The program supports importing and exporting a wide variety of file formats, including STL. The intuitive interface and simple controls are worth mentioning, as well as extensive animation abilities. These are excellent for editing STL files, because they're developed for working with modeling and objects represented by 2D surfaces that have no filling (these objects can't be printed, although there’s quite a few ways they can be solidified).ģD Crafter (formerly known as 3D Canvas) is a free 3D editing and animation software available only for Windows. This article will cover some CAD programs, such as Blender, FreeCAD, SketchUp. They are not the best choice for fully fledged STL editing due to some differences in the way they represent some shapes. They weren't originally developed with 3D printing in mind, although they are pretty useful for this workflow. These programs aim for covering engineering and construction modeling purposes, providing precise measurements and solid modeling tools. There are two types of programs that allow users to edit STL files: There are STL editors that help users with that. In other cases, you would need to edit or repair it. Sometimes, the pre-downloaded STL file or your own model is good enough. Thanks to Wmayer for his help in writing this script.At some point any 3D printing hobbyist will wonder how to edit STL files.

# reset placement, export it and set at original placement SLICER = '/kisslicer location/' # Put your Slicer program location here

# user need to set this directory where slicing software is located Macro_3d_Printer_Slicer.py import FreeCAD The SLICER variable can be changed to any slicing software of your choosing, just make sure to set it before you try running it or it'll flag an error with the script. It will also create an STL file with the same filename as the design file in the same directory as the design file as a backup. It is best used by creating a link to the macro on the toolbar, and when your ready to slice the object, just click it and your object, as it appears on the screen in FreeCAD will appear on your slicing software's interface, ready to slice. It can also be modified slightly to open up CAM software for CNC machines. This example is for KISSlicer, but can be modified to use Slic3r, Cura, or any other 3d printer software. This code, when run, will export the currently open design to STL file, and open it in the slicing software that you use.

Freecad slicer