The Best Slicing Software is Probably The One You Already Have

Now hear me out. For a process that deals with 3D objects so abstractly, one that requires some heavy visual-spatial thinking, there’s a bizarre lack of slicing software that teaches you the toggles and values right there in the software itself.

The likes of Prusa Slicer, Bambu Studio, and Orca Slicer all link out from their myriad settings to websites and wikis to explain each setting in detail, and those guides are detailed, granted. But do you really want to be jumping back and forth from browser to slicer when you’re just starting out? Not us, that’s for sure.

This is one area in which the UltiMaker Cura software still shines. Cura’s open source nature and plug-in library means that industrious users have been able to create their own feature enhancements, like the perpetually popular Settings Guide by user GhostKeeper. Install this plugin and hover over a setting and, unlike other slicers which offer a brief description and a link to open a tab in your web-browser, a full easy-to-digest explanation, often including diagrams, of the setting and what it does pops up.

It has, to date, the best in-slicer knowledge dump, and despite being several years old and subject to shifting popularity thanks to manufacturer-provided slicers improving, we still think this aspect of Cura trumps other contemporary slicers.

Add to that Cura’s clean user interface and easy-to-understand “basic” settings, which can be expanded to deeper settings at a click, we find they keep Cura a solid recommendation for reducing the mental load and learning slicing basics at your own pace, no browser-tab juggling or menus-within-menus required.

A couple of cautionary notes, though. Cura’s baked-in printer library is pretty outdated, meaning you’ll need to set up a printer profile for yourself and shuttle the prints from computer to printer via physical storage if you’re using a relatively modern 3D printer. Not impossible, but certainly a task that using the manufacturer-default slicers skips. That, and there’s little support for multicolor printing beyond dual extrusion or filament changing scripts or pauses. If you’re using a multicolor printer with an AMS-style filament changer, Cura is not going to be able to take advantage of your hardware’s full capabilities.

The go-to third-party slicer for modern times, Orca Slicer is a pretty deferential fork of Bambu Studio, which itself builds upon Prusa Slicer and adds some ideas of its own. Ultimately, this big attributional soup probably means very little to you. What does matter is that, as is more often the case in 3D printers slicers, Orca Slicer is a largely community-driven endeavor. Technologically savvy users contribute bugfixes and features as well as suggestions for improvement that often, in time, fold into the program.

In practical use, Orca Slicer takes the best bits of Bambu Studio and Prusa Slicer, the products of two of desktop 3D printings most cutting-edge companies, and adds its own fixes to the mix, oftentimes beating the others to the punch with logical, community-requested features.

We’re recommending it as a daily driver for most for the reason that getting started is likely simple, thanks to the vast library of community-contributed printer profiles. The chances are that your printer is already there.

That, and Orca Slicer incorporates a wealth of calibration tools that can help you to refine and improve your slicing settings, resulting in cleaner prints without the need for widespread, siloed knowledge. It’s all in the slicer.

Going further, Orca Slicer generally benefits from in-demand and trending features early, with new ideas from the big two incorporated quickly and community-generated ideas often appearing here first.

While Bambu Lab machines are included in the preset library, it’s worth noting that as of Bambu Lab’s tightening of third-party software integration, Orca Slicer is not able to remotely interact with online, up-to-date Bambu Lab hardware unless they’re first toggled to LAN mode only and connected that way.

Adventurous users can check out the nightly builds – the latest features and fixes as they’re developed, or stick with the stable releases, which roll out on a regular basis via the Orca Slicer GitHub repo.

We see you. You’ve rolled your eyes at the other recommendations; they’re dull. Expected, even. “Give me a software rec. to sink my teeth into” you scream. Fine. If you want something really different, then check out Lychee Slicer, an independent freemium slicer that.

What started out as the go-to resin 3D printing alternative has, in recent years, branched out into filament 3D printing too, meaning this all-in-one slicer can service all corners of the desktop 3D printing space.

I don’t think it’s as cutting edge or immediately useful as Orca Slicer, personally, but Lychee Slicer handles the slicing workflow in a novel way, splitting it into separate stages and presenting them in a more visual way.

There’s a healthy community of users contributing machine and material profiles, too. It may not be open source, but the community aspect is something that is diminished in other slicers, ironically, so Lychee Slicer’s army of users is actually a strength here.

There is a free version, with ads (the modern condition), but to get the full benefit from Lychee Slicer, you’ll have to subscribe to unlock additional features and an ad-free experience. Fortunately there are often sales – just wait them out before you hit “subscribe”, if you don’t currently see one.