Today we’re releasing updates to PreForm, the software that prepares your design for Formlabs 3D printers, and firmware, the software that runs on your printer. These new versions come with plenty of exciting changes that improve printer performance and make your workflow easier.
Consumable Status Tracking
The PreForm “Printers” dialog now provides greater insight into printer consumables. Next to each printer, you can find the type of resin loaded in the resin tank and the level of resin in the cartridge. This lets you track your consumables from your computer so you know when to restock.
The PreForm “Printers” dialog now provides greater insight into printer consumables.
User Interface Changes
If you ever need help from customer support, there’s now a button labeled “Download Printer Diagnostics” that collects information from your printer and gives our support team a head start on addressing the issue.
There are a number of other PreForm UI tweaks that you might encounter in certain situations. For example, if you often print multiple objects together, you’ll find that you can now cycle between them by using the tab key. And if you use the slider on the right side of your PreForm screen to examine individual slices of your model, you’ll notice that it’s faster than it was in earlier releases.
Improved Supports
The last PreForm update gave the Form 2 the ability to print faster at high resolutions by printing layers that only contain supports at 100 microns. This can improve print speed by as much as 50% for some high detail models. With today’s software update, Form 1 and Form 1+ printers now do this, too.
Form 1 and Form 1+ printers can now print faster at high resolutions by printing layers that only contain supports at 100 microns.
PreForm 2.7 also gives you greater control over generating supports. You can now experiment with dialing down the touch tip size to 0.3 mm. This can improve surface quality and make the finishing process easier for some models.
With the new firmware update, it’s no longer possible to downgrade to earlier versions. But that shouldn’t be a problem. Our software team is working hard to improve your experience with each version—stay tuned for more exciting updates to come.
Read the release notes for more information about PreForm 2.7 and firmware 1.8.