout of the settings and profiles. Figured out I could upload straight from prusaslicer and haven’t looked at either of the others. I believe some things are use case but I can definitely say I prefer the quality of prints and the depth of setting I get from prusaslicer and simplify. And if it wasn’t so hard to set up wireless uploading in simplify, I may still be using it every now and then.
My 2 printers are a CR10S pro and a Prusa MK3S, I use Cura with the Creality printer and PrusaSlicer with the Prusa. I always wondered about Simplify3D, I feel like this video was made for me! The point that makes the difference for me is the speed of software updates with Cura and PrusaSlicer. To me that's key in the 3d printing space. I also like using 2 slicers and will continue to do that.
I've been using all these slicer's for years, jumping in between for various different things and found s3d to just give the best results in quality and ease of clean up. After reading these comments decided to check out ideamaker and am absolutely blown away, definitely my new go to and now I don't believe I will need to keep jumping in between different slicers.
Great job without making the video to long! I now have a better idea of all 3 programs but feel the biggest aspect was not mentioned. Which is the user's skill level & ability to understand the programs. For someone new without much base techknoledge the more features a program has the easier it will be to frustrate them & for them to make mistakes. So which is the better for each person is variable as is the value of the program to them.
We should all really ask why we can’t get information on version 5 release S3D won’t respond to anyone on the forums there are 9 pages since December
Thanks for adding the part at the end I should of waited till the end... thank you for covering what many of us have asked in the s3d forums
Thanks for the video. Definitely informative as user that only used cura, I think I'm going to switch to prusa. I know my way around cura but I'm not a fan of the settings UI.
Hello, I used Cura for a while then following an update which deleted all my profiles that I had created and refined for weeks, I went through Simplify3D, and I used it for a few years, I tested PrusaSlicer, but impossible to have a print of the same quality as S3D, and here I discovered ideaMaker and I find it much more complete than S3D with a tool for cutting the STL and printing modifications of certain area very easily, options filament well separated from those of the printer, unlike S3D or the retraction depends on the printer… I have several machine profiles for each type of material to be sure not to ruin an xD config
It's to be tested ^^
Pretty new into the 3d printing, but a tech nerd. So after looking at the market for slicers I did choose ideamaker. Very happy with it, easy use good print support including manually added. Sequential printing, great for many smaller parts or setup individual settings per part for test. Only fault is first layer, so set that to zero for now. Easy cut/place/scale and have ironing also. Best slicer IMO. Little thin on RUclips guides but enough.
1 year after the posting of this video, S3D STILL hasn't released v5.0.
Interesting video. I haven't used Simplify3D for a while, but used to a lot. At this point I've moved from Cura to PrusaSlicer due to the power of modifier meshes. While a little different from Simplify3D's support system, I think I like it more now since I can adjust far more than support positions. I also just love open source, so there is that.
I've only used Cura, and while it has some bugs and quirks (I agree that the interface is clunky at times) I find the results to be great once you're dialed in. I also appreciate how open their team is with communication, and how the open-source aspect allows for people to create their own plugins.
Completely agree with your summation Michael, great review. Curas interface needs a lot of work for sure. I just found the plugin "Setting Guide" that Stefan from CNC Kitchen mentioned in one of his videos, which I'm now suggesting to beginners to help understand some of the settings.
Unlike you, I just waited until Simplify was released rather than join any Betas :-) so have been using it for quite some time. I've since had just about every slicer there is worth having on my computer for testing purposes and only use simplify now because of muscle memory and familiarity. I've been loving much of Prusa slicers results based on my own setup and conditions lately, but I do skip between Cura, Simp and Prusa just for fun.
I wouldn't pay for simplify now days but back then it couldn't be touched for supports and speed. I wont be upgrading to the next Simplify if the thing isn't a revelation over the other free slicers also.
Good comparison video, I have considered Simplify3D and tried out a few different slicers and decided against it mainly because i cannot see the $150 value in what you get over and above the other slicers and any small advantage it did have has diminished with the lack of development over time. I think any of the slicers are fine for most people once you've invested the time in getting used to a particular one, my main tool is Cura and I'm very pleased with it.
I have 8 slicers installed (just counted them) and I am 3d printing for more than 5 years. Cura UI is also not to my liking. Most used slicer used to be S3D. Now it is ideaMaker, because it has S3D like gui and supports, modifiers from PrusaSlicer, ironing from Cura/neotko and developers that fix things I post about it on twitter in 7 days... However Prusaslicer 2.3 with brush on supports, might be a feature that will make it my main slicer. I gladly paid for S3D version 3 and it definitely was worth the money then. Now I recommend that people just try ideaMaker and PrusaSlicer before even consider buying S3D. S3D does not even have gyroid infill and modifiers are a very powerful feature. S3D is not worth it currently, it was worth it about 1 or 2 years ago. Sad, but true...
you can do something approaching modifiers in s3d if you use two processes, one for sparse infill and one for higher infill, but it requires two separate STL files and it also requires them to not overlap. I'm not sure how PS does it, haven't looked into it
I'm only printing for a year. I have Cura, prusa slicer and Ideamaker. Ideamaker became my main slicer because it gives the same versatility in the 'per layer settings' as S3D. Michael mentioned that cura and prusa slicer can do this too, but a lot of options are missing. Try changing retraction distance in prusa slicer or cura at a certain height. Ideamaker is almost never mentioned because it's not that popular and I find that wrong.
Check out Slic3r++
@@evilgremlin I tried slic3r++ but first layer never sticks, unlike all the others. any idea? I really like all the bonus features it has
Great as always man. I wish you would have said something about the time involved in multiplying objects with each. My friend has S3D and we tried my Cura and his S3D with a thingiverse model for a tiny little .177 pellet. S3D was INSANELY fast and it seems to be able to assemble them on the plate a LOT better. Cura takes forever and leaves huge gaps in between. I have a Ryzen 7 1700 cpu, 16gb ddr4 memory, ssd(s) and a Radeon RX580 video card. I don't know if it is because I do not have a Nvidia video card or not that this process is so slow but it is PAINFUL in cura!
I will keep using the free ones because like most said, why pay a huge amount for software that isn't being updated, enhanced, pushed to the limits. Make it $20 and I may pick it up just for the multiply feature but not worth it for $150.
I wanted S3D to work, some 5 years ago, when I got my first 3D printer and did not know what I was doing. However, their printer preset did not work for me and switched to MatterControl instead. 2 years ago I was again reviewing slicers and S3D again failed to make the cut. For the price of the software I got myself a low-midrange printer and switched to Cura.
I'm not 100% happy with the UI in cura and how slow it is, but I like access to the experimental options, community support, open-source, plugins.
I believe S3D priced itself out of the market once the machines started coming down in price. For 10-50$ they would have sold a LOT more copies and could have kept a continuous stream of income. I think now even 50$ would not cut it.
Similar boat to others, purchased in January/February this year believing the post that 2020 update or something was coming. I think what has made people sour is communication. If only we heard something like "we said this, but this is whats going on..." maybe every couple of months would help. Right now I recommend anything BUT S3D to others as it almost feels dead in the water... No communication on V5 features and a promise of software in 2019 that didnt eventuate is very hard to recommend. Good Vid...
With an add-on, Cura has custom supports as well. Very easy to use. Lots of community add-ons to choose from!