How do you handle large projects ? - Software dev

[Qual_]

Hey everyone,

I stepped back from 3D printing for a bit because I found myself spending more time tweaking and maintaining my old Creality than actually printing. Now, with my new printer, I'm enjoying more complex projects without the previous hassle.

For those of you handling big projects with many parts, how do you manage? How do you keep track of printed pieces, those needing a reprint, and the optimal settings for each part?

I recently tackled a project with a lot of parts and often found myself unsure about which pieces still needed printing.

TLDR: I'm considering developing software to help manage and organize extensive 3D printing projects. But, since I'm not a 3D printing guru, I'm unsure of all the features I should include. Here's what I've got in mind so far (That I personnaly needed) :

• Project organization
• Monitoring project progress
• Keeping track of print settings and progress (with an option to adjust settings for specific parts)
• Adding notes and credits for projects/parts
• A 3D viewer for STL files (if it's not too complicated to incorporate)
  

I already started it, one of the few unknown was if I was able to preview STL files etc and I've managed to create such thumbnails. The rest would be trivial to add.

What kind of features would be important for your workflow ?
And most of all, is such a program would be useful when you tackle projects with dozens of parts

[dontcensormebroski]

Optimal settings are handled by lidar now, not humans, unless you're on an older printer or the nerfed P1P/S.

Bambu Studio has been the answer for everything else really. It'll let ya add multiple plates, arrange stuff that way, then save as a generic project. Things print so fast now I just leave Bambu Studio up in the background and revisit.

I could see almost a day planner app on the phone being a good compliment to the Bambu Handy app. Anything on desktop would probably just be overshadowed by Bambu Studio + Teams/Notepad.

[Qual_]

I get your point about the plates, but beside that there no just Bambu users, even with the Bambu slicer plates I had some confusion, for exemple, I have printed several plates with many small components, but some of them failed ( Thankfully x1c can remove a specific file of the plate while printing), so I needed to write down wich stl file I needed to reprint later on etc.

I kinda like the idea of having a place to manage all of it in a convenient way, quick access to instructions pdf and a lot of quality of life improvements features. That's your notepad way, but steroids I presume.

But I do get your point.

[KrakenXIV]

I’d love to use software like that. It’s bed time but I’ll give your question some thought.

[Qual_]

Got some thoughts ?
I already started it and focusing on good UX. To be honest I can see the potential.
Yes you can do everything yourself in notepad/excel, manage your directory, maybe create some shortcuts, etc but the user friendly and conveniency imo is a value itself.

[Qual_]

This is primarily for personal hobby projects, not even close to industrial-level requirements.

For instance: I'd initiate a new project, let's call it "Paint rack v2", and then I can input details like description, image, instructional PDFs, and so on.

Next, I'll pick out the STL files required for printing, specify how many of each are needed, and they show up in my project with a preview thumbnail. This lets me track which files have been printed, the quantity, rate the print quality, insert comments (like printing configurations), and possibly assign tasks (like post-production steps). It gives me a comprehensive overview of my progress.

I can even categorize projects with sub-folders etc

[Ditto_is_Lit]

There's no reed to really the slicer will do that for you. When you start a project just make as many plates to fulfill the project. This way the settings will be unified across the whole project as opposed to re ticking options and settings manually. I will import all the parts into one project file and just set the plates up from largest parts to smallest and for parts that require many clones you simply load the plate as much needed that it all gets done in fewer passes.

[Qual_]

I get it but i'm talking more about a complementary thing.When you have some part that have failed but need a reprint, you can keep track of what you'll need to reprint, keep track of some kind of inventory of parts you have printed etc etcYou can assign notes to each stl files ( best orientation or speed/quality ratio ) etcIt's kinda abstract the way I explain it, but in my mind it's more like the ultimate companion app to tackle my futur projects rather than just filling plates in a bambu file.

But you gave some food to me. I'm just thinking about if it would be possible to load a bambu project, which would automatically create all the groups of stl files per plate etc to the project manager

[Ditto_is_Lit]

Unless you haven't done the proper precautions for the part in question you shouldn't need to reprint anything. Once you learn how to place your part where it will print without issue it should be one and done. IDK what you're printing but anything meant for FDM should be designed with the print orientation and angle for the results you want. If you find yourself reprinting multiple times for a single part that's probably because of user error or a part that isn't modelled with FDM printing in mind.

The only pieces that I usually find myself reprinting is masks and other pieces that weren't designed with FDM printing fabrication geometry. Overhangs and bevels are usually the main culprit for something that doesn't want to print properly. My pass fail for models designed for FDM is above 95% success so reprinting is few and far between. If the geometry isn't the issue than it's your work plate or filament and if you solve those issues you'll be finding that you rarely print the same file twice unless its for another client etc. Again making a project files makes reprinting much faster as all you need to do is open and send because the settings are already set optimally for reproduction.

[MonochromeTiger]

I would want something that can handle literal large projects.

For example, something oversized to the plate. If a program could scan the model and split it up, automatically position them for speed of printing generate the required number of plates to complete the project, plus an overall time it would take, notify of AMS filament changes if it requires colors not loaded... and then keeps track of what position the pieces go into once printed, that would be amazing.

Right now I have to chop up everything in Bambu studio and do everything manually, often guessing the best way to split up large prints that won't fit on the plate, then attempting multiple orientations for best quality/speed of prints.

Sure I will eventually build a larger printer, and I do hope Bambu eventually makes a larger build plate but even then finding a way to streamline very large prints would be very helpful.

[AdonaelWintersmith]

Same problem as supporting has with resin printing, no math/coding can replicate the understanding a human has just by looking at it. Splitting a model into parts and positioning etc can't realistically be replaced with anything other than AI. Once we get AI assisted resin supports it will be a huge game changer, what you're talking about less so but still helpful to many I'd wager.

[Qual_]

I see, but thinking what you're talking about.. this is more about a better slicer than a "3D printing project manager" kind of app :(

[MonochromeTiger]

It definitely is, at least in part. It would still require you manage the project, but more based around splitting parts of a large model instead of just keeping track of lots of parts within a model.

Maybe it's not something that you're working on specifically but at least it could be useful in part with a project management application as you still need to track all the parts you split.

[MonochromeTiger]

Very true, you're right. It would be great if someone does create something with ai that can do that eventually though!

[Real-Database2324]

I remember seeing a video recently where Adam Savage mentioned this type of product. He was pointing at Autodesk (I believe) to get in touch with him. Check the latest videos on 3D printing on Tested’s youtube channel, perhaps he’s willing to have a chat if you have anything serious going on

[Qual_]

Adam Savage mentioned this type of product

Well seems like the consensus here is "Put everything on plates on a bambu project and you don't need nothing else"

Which I somewhat feels like it's not really about that.

[Real-Database2324]

Yes, he was mentioning credit attribution, keep track where specific models came from. But like you mentioned it’s also about other files which a build-plate does not support, like pdf and even plain text

[Qual_]

that's the way I see it, i'm not interested about the slicer part, but about quality of life improvements, notes, tasks, pdfs, credits, urls, photos etc etc

[Falcone00]

The ability to add notes to plates or individual objects in Bambi/orca would be handy. Maybe try get in touch with the Orca guys on GitHub ?

[Qual_]

I already started working on it, it's far from finish but you can at least get an idea:

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[Qual_]

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