Software

Drawing, slicing and printer control.

Software related questions

There are several free software packages you need to install if you are planning to use a LUTUM® 3d Clay Printer.

Below we will give a few links to recommended or easy to use software. If you are not new to CAD design or 3dprinting you can also use other software.
We cannot give extended support on software use other than provide you with helpful links or settings we ourselves use for printing.

Is there a recommended design software

Before you can print you will need an object you want to print. This needs to be designed in a 3d CAD program or scanned with a 3D scanner. Any CAD program that can export to .STL or .OBJ is good as long as you feel comfortable with the drawing environment you choose.

123 Design

For First timers we recommend a 3D cad program from Autodesk. It is called 123 Design, and it is very easy and intuitive to use. You can quickly design simple items and get used to a 3D design environment.
You can DOWNLOAD it here* .
*(if you get a security warning, please ignore.)

Save the file to your computer unpack and run it. You do not need to make an Autodesk account. The file is 380MB large anda zipped executable software package. You need a 64 bit Windows computer to run it.

Unfortunately the 123 design software package is no longer supported by Autodesk. They stopped support in 2017.
We still recommend the download for first time users as it is very easy to use and will quickly give you the feel for 3D design on a flat screen. It is also removed from apple store and no longer supported on Apple divices

I have designed my object, how do I send it to the printer

We recommend to use Prusa slicer, an open source slicer you can download for free.

When purchasing  a LUTUM you will receive a seed file to use for slicer. The seed file can be used as a starting point to slice the objects to your needs. You will have to set variables like layer height and nozzle widths, print speeds and retraction values. An overview can be found in the manual that came with your machine.

A full manual can be found on the Prusa 3D website.

In addition to Prusa slicer we recommend to use Repetier  Host.
This is a great visualizer and Gcode editor with inbuilt slicer.
However, we recommend to use Prusa Slicer separate and import the sliced Gcode file to Repetier to preview your print and make manual changes if needed.

I want to edit gcode

You can edit gcode in Repetier, another great tool to edit Gcode is Notepad ++
Download it from notepad-plus-plus.org