New Supports Features in PreForm

We are excited to announce the release of PreForm 3.31, a new version of Formlabs’ print preparation tool. The new update brings industry-leading support generation features for our stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers that enable everyone to create support structures like experts. At the same time, experts will now have access to more tools to fully customize their support generation.

We are excited to reveal the Breakaway Support feature, a combination of innovative frangible trusses and notched pillars. This option provides a shatterable structure, simplifying the removal of complex parts. Use this new feature to print complex parts successfully, while also maintaining control over the printing process.

Breakaway Supports are initially available for Form 3 Series resin 3D printers using General Purpose Resins.

For experienced users who like to finely control support placement, the Supports Brush can help save time tenfold. The brush allows you to “paint” supports onto an area while controlling the density. Supports can just as easily be removed using the brush. This feature has been designed to accelerate support placement while ensuring precision.

The new release also introduces an Internal Support Preview. This feature aims to streamline the adding supports, showing you the start and end locations for internal supports during placement, eliminating the tedious cycle of applying supports to check their internal locations. This transformative feature will simplify the support placement process for new and experienced users alike.

The Supported Faces Preview enables you to identify which faces of a model support touch tips will be added to. When the Orientation menu is open, your parts are now visualized with special attention to areas that may require supports — geometry that is downward-facing. With this real-time feedback you can orient your parts with confidence and leave important regions unaltered, like the face of the model or sides that require a perfect finish.

Besides the new support features, PreForm 3.31 brings more updates and bug fixes. Explore our release notes for the details.

The new features are now available — just open PreForm and update it to the latest version or download it now.