slicing takes ages!

[Rossco]

Hi everyone,

just wondering how long should it take for my computer to slice a .stl.

I have been trying various programs, Slic3r and Cura mainly. i have been trying to slice http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33902   The torture test peice. when i use Cura it does it in about 5 seconds. but when i use Slic3r it takes sooo much more time. i gave up after 5 minutes. i have got the settings the same as much as i can, being Slic3r seems to have more options the Cura.

how long does it take you guys? my PC that i use is about 8 years old so i'm probably due for something a bit faster. could that be the problem? 

which slicer are you using?

cheers!

[jimc]

the slicer programs all seem to differ in speed. somewhere i saw someone did a test of all the slicers concerning speed. s3d creator was the fastest but i dont remember who came in for the rest. i know slic3r has always been slow. i thought with their recent update it got faster though. the torture test is so small it takes just a couple seconds. 

[A. Elias]

Slic3r is the slowest.  I use KISSlicer as it's fast, free and very good, but the developer has gone missing. :-(

Adam

[Bryan Boettcher]

Slic3r used to be the fastest :( That was its whole selling point.  How the mighty have fallen.

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[Dale Reed]

Rossco (and all),

I use Creator and I find that the slicing time varies a LOT.  If I slice the MAKE Magazine torture test object without support, it goes toot sweet and slices very fast.  If I print with support (for the overhang and the arch), it takes a long time, and the time varies quite a bit with the support settings.  For my current settings, it takes an extra half minute or so with the progress bar paused at about 15% (doing the supports), then jumps to done.  With other objects and support settings, I've seen it pause for 2 to 5 minutes doing the support generation.

It might LOOK hung, but it's busy.  Give it time.

On the other hand, it might be nice if there were a little dynamic indication that were updated every once so often (a spinny thing, or anything other than the progress bar itself) indicating that something is actually happening.  Maybe an "overall" progress bar and a bar or dots for the "sub-operation" -- not so much "progress" but "activity" -- and a text of the sub-operation --- "generating supports.........."   "generating part layer g-code.........." where a period is added every 5 seconds or so.  Just so you KNOW it's doing SOMETHING.  Basic UI stuff, y'know?

Dale

ref:  GUI Bloopers 2.0, Second Edition: Common User Interface Design Don'ts and Dos (Interactive Technologies) by Jeff Johnson, ISBN-13: 978-0123706430   (http://www.amazon.com/GUI-Bloopers-2-0-Second-Edition/dp/0123706432/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392398930&sr=8-1&keywords=GUI+Bloopers)

[A. Elias]

I usually open up the task manager (for windows at least) to make sure it's not hung.  I had slic3r taking 10+ minutes on some large models + support.  KISSlicer would be in the 3 minute range.  Haven't tried Cura or S3D yet.  

[Bryan Boettcher]

I had slic3r take over 800 minutes (yes 14+ hours) on a model before I killed it once.  It was a spindly model, like a trellis.

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[Bret Allen]

I use Creator and most of the time it slices pretty fast. It seems to me that this has more to do with the size of the .stl file. I sliced one that was 25mb and it took a couple mins even on my quad core laptop. I could be wrong but I think file size is a big factor. Most things are a few seconds to 10-20 seconds for bigger files. PC speed has a lot to do with it as well from what I can tell.

[jimc]

yes there is alot of processing that goes on there. i have individual bar graphs for each core on my mac and as soon as i hit prepare it pegs all 4 cores until done. as bret said most models are a few to 20 sec or so. i dont think i have had anything take over a minute except for this one thing i did the other day which was over 2mil polygons. that was a couple minutes.

[Ketil Froyn]

Slic3r can use a lot of memory, so on an old computer you'll probably get lots of swapping. I used an older laptop to slice for a while, and it struggled with just 1GB of RAM. In addition, the option to avoid crossing perimeters can literally make a slice operation take hours. I understand that both issues, but especially the latter, are being worked on.

Cheers, Ketil