New Topic for Meeting this group meeting S3D License purchase(s)

[Chris Johnson]

I would like to revisit the purchase of S3D license(3) that Brad Freese  brought to the group in our big meeting in September.

I think I remember the group saying we were going to buy 1 or 3 licenses for this 3D printing software.  Brad was suggesting that the group purchase this product for better prints and the ability to create custom supports and other great uses.

We are having more and more people need the use of such a product.  I would like to see us move on this purchase of this product.

Digger

[Bailey Steinfadt]

What is the price of the software? Do the printer stewards need to reevaluate the yearly certification fee to cover it? 

(Not trying to be a party pooper, just want to make sure we get the accounting right!)

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[Ray Scheufler]

I think that this could be a good thing for us.  I feel that its purchase should come out of the tool fees that have been collected for the printers.  Also coming out of that is a pair of replacement beds since they have had a bit of chipping.  I need to go through the training list and figure out who needs to be bugged about renewing their fees.

Is is possible to get the current balance of the 3d printers fund?

Ray Scheufler

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[Chris Johnson]

I thought I remembered it already being approved, but may be wrong.  Brad will probably know, as it was his ideas being brought to the meeting.

Digger

On Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 11:37:17 AM UTC-5, Bailey Steinfadt wrote:

[Brad Freese]

In all fairness, it was somebody else who first put forward the idea, I only seconded it.

According to my notes from that meeting, we wanted to do a little more research before we pulled the trigger. We wanted to make sure that we could have standard, un-eraseable / unalterable profiles for each machine & material combination.  I haven't researched how to do that in the software yet, but I imagine we can find a way to make it happen.

Also at the time of the last meeting we only had $40 collected in training fees so far, so I imagine we've got more than that now.

Simplify3D costs $150 normally, but it looks like they do offer a lower price to makerspaces! (https://www.simplify3d.com/education/) I just now sent them an email to ask what the lower pricing is.

I too think this would be a very worthwhile investment for the space! :)

[That Kid]

My 2 cents, I know I’m not a member anymore, but my experience with S3D has been mostly negative.

I went halfsies on a license with a member of MakeXYZ a couple years ago and I had the software installed for around a year but I only used it for around a week. The support feature is sorta cool, and it definitely worked, but thats about the only thing that did for me. I had been using Cura or KISS, and trying to emulate the settings I used there was an immediate downgrade in quality. I put some effort into tuning the profile for my printer, but considering that the slicer I was using before “just works” I decided to just leave it alone and go back to what I knew works.

If that isn’t enough, S3D (the company) has a history of being difficult. There have been several large issues caused by the software that they elected to ignore (and even censored a few of the posts on their forum), and I’ve heard that they are a bit slow to implement features requested by the (paying) community. I’m not sure if this issue is resolved, but at one time it would generate a lot of small segmented moves on some geometries that would cause Smoothieware to stutter. There was another bug where 100% infill would leave gaps, so to “fix” that they allowed the user to set the infill % to above 100%. 

TLDR/Regardless of all this, I think $150 is a pretty steep price tag for 1 selling feature, and I would advise you to not purchase this product. Cura has had a lot of advancements recently due to increased efforts from Ultimaker (version 2.5 was released today), and even Slic3r is a pretty good slicer with a pretty active community, both of which are completely Open Source and free to use with their own unique features.

Also, I have a KISSlicer key for the space (I got it for free) that I can send to someone. I’ve mentioned this a few times before but no one has told me who to send it to. (KISS releases are here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3evahzu5gfelpte/AABau30kpAP2BEY1tffRFeGZa?dl=0&lst=)

[Brad Freese]

Not that this helps, but I should mention that since I started using Simplify3D my prints haven't been as dimensionally accurate as they were back when I used MakerBot software.

Perhaps on Sunday we should form a small committee to research it and also give them permission to purchase the software if they see fit?

[Brad Freese]

Here is Simplify3D's reply about an educational discount:

Hi Brad,

Thank you for sharing information about your organization. We're very pleased that you want to use Simplify3D Software to help your members improve their 3D printing skills.

Simplify3D offers an educational discount to help spread knowledge about 3D printing. While this program is mostly used by schools and universities, we are able to extend a 25% educational discount to a 3D printing club or makerspace under the following conditions:

• The organization would make the purchase (as opposed to being purchased by an individual).
• The organization needs to provide documentation to show that 3D printing classes are currently being offered and who is teaching the class.

If you need software for a multi-computer environment, you would order a license for each person (for example, if you have 3 users on 3 computers, you would need 3 licenses).

I will attach a PDF describing some of the advantages that Simplify3D can offer for training in your space. In addition, your members can take advantage of these wonderful resources we offer:

• Short video tutorials: Simplify3D YouTube Video Page
• Print Quality Troubleshooting Guide:  Troubleshooting Guide
• Articles exploring advanced features: Simplify3D Tutorials

We look forward to getting more information and determining how we can help your organization!

~Simplify3D Education Support

[Bailey Steinfadt]

A committee sounds like a great idea. Brad, are you willing to be the board member on the committee?

[Brad Freese]

Sure!