Will you be forced to use Chitubox Pro? My Resin 3D Printing Option
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- Опубликовано: 8 ноя 2024
- This is a topic I feel like I need to bring it up to make sure people are aware of this change that is coming. It appears like Chitu Systems, who makes Chitubox, will be forcing you to use Chitubox Pro if you want to slice prints on new Resin 3D Printers for $169 a year.
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This is a hobby for me, not a business. I'll find some other printer not locked into a subscription service, or I'll toss everything into the trash and find another hobby. Simple as that.
I'm with ya
Me too, three....
I don't even own a resin printer yet and if that's the way this plays out, I will not own one in the future either.
$160 a year to be locked into a buggy software is a damn joke!
I just ordered my first printer yesterday for $300. No way I'm paying 2/3 of the price of the printer yearly for a hobby. This will heavily deter people from entering into the hobby since it's already an expensive one. Might just cancel my order and say fuck it at this point.
We'll find new board makers and cut them out of their attempted little racket. A board is cheap, just wait, we'll have em all running Marlin.
Right now I have a commitment from Creality that once existing stock is cleared out, all-new resin printers will be third-party slicer compatible. If
Chitubox isn't third-party compatible, they won't be making boards for Creality.
Good to know.
You really are a hero in this community, Naomi! Thanks for everything you do.
This should be upvoted more, Naomi worked closely with Creality on making the CR-30 print mill a reality and knows what she’s talking about.
Ah Naomi, one of my inspirations for my channel! Always good to see you my dear! :)
We would love to talk with you about this as well - we have already committed 10k to the development of an open source alternative with Mango3D as the operating systems developer and Captain Nico from the Photonsters as the board designer. The time is now to build an open source alliance in this space.
I'm tired of everything having to be a subscription, I miss the days when you just bought stuff once and then paid for upgrades if you thought they were worth it.
me too bud me too
That's why I still use Photoshop CS6 and found alternatives to the rest of Adobe's applications I used to use regularly, like DaVinci Resolve, Inkscape, etc.
@@JohnAldred understandable but this is about future machines that are not going to allow for other choices
@@gamersofanarchy5494 Yes, I know. I'm not sure what I said that you're responding to.
These companies are getting greedy and looking for more ways to make money. They really don't give a crap about their customers until they start loosing them.
Cricut tried to do this with their software, which was rolled back due to the crazy backlash they received. Keep making noise about this if you don't want this to happen
That's a great point. My wife bought a Silhouette instead of a Cricut specifically because of this.
Yep was just coming on to say this.
@@freiermann7 Same, Silhouette because of the cricut locks, despite cricut being a higher quality machine (iirc) back then.
This is the example we need to shout about. Shove the cricut drama in chitubox faces and show them how bad it would be.
3d printing is a hobby for me. I don't ever see me spending money to use software for this. I will either ditch the whole thing, or join an underground 3d printer group, and learn to hack the shite out of my printers...
Exactly to the point man. Ill fucking go into the depths of 3D printing hell to make this fucker work. I paid for it I, own the thing, now leave me alone.
I'm not the person who likes to hack her stuff. But I will do this to my Elegoo if they go this way. I just started getting into 3D Printing and won't pay 165 $ per year for the few things I print over a year.
@@Sonsto This reminded me of several videos I watched on John Deere tractors. Farmers have to hack their own tractors to replace a small part that costs as little as $15 on a $100,000 machine. Why? Because JD put in software that disables the tractor until the replaced part is "authorized".
@@RoseKindred But at least those tractors are machines that make the owners money. Not true for hobbyist's 3d printers.
@@harmless6813 I think you may need to reexplain because that sounds wrong. It sounds like you said: If I make money on something I should be able to do with it what I want (Hacking the JD to make it work) but if it is something I bought to have fun and it doesn't work I should have to buy something else or pay money to make it work (3d printer)?
If this is actually the way they're going to go, I'm never buying a Chitu-based board.
Amen to that - scummy all around if this is what happens
Printer manufacturers are gonna get loads of returns when new starters realise they'll have to pay a yearly subscription. Really disgraceful
Yeah, thats the big thing thats going rein in Chitu, by forcing their program on the boards they are tying the printers performance/usability to their program. This would directly effect the company that makes the printer's bottom line, which would drive them to seek different board providers if/when sales suffer.
@@JH-ph4qb Not just that, imagine you have two printers that are similar (like the Saturn and Mono X). Even if one is 100+ dollars more expensive, if the more expensive one doesn't require Chitubox and the other does, the more expensive one is going to see a LOT more sales.
@@cummerou1 pretty much, Chitu is actiing as if market dominance is the same as a captive market, which it isn't. the only way this would work is if the other non chit board printers also gated themselves, at that point it would result in a pick you poison situation for consumers, at least until some other company breaks into the market, and given that 3d resin printing is new and no where near saturated that will almost certainly happen. But gating like that is really more about extracting more value from people who have no other options, the instant there is competiion that would benifit from being more open it fails
@@JH-ph4qb yeh exactly. If im expected to pay an extra £150 a year to 3d print thats me out the hobby. I do it as I enjoy mini painting and its cheaper than buying models but after resin and everything thatd ruin it
Something important to consider in this story: the problem is that a supplier (Chitu system) which provide motherboard to manufacturer (Phrozen, Epax, Elegoo, etc), is forcing them to use a specific file format that is locking the customer (us), to use a specific software. How the hell a supplier of components impose on the end user a software, leaving the manufacturer without any choice?
What Chitu system is doing is just creating a monopoly on purpose. If I'm not wrong, that's totally illegal in Europe (at least, probably the same in the US?)
You did a great job explaining what I was rambling on about. Thanks!
@@UncleJessy Well, I'm waiting the Mega 8K for mid august (and for review as well...). I want to use Lychee Slicer. But also I want to use UV Tools. At such size and cost in resin, I want to double check my slice files, doing the edits on them if needed, to insure a successful print...
Someone told me "They are doing like Apple". For me, it's totally different. If Chitu is one day, release their own 3D printer, I'm fine if they do a close environment with their OS, motherboard and slicer, then like Apple is doing. But here, no, it's not Apple as they force other companies and brands to use their own software.
By the way, you will be able to slice with the free version. But still no competition, no utility like UV Tools.
They are digging their own grave, the day another company provide a board than can compete, they can lose a lot. Creality and Anycubic now use their own boards. I guess the day that Elegoo does the same, it will be bad for them...
@@PolyWorkshop Well, seems like my next resin printer will be from Anycubic then.
Creating a monopoly would be illegal in Europe, but this would not be a monopoly since there are bunch of resin printers that don't use their board. If they choose to go this route, that would be insanely stupid and would drop their market share like a rock. I would actually like to see this happend, it's not so often when companies destroy themselves in majestic way, it would be very entertaining to follow. I have Phrozen sonic mini 4k, but they can't enforce me to update it's firmware, so my machine would work as it has been. I've been using both chitubox and lychee, but after hearing this, I'm going to abandon chitbox for good! Also my next resin printer will not have chitboard in it, even if they change their plans. That company is dead to me!
In addition, there are FDM printers that make you use proprietary filaments (rolls have NFC chip in them). Those are perfectly legal, but just look at their market share.
Yeah. Go for it Chitbox, do it! Lets see what will happen! Please do it!
Sounds like they hired a new "bean counter" that doesn't understand the customer.
I worked for a huge company that was bought by non-US people. They had that same mentality. They didn't care what the customer wanted and often said things like the customer is wrong, we will tell the customer what they want and they will pay for it. Maybe that works in other countries but not the US. As you would expect, they are out of business now...
@@freiermann7 "we will tell the customer what they want and they will pay for it" This is alive and well in the US. Look at the small things, 3 dollars for a 16.9 oz bottle of water or that same bottle going up to $9.50 in areas where water is not 'free' such as six-flags or Disney world. Nike shoes also come to mind.
@@RoseKindred the trick is to create a social media backlash and grassroots movement against them. It BURIES crappy companies in their own manure.
The best way to stop them messing about is to never update the software or firmware.
If you lock me out of a printer I've already purchased, then I reserve the right to download a permanent "trial" of your software.
Yo ho! Yar, me matie. Aye thinks there be a simple, eh, solution to this problem. Ha har.
@@3dpprofessor There's a cove where privateers love to admire their wares.
This could kill the hobbyist section of the market.
Anycubic and any other printer companies not using the Chitubox ecosystem will just laugh all the way to the bank.
100% agree... This is a lame move from Chitu Systems... Well if I had the money a just make an startup company to develop 3d boards not tied into any software an begin to sell to elegoo, anycubic and so on...
If chitu insist in this business path will become the new makerbot as you said... Because the 3d printing world is a DIY world so another alternatives will be for the consumers.
Just remember... If your printer is running fine don't update your firmware
Well, that's me not buying a Phrozen 8K then. There is NO WAY IN HELL I'm going to be locked into $170/yr for a piece of software to use a piece of hardware I already own for what is basically just a hobby. If this ends up becoming standard across the board, I'll just go back to FDM and ditch resin until there's a decent open source hardware & software solution out there.
Indeed. We should start looking for alternative controller boards. Ditch Chitu.
The free version of Chitubox will support the new boards as of v1.9.0, so the "you'll be forced to pay $170/yr to use your printer" concern is slightly overblown. But locking out competing slicers is still a major problem.
To clarify. Mega 8K doesn't adopt Chitu Pro, the consumers don't have to pay the $170 annual fee.
@@IsenMike Ultimately you don't know for sure but even if it does do you really think they wont strip back fundamental features otherwise why use the Pro version which they are clearly not confident they can sell on merit...
I don't know but if they start to force you to log into an account to use Free version then this means they intend to start forced updates to reduced feature set versions.
@@RocketMagnetUK I know for sure that the v.1.9.0 beta of the free version supports the new boards; EPAX has been sending early access keys for it to customers who got the E10 5K upgrade. Chitubox has been saying for ages that they won't paywall features that are already in the free version. Whether it'll ever get any new features or whether they'll only be developing improvements for Pro, nobody can say, but Chitubox Basic is pretty fully-featured as-is and there's no sign that they'll strip features from it.
I *really* don't like that they're shutting out UVTools and competing slicers, but all the hand-wringing about nefarious schemes to force people into a $170/yr subscription sounds a bit like Chicken Little "sky is falling" paranoia to me.
Seems extremely short-sited to me considering how this sort of thing played out in the FDM market. I could see some manufacturers dropping the Chitu boards entirely in response. Not to mention spurring lower cost option aftermarket 3D party boards or firmwares.
Great video. I knew of pro coming out and had no issues. Had no idea this was going to be forced on printers using their boards. Seems slimey to me. I hope they back down from this as it is a great way for them to really tarnish their name. I have sworn by Chitu for some time now and this would change my recommendation completely.
I think they make fantastic products, boards, screens, software but man oh man is this a step in the wrong direction. Would love some clarification on what they are planning on as options for users
@@UncleJessy yeah I am hoping with your video and some community feedback they respond. It should be optional. At a bare minimum they need to let you slice your file. It’s like they are holding you hostage with the described setup. 🤞
Imagine having to pay almost as much money annnually as your printer cost in the first place. The whole reason resin printing is becoming more widespread is the affordability of these machines/resin. If true, it could be a big setback to the adoption of resin printing. I'll be very careful with firmware updates in the future too, because I wouldn't want my current machines to be locked out of Lychee all of a sudden.
This. I almost upgraded my Saturn to the newest firmware. I'll pass.
@@Section31HQ The latest 4.4.1 firmware adds support for Chitu Pro apparently but doesn't lock anything out (and notably fixes the vertical line on the center of the screen problem plaguing Saturns). I'm running that one on my machine. I'm definitely not going to upgrade past it though, not until this whole mess is sorted out.
@@teyrasiridae4704 Good to know. I have not encountered that problem with mine, so I'll pass for now. I did download it just in case.
At ATLAS we are funding an open sourced board, new technology and ultimately a new printer in 2022. Time for change
Outstanding! We bought into the kickstarter and can't wait to see what comes next!
Go Go Atlas!! :)
This is what we need. If your board can provide the same features I already have in my Saturn and Photon then count on a couple more sales.
I hope there are new lcd fabs on board with making mono screens. iirc Chitu bought up a fab and are the near-monopoly on them.
Atlas shrugged...
Won't this kill off brands that tie themselves to a specific software? I think that the printer manufactures will be shooting themselves in the foot doing this and Chitubox will fall by the wayside.
That's why Chitu isn't locking users out of other software. It would be commercial suicide because manufacturers wouldn't be inclined to use their boards now, would they?
@@ajc4477 I mean they aren't, but they are. You still need to pay for it so it's essentially locking you out of using other software unless you buy theirs
I've been thinking about getting a Resin printer for a bit now, and Once I have the cash for it, I was gonna do research on which printer I want. Now I know another criteria to search for...Look for printers that don't use a Chitu board. And If I have to wait for a good alternative to be released...well then I guess I'll be waiting to buy Resin printer. When that time comes, I'll start E-mailing printer makers, asking if they have any non-chitu board printers, So they know it's an issue the community has.
All it will take is ONE good competitor to knock chitu off their high horses.
The ANYCUBIC Photon Mono X is what you want. They don't use chitubox natively, which initially put me off, now it's a selling point!
@@dmaikibujin Awesome! Thanks for the heads up.
Meanwhile he got that mars 3 pro in the corner but can't show it to us yet. I see you
Look at laser engravers, yes there are free options to "slice" but most people prefer Lightburn which is paid, but it's only $40 a year and you're not forced to pay every year, it's only if you want updates after the first year.
That's actually reasonable (assuming the software works well).
for me the point isn't the cost it is being locked into one slicer. I don't believe we will be forced to use pro but we will be forced to use chitubox.
Lychee: Locks certain things behind subscription.
Chitu: Locks everything, including your printer, behind subscription.
Several ships full of Pirates are ready to engage at this rate.
Yar har.
"You wouldn't download a car"
....this is LITERALLY the group that would pirate not only the model, but also the firmware and slicer XD
Time to get a parrot.
@@PaulGuy don't forget to buy wooden leg and an eye patch XD
@@labiq1896 why buy a wooden leg and eye patch when I can print them?? 😁
Time to boycott printers that will be locked to chitubox.
How about making a list of resin printers that don't use the ChiTu controller board. Thanks.
Yeah, I won’t be buying a chitu controller based printer if there’s alternatives... I hate chitubox and switched to lychee slicer last year.
Not sure but my anycubic photon mono does not seem to be. I am in the middle of a print and will check after it is done.
Anycubic, Nova3d and longer for now.
Prusa SLA1 does use the boards but they are still using a smaller printer plate and way more expensive thatn the chinese printers
I use lychee and uvtools. I‘m fine with it so far.
I wonder how much of the software is derived from open-source?
Most of it is derived from Opensource.
hmm, this is pretty strange if there won’t be a FREE version, which comes with the Printer (and that you can use forever)
I'm guessing the pro version. Try free for 7 days. Then lock maybe to a subscription. Im not fully sure, I hope we still be able to stay with the free version most of us have currently.
Right now it’s so unclear and even the responses I’ve seen from manufactures like Anycubic and Epax are that you need to use Chitu Pro
Let’s hope there is a free option
@@UncleJessy Anycubic don't use anymore Chitu system boards. Mainly Elegoo, Epax, Phrozen, Peopoly, Voxelabs and a myriad of small manufacturers are using their boards.
@@UncleJessy EPAX has been giving the E10 5K customers codes to get Chitubox Basic v.1.9.0 beta, which supports the new boards. So nobody is being forced into Pro, though just locking out competing slicers is still a major issue.
I hope this wont happen, I love 3d printing, just bought the Saturn, but if I need to pay this much money for it, I won't! FDM is still gonna be there...
I assume it will only be new model printers
Dont do firmware updates until you can be certain they didnt add this feature
Someone will have to come up with another motherboard with different Open Source Firmware like in FDM for Chitubox to respond differently. I am sure someone will as resin becomes more popular.
true, but i think the main issue is they shouldn't have to, we shouldn't have to suffer.
Isn't the Prusa SL1 open source?
@@ClickItYT Yes it is.
I appreciate the heads-up. That’s not a great business plan, it will alienate a tremendous number of their customer base. You’re right too, people with jail-break the crap out of that software. Not planning to buy a new printer any time soon, but that will definitely stop it from even being a possibility.
Have a feeling there going to be a custom firmware flashing going on... Don't worry.
Conversely I can see future official firmware upgrades locking 'pre-ban' printers into Chitubox Pro. Either way, they're ruining their market.
I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been a thing yet.
@@JohnJones-oy3md i see a raspberry pi controlling my hacked chitu resin printer in the future... surely a 3rd party "unlocked" motherboard will become available for the affected printers
Thanks for the update. Yeah...not going to be paying that amount for Chitu. While I totally enjoy printing and wanted to move into resin printing, this makes me hold off. Guess I'll wait and see what happens.
I've been seriously looking at getting a resin printer, this right here kills any thought of buying any printer with any connection to Chitubox. Being Canadian $169 American is over $200 for me and way too damn expensive, even if it was $100 Canadian, that is still too damn much for my pocket.
Good news is most existing printers you can find on Amazon or other sites arnt yet using these new boards. “yet”
It’s an awesome hobby and highly recommend it!
I have to agree $210 CAD/year at current rates is bonkers to me. That's most of the price to a good printer. Right now I don't have the space for a printer setup, but this irks me enough to probably boycott chitu board printers when I am in the market to get one and see about open source firmware for it just to make sure I can avoid vendor lock in like that.
Thanks for the heads up. 👍🏻
Just started with resin printing (Mars 2), and for my next printer I'll avoid any brand or model that forces me into a subscription.
I'd rather choose to pay for a subscription (eg. Lychee), than support any manufacturers that chooses these kind of bait and switch practices.
My problem with companies locking folks into their Software or App to use hardware is, “What happens when they are gone?” Or they stop supporting it. My old Makerbot Replicator is a paperweight cause the parts and software are basically unavailable. Locking systems down creates a dependency on a company that may not be there or support their products forever. Then leaving people in the community to reverse engineer stuff that is by that point “out of date”. Anything that REQUIRES a specific piece of software or app to operate is a giant Red Flag to me. 🚩 🚩 🚩
Aren't there any custom firmwares for your Makerbot?
@@ClickItYT it’s been a while since I researched it but one very out of date option that I remember. Which was part of my point. Development time on old hardware is hard for people to justify in those cases. I’m converting it to a BTT mainboard and going to install Marlin on it very soon.
When a company tries to squeeze their grip on a community. we fall away as if we were sand
Hooray for jail break hackers!
I just bought the photon mono x and wash and cure plus for $1000 AUD and to think I might have to drop another $225 for software to use it is a total JOKE.
Very recently got a mono x and it's working with standard chitubox and lychee slicing.
just dont do any firmware updates
@@okinawanwarrior8689 I have no idea what it uses. My post was just a statement saying if I bought a kit and then found out I had to spend more on a subscription I'd not be happy.
But now to get the resin to stick to the build plate and not the VAT is my main issue now lol
@@OzSteve Shake the resin properly. Make sure the temperature is not too low and level the bed correctly. Use a raft. Increase bottom layer exposure time if necessary. Oh, and make sure the resin is not expired; it _does_ break down over time.
You're good, the Mono X isn't a chitu board.
I 3D print as a business. If chitu is seriously doing this, we will move up our plans to phase out MSLA and phase in Polyjet sooner. It would have been nice to have a more affordable stepping stone, but I regularly have problems where I need to change software to get something to work. If I am going to an environment where I am locked in, they better have the reputation of Stratasys.
Hey uncle Jesse! I think a lot of this discussion stemmed from a Facebook post I made in a large group about this topic. It then got copied and shared all over.
I think one thing is misunderstood here. They are NOT locking you into PRO right now. They're locking you into Chitubox but NOT necessarily PRO.
I have one of the epax e10 5k board and a non pro beta Chitubox that outputs the encrypted filed.
The problem is encrypted the output. But it does not tie you to PRO, just to Chitubox. The printer won't read files from Lychee and importantly, you cannot process files through UVtools either.
That is the next step for me, getting a resin printer. If that is what is happening it makes me even a bit more hesitant to get one.
Don't worry. If this actually happens, there are popular ones that don't use those boards. ANYCUBIC and Creality being big ones.
Any 3D printer which locks me into a subscription service for the slicer is a deal breaker for me and hurts this hobby.
Great video Uncle Jessy, I agree with your point of view. It's important that the message is heard by chitubox. Keep it up!
Thank you for your awareness of this I was just about to buy a resin printer but now I will wait for 6 months
Formware. I keep saying it 150 bucks one time and it's really well supported and feature rich. The developer is active on the forums and responds to feature requests. It's such a great piece of software and worth every cent.
Unfortunately even that won’t be compatible with the new printers anymore. And I keep meaning to pick that up!
@@UncleJessy it's not a great situation I agree. Guess the older printers might be a valuable commodity going forwards.
100% agree with you. I was so happy to find Lychee as I can't get through supporting a single model in Chitubox without it crashing. This is definitely going to be something I avoid when buying any new resin printers... and if all of them have it I'll just go back to buying my minis from Reaper. $170 a year for software + STL costs + resin costs no longer makes home printed minis cheaper, at least not in the scale that I make them. Not to mention the huge setback when it comes to new innovations in 3D printing.
"I don't really care about the price point. They can charge whatever they want." It's that sort of anti-consumer BS that makes companies even try this.
As much as I love EPAX, if they are going to get locked into ChituBox, I won't be buying their printers
You need to look up cricut cutters or what ever they are called, They have it locked in to the point that you must upload to upload your pattern to cut. If you sell your cutter the new owner, that person needs to pay a few to unlock the cutter.
98% agree with this video. My printer purchases based on whether or not it was open source. Every time I read that I had to use the manufacturers proprietary software, I disregarded that printer as a possible purchase. EVERYTIME
I don't like to be locked in. But mostly, 3D printing is what it is today because of open source.
Thank you for posting this. I'm considering getting a resin printer soon but I can't justify an annual subscription when other slicers are available. I'll definitely be looking to avoid these boards if I do end up picking one up.
Hopefully it will deter manufacturers from using Chitbox based boards and other slicers or devs will be able to slice for our existing printers ..3d printing Its not an industry that supports closed ecosystems look at Makerbot and XYZ ..I think Chitbox will find that out soon .. Great getting this info out to the masses Uncle Jessy !
Agree with you completely! I think if they continue so, they will condmen themself!
Not surprised considering Adobe and Autodesk, also use to be a one time payment and went the subscription route.
Yeah, but you can't just build an Autodesk competitor in a few weeks. Not true for Chitu boards.
My very first 3D printer was an XYZPrinting Da Vinci Mini. This printer was LOCKED DOWN! Had to use their filament. Had to use their slicer. Very difficult to fine tune the printer settings. It was a total nightmare and quickly made me regret getting into the 3D printing game. After stepping away for a year, I came back and purchased a cheap Anet A8+. I went from being locked down in everything to being completely free to do anything I wanted and THAT made all the difference in the world to my experience and my attitude toward 3D printing in general. I wholeheartedly agree that ANY form of "locking down" is completely anti-progress, anti-consumer and anti-printing community on a whole. I like Chitubox, I use it very regularly. But, this is just a hard left turn in the wrong direction.
Arrrg, Matey! We can always come up with a solution to these types of situations.
Agreed, this is not the way for the community to move forward. So my suggestion is we raise an open source alternative, I would guess that the Prusa resin printer could support an open source board alternative that others could use.
That's the thanks a company gives all the people who have used their slicer as a perpetual Beta, advising of bugs - free testing of updates etc etc. The reward for helping a greedy company is punishment. Best solution, don''t beta test, don't give reports back of issues. Let them spend money on a team to do all that and fine if I want too I'll buy it. I spent as have many others like us hours liaising with the devs on various issues and possible solutions. Not going to happen again!
I was looking at upgrading to the 6k or 8k resin printer, seeing as you have highlighted the issue! Guess what I'll wait and see if the community comes up with a hacked firm ware upgrade allowing us to use the slicer of our choice. This is enough of a disincentive for me to buy. I'll stick with what I've got.
ChiTu Box has openly stated multiple time that you will be able to use the Free version of Chitu to create sliced images for the new boards.
They are not expecting you to use ONLY their Pro-Version that has a yearly cost.
I wish the video would have focused on why they are encrypting files to only work on their boards, versus a rant that doesn’t appear to be accurate.
Thanks for this video it "opened" my eyes. I have 3 FDM printers and I was looking at a resin printer and washing station someone had for sale (Elegoo Mars) with the matching wash station and a couple of bottles of resin but now that I see the slicer is going to cost more than the printer I ditched that idea. I will stay with FDM for now till someone smartens up and stops being so "Greedy".
Thanks for the video I had no idea about this please keep us all updated
Time for big tree tech, to step up and start making and supplying resin boards, they are my go to in all my fdm and are awesome!
Ugh, I just purchased the Sonic 8k 🤦 I wish I knew this before... But I probably still would have gotten it. I imagine that pretty quickly a cracked copy will come out somewhere of chitubox pro and there won't really be a ton that can be done about it. Not endorsing cracking of expensive softwares mind you, just saying that is the inevitable outcome of companies charging outrageous monthly prices for products that you should be able to simply purchase and then buy upgrades. There will always be workarounds and freewares and such that will be designed specifically to work around this problem, especially since the early adopters out there frequently tend to be engineers and tech hackers and such. Thanks so much for the Heads-up tho! Love your videos and I have to say your videos gave me the confidence to buy my first 3d printer last year!
For your next video, you should highlight what available open source sls printers exist. Also you can point out where the open source community is falling behind and where it excels in regards to hardware and software. If you want you can have a series of building your own sls printer.
I believe that there's space for both. For hobbyists should be free, for professional use it makes sense to have something extra. Though... I'm not sure if there is enough extra for that price tag!
I've almost saved up enough for a decent one and now I need to pause on that because I don't think I can spend that kind of money a year at a service I might not be using everyday.
Makes you wonder if Anycubic knew this was coming when they went to different boards and put more effort into their own software.
Well, it was always an option and as Jessy explained, it's not like stuff like that hasn't happened before. Being reliant on a single supplier is never a good thing anyway.
My feeling, is it will kill Chitu...More systems will use NanoDLP, or Mango boards or create their own board and firmware to use Lychee. Flashforge (Voxelab) already has VoxelPrint ( it needs work) . There will be a period of time, where companies will try to push the consumer to the Chitu ecosystem, this will fail, as sales drop precipitously. 3D printer manufactures will see the drop in sales, Outcry from users will force them to create their own firmware at the very least in order to use free slicers. The other option is you will see community driven open firmware explode, to support Lychee or NanoDLP, and others. Other boards are out there. This could lead to a short term stagnation period in MSLA printer innovation, ultimately we could see more growth and faster innovation, as the more nimble companies see the writing on the wall, and forge their own way, to adapt to changes in the landscape. Innovate or die.
I've seen the threads too, and wanted to cover this too. I'm really glad you did, and I agree 100% with your thoughts.
For now: Once I start experiencing this with future printers, I'll just be exporting my models supported in Lychee as an STL and exporting in Chitubox I guess. I ain't payin' $180, that's for sure.
That's assuming the free version supports the new hypothetical file format and it's not "Pro" only.
here is what chitubox sent to me: There is a new reply to the ticket you submitted, which needs further processing.
What's new:
Hi Darryl, CHITUBOX Basic will always be FREE and continuously updated (fixing bugs, adding new features) So, you can use the basic version forever. We are willing to support more popular printers in the future.
Currently, some slices cannot print in Chitubox Basic V1.8.1. But don't worry, Chitubox Basic V1.9.0 will be released soon, and this version will have new firmware to support printing. Please stay tuned!
Also does anyone have any articles on this? I trust Uncle Jesse to not lie about this, he doesn't really have a reason to, but I'd like to read it from other sources as well
I would love to read that too!
Elegoo has already stated that it's not happening on the Saturn.
Yeah I just bought the Photon Mono K before jumping into one of the hefty budget Resin Printers. Mainly because I knew that with the build volume, and some cutting I could do some pretty large characters... Then I found this issue on the internet. Then... I couldn't get Chitubox or Lychee to install anyway. Lol! I heard you have to use the Anycubic slicer with their Anycubic resin machines now, unless you upgrade the firmware. I don't know. I will be happy if I can just get it to print. I stocked up on resin as well. Got around 7,000 grams to get me through the learning curve as all I know about (sort of) is FDM.
I bought Lychee
That's pathetic. I'm not going to pay 80% cost of my printer every year just for slicing software.
I have just started 3d printing with a FDM printer. I enjoy it, and have found actual practical applications for 3d printing. (surprisingly) With that said, I've thought about buying a MSLA printer for more arts and craft driven projects. With that said, because of these videos and others explaining that Chitubox is locking these boards just to be greedy, my first 3d printer will NOT have a Chitu board! Period!
was about to buy an elegoo mars 3 until finding out about this chitubox, it would be great to have an list of printer that are more "flexible"
Can you share some links to the reddit threads discussing this?
Yeah, some sauce would be good. But definitely needs to be more than a random Reddit user claiming the sky is falling. I can't find anything about this in the Saturn groups other than references to this video.
Seems like it was just click bait, chitubox stated on twitter that the free version will always work with their boards.
I still use S3D as well. At this point, it's just because I'm so familiar with it and like the interface.
But... if other (free!) slicers continue to progress as they are, and add features not available in S3D or heavily improve on them beyond what S3D offers now, I might just have to make the switch.
If I had to guess, PrusaSlicer is the most poised to do so.
It's all fun and games untill the service stops and your 3D printer turns in a paperweight.
That is a ludicrous cost. I will never pay that amount and if future printers force you to use a slicer that you have to pay for they will never get another purchase from me. I was already considering purchasing a larger printer but if they move forward with this they can kiss that sale goodbye as well as any other future purchases from me.
Thanks for making a video on this. I just bought Phrozen Sonic. If I can't use Lychee, I'll be returning it and spending my money on some other print. I hate software monopolies. It's terrible for the consumers.
I just bought my first resin printer, an Elegoo Saturn. I really would not be happy if I was forced into paying $169 dollars a year when there would be free 3rd party slicers out there like Lychee.
It's not a problem in Chitu. Actually I have no problem at all with paid subscription for device that works for the money, have paid support and SLA.
The problem you mentioned is about making unaware people pay for software because platform their printer was built upon is not free.
It took some time but we have Marlin for FDM, few good OSS slicers with commercial partners baking them, and I hope same thing will go for resin and makers community there. But it needs to be said loud and clear that this is happening.
I'm nowhere near happy about this, being a relatively new resin user. Board makers like big tree tech need to get on the stick & start pushing out products that will put an end to this nonsense!
oh they will.
if you're in the hobbyist filament printer world, then you'll know this crowd is saturated with engineers that won't sweat over a mere board swap or a little firmware flash.
@@microArc I've already done it a couple of times on some of my fdms, so I certainly don't have an issue tackling it, especially when a company tries to extort $ from me.
Thanks for this. Cancelled my mars 3 preorder because of this. Hopefully that sends a message
Will be testing out to see how it all works soon
Glad I bought an Anycubic Photon now. Honestly the idea of a payed pro version is fine, there should still be a free version but I don't see anything wrong with them getting more money for development and improvment, but trying to lock out other slicers is wildly scummy and wrong, I can't imagine the backlash for this won't be massive.
That’s exactly how I feel.
I have a anycubic photon, and was planning about upgrading and buying a epax10. Now this worries me. I wonder if the printer will force me to use pro version only, or will epax10 allows us to keep using the free version we had months ago?
I know this is a tad late but I wonder how many people actually bought the Pro version now that it's been out for a bit?
Wondering as well. It comes free with some new machines foe 1 year / 6 months etc. I still haven’t tried it as it’s still not out for Mac yet
Damn, is that the Mercury 3 blurred out? Looks like we can expect a review soon.
It is a bit annoying but in the phrozen group it was mentioned that you would still be able to use the free version of the slicer for the upcoming mega and the pro was not required. However, who knows what features will be removed from the free version and made exclusive to for pro.
I currently add orientation/supports via Prusa and then export and hollow/slice in chitu. I hope that at least stays.
Wow, thanks for letting us know about this upcoming trend. Sad to see it going this way. I use Chitubox slicer on my Longer Orange 10. I personally will never pay for a "subscription" on any of my software. Maybe we need to hit up the RepRap community to see if they can open source a resin 3D printing controller (other than the GRBL/Arduino combination)? I remember using the old Makerbox 2s just before the switch over to the newer generation and how horribly bad those printers were (the locking in of the filament was a really bad thing for the local library system, since we could no longer donate other filament). I saw how bad their "smart" filament extruder was and how frequently they had to replace it and thought "that's junk". LOL So if they force us to go to only their slicer this will really reduce the number of resin 3D printers people will buy.
So, when I see the Mars 3 comes with one year of chitubox pro for one year… it is to lock up the software… that is lame.
Love the blurred out Elegoo.
Personally, I am working on a third party firmware for the Chitu boards ala Marlin, Teacup, Klipper and Redeem. I hope to get it up and running on GitHub in the next six months. The proprietary you can only use our stuff is why I will not use Apple products at all. I believe in competition and hate monopolies.
It will be interesting to see if someone ports klipper or marlin to these LCD boards at some point. Developers have successfully gotten both running on the FDM Chitu boards in the past. I think Chitu is really underestimating the power of a FU to a large group of people who love to tinker.
Every version of Chiu Box I've used, causes software conflicts with other 3D apps on my machine. Sunstance painter for example, crashes upon file import if Chitubox is installed.
Is it the printer manufacturers trying to push this, or, the manufacturer of the control boards? I can't see manufactureres being ok with that if so.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Firmware can be open sourced too.
from what I read, the new chitu systems boards will require the chitubox slicer, but I didn't see anything leading me to think that it must be the PRO version. still sucks, but if that's the case, you won't be forced to shell out the dough. if they still maintain the free version, that is
I wouldn’t love that but would be better than forcing everyone to PAY for the pro version. Again, some transparency/communication on what is being built would be good
@@UncleJessy indeed, sir, indeed!
Is there any article or announcement stating which machines will require the paid subscription?
Hypothetically, if it's true, it could be any and all. All they'd need to do to "retrofit" older printers to the new way of doing things would be to send out a firmware update that used a new file format that could only be exported from Chitubox Pro. It'll come as a REALLY useful firmware that everybody will actually want to install (you know, for example, like Anycubic FINALLY adding anti-aliasing to the Photon Mono and Mono X) with this "feature" hidden in there.
Like you said Makerbot tried this and they cut their own throat. Nothing says they can't do it but they won't like the result if they do.
I still need to bronze my Mini 🤣😂
I'd just like to congratulate you on causing as shit storm. Hope the companies acknowledge your achievement.
Here's hoping someone compiles a list of the printers this may affect. The manufacturers need to fight this, as well. I came super close to buying the Anycubic on Prime Day, so if that turned out to be one of them, I'd have been very upset. To buy a printer now and find you can't use it later unless you pay out is basically extortion.