Tree Supports to STL for "other printers"

[DanPrinterMan 0]

I have an Afinia H+1 printer.  It only works with the Afinia Studio software.  The software does not have the option for Tree Supports.   It has the standard obnoxious support system that loads my models with way too much support structures.  

Can I load my SLT files into Cura and slice the model with Tree supports and then save/export the sliced file with Tree Supports as a new STL file.  Then I can load the new STL file (model with Tree Supports) to my Afinia Studio software and send it to my printer.  

What do you think?

[Smithy 1,145]

I haven't any experience with it, but I don't think it will work. The tree supports which are generated are not part of your STL, so I guess an export of your STL will not include these supports.

 

When you design your own model you could include the supports in CAD directly. Or if you just have a downloaded STL, I am sure there is a software which could generate custom supports to an existing STL. (Mesh Mixer, Blender, ...)

[DanPrinterMan 0]

Thank you @Smithy

I was not sure it would work.  And now I can confirm it does not work.

In Cura, I tried saving the file as an STL when the supports were already "sliced" but when I opened the file later in my Afinia Studio software, the supports were not there.   

I have not seen many softwares that offer Tree Supports.  Many years ago I used Print Studio from Autodesk and it made awesome Tree Supports that were super effective and easy to remove.  Cura Tree supports look much more bulky than what I am hoping for. 

I have heard good things about Blender.  I will look into using Blender.  I used Mesh Mixer  many years ago but I did not use it to generate Tree Supports.  Can you direct me to some tutorial on how to use Blender or Mesh Mixer to make an STL file that has Tree Supports incorporated into it? 

Thanks again

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by DanPrinterMan

[Smithy 1,145]

Sorry, but I don't use Blender or Mesh Mixer, so I have no idea. Maybe there is something else which could do that. Or someone else has experiences it. 

 

I think with Blender you can do a lot of cool things, but it has a very steep learning curve.

[Nosybottle 9]

@DanPrinterMan There is something you could try, but I have no idea if it would work, and if yes then what the quality would be. You can slice it in Cura with tree supports, export the gcode and then try to convert the gcode back into stl. There's been a thread about it recently and someone linked a tool that should do it. I haven't tried it myself, so I can't say if/how it works, but if you want to give it a go, here's the thread

Also, about the bulkier than expected tree supports, look at Thomas Rahm's new implementation. I've had some great prints with their version.
https://github.com/ThomasRahm/CuraEngine/