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Layer Thickness
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mm
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To adjust print speed, surface finish, or Z-axis fine feature performance. Increasing this value can improve print speed. Decreasing this value can improve surface finish or fine feature resolution.
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Most parameters are tuned around layer thickness. If you change layer thickness significantly, you need to adjust almost every other parameter to get optimal print results.
When changing layer thickness significantly, start by duplicating the Formlabs print setting with the closest layer thickness.
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| Open Material | Allow this Print Setting to be used with non-Formlabs materials, which requires an Open Material Mode on the printer. To use, select Open Material in Job Setup and select any Print Setting with this option enabled. Including the material name in this Print Setting's title is recommended for easy identification. | unitless | To print with a third-party material on a printer with the Open Material Mode. |
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X Correction Factor
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Scale factor for the X axis to account for print scale correction
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unitless
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To adjust dimensional accuracy of large features (larger than several millimeters) in the X direction. This value is preset by Formlabs to compensate for the volumetric shrinkage of each Formlabs material.
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Y Correction Factor
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Scale factor for the Y axis to account for print scale correction
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unitless
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To adjust dimensional accuracy of large features (larger than several millimeters) in the Y direction. This value is preset by Formlabs to compensate for the volumetric shrinkage of each Formlabs material.
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Z Correction Factor
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Scale factor for the Z axis to account for print scale correction
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unitless
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To adjust dimensional accuracy of large features (larger than several millimeters) in the Z direction. This value is preset by Formlabs to compensate for the volumetric shrinkage of each Formlabs material.
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Early Layer Exposure and Offset
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Heights and energy density of laser power applied to the model for each early layer provided.
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Array field of layers, with heights in mm and energy densities in mJ/cm²
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To adjust how much prints are adhering to the build platform, or to adjust the level of flashing (an "elephant foot") on the early layers of prints. Each height in this array is a waypoint for the exposure and offset values. Intermediary layers between waypoints are linearly interpolated. The exposure values affect how much energy is delivered to the resin on a given layer, while the offset values affect the X and Y dimensions of the layers.
Increase the exposure value to increase adhesion to the build platform. Decrease the exposure value to reduce flashing on the early layers of your prints. A positive offset results in less flashing while a negative offset results in more flashing. Change both exposure and offset to improve adhesion without adding undue flashing to your prints.
Note: The best way to reduce flashing without risking print success rate is to use the
Z Axis Fine Tuning feature on your printer's firmware.
Note 2: For a more detailed example of how to use this to tune a material, see our article on reducing flashing or elephant’s foot.
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Reducing the exposure values too much may cause print failures where your print does not adhere to the build platform.
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Increasing the exposure values too much can create more flashing (an "elephant foot") on early layers.
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Outer Boundary Offset
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The space between the outermost perimeter display path and the model's nominal boundary. A positive value means the display perimeter will be inset smaller than the model's nominal boundary.
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mm
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To correct for cases where small features (millimeter scale) are undersized or oversized.
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If your positive features are oversized, increase this value
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If your positive features are undersized, decrease this value
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If your negative features are oversized. decrease this value
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If your negative features are undersized, increase this value
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Changing this value too much can impact (erode or dilate) negative or positive features. For example, if you set this incorrectly, small negative holes might be filled in or small positive features might not print correctly.
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Heater Enabled
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Enable the heater.
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unitless
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To enable the heater and allow the printer to maintain the temperature of the resin during printing or disable the heater and print without any external heating. Higher resin temperatures usually increase resin reactivity and decrease resin viscosity. Increased resin reactivity can impact print speed, dimensional accuracy, and surface finish. Decreased resin viscosity can impact print speed, print success rate, and print quality.
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When resin temperature changes, resin reactivity and resin viscosity changes as well, which can cause significant changes in print speed, print quality, and dimensional accuracy. Generally speaking, maintaining consistent resin temperature throughout your print helps to achieve consistent print quality and dimensional accuracy over the height of the print.
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Operating Temperature
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The resin temperature that the printer tries to maintain while printing.
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°C
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To adjust the resin temperature that the printer tries to maintain during printing. Higher resin temperatures usually increase resin reactivity and decrease resin viscosity. Increased resin reactivity can impact print speed, dimensional accuracy, and surface finish. Decreased resin viscosity can impact print speed, print success rate, and print quality.
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When resin temperature changes, resin reactivity and resin viscosity changes as well, which can cause significant changes in print speed, print quality, and dimensional accuracy. Generally speaking, maintaining consistent resin temperature throughout your print helps to achieve consistent print quality and dimensional accuracy over the height of the print.
Formlabs print settings use a default value of 35 °C to ensure consistent resin temperature regardless of ambient temperature.
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Start Temperature
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The resin temperature at which the printer starts printing normally, without user intervention.
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°C
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To adjust the resin temperature at which the printer starts printing. Your printer might take several minutes to reach its start temperature, especially in colder environments. Decrease this value to shorten the amount of time that your printer spends heating before a print.
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When resin temperature changes, resin reactivity and resin viscosity changes as well, which can cause significant changes in print speed, print quality, and dimensional accuracy. Generally speaking, maintaining consistent resin temperature throughout your print helps to achieve consistent print quality and dimensional accuracy over the height of the print. If you set Start Temperature much lower than Operating Temperature, your resin temperature may change during the first several dozen layers of your print, which can cause dimensional accuracy to change throughout those layers.
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Irradiance
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The power delivered by the LPU during printing.
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mW/cm²
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To control the amount of power delivered to the liquid resin while printing. Increase this value to reduce print times. Decrease this value to improve print reliability, extend LPU lifetime, and mitigate resin gelling.
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Increasing this value too much can reduce LPU lifetime and cause resin to gel in the resin tank.
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Model Fill Exposure
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The energy density applied while printing the interior of the model.
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mJ/cm²
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To change the green state strength and stiffness of your model. In most cases, higher green strength results in better print success rate, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy.
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Reducing this value too much can reduce the green state strength of your model, which may hurt your print success rate or final part properties.
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Increasing the value might require changes to Outer Boundary Offset to maintain the same dimensional accuracy.
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Overhang Fill Exposure
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The energy density of display power applied to the parts of the model that are overhanging. The first entry is for the immediate previous layer. Successive values are for prior layers.
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Array field of layers, with heights in mm and energy densities in mJ/cm²
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To correct for issues where unsupported overhangs are sagging or peeling. PreForm defines unsupported overhangs as any feature that is angled above 45° and more than a few millimeters in length.
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Decreasing this value may lower print success rates. You may see more support failures on overhang features because you are weakening the surface of the overhang feature that the support is attached to.
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Perimeter Fill Exposure
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The energy density applied while printing the perimeter of the model.
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mJ/cm²
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To change the surface hardness and surface tackiness of your model. Increase this value to make your print surfaces harder and less tacky.
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Reducing this value too much can reduce the green state strength of your model, which may hurt your print success rate or final part properties.
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Increasing this value too much can blur out fine features.
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Requires changes to Outer Boundary Offset to maintain the same dimensional accuracy.
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Supports Fill Exposure
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The energy density applied while printing supports.
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mJ/cm²
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To change the stiffness of your supports. In most cases, stiffer supports result in better print success rate, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy.
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-
Reducing this value reduces the stiffness and strength of supports, which may reduce print success rate.
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Increasing this value increases print times.
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Top Surface Exposure
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The energy density applied while printing the top surfaces of the model. Higher values can reduce tackiness after printing.
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mJ/cm²
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Rarely modified. To change the surface tackiness or surface hardness of any flat top surfaces on your print. Formlabs recommends changing Perimeter Fill Exposure instead of changing this value. By default, this value is equal to
Perimeter Fill Exposure.
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Post Expose Cure Wait
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The time to wait after exposing to let the part cure.
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seconds
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To reduce overall print time or improve reliability of the print setting. Reduce this value to save time. Increase this value to improve print reliability and mitigate wishbone failures, where support touchpoints and similar thin features pull away from the part.
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If you reduce this parameter too much, you may have undercured resin in your model. Formlabs print settings have optimized Post Expose Cure Wait values for every resin to ensure that the resin is fully cured before moving to the next layer.
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| Z-Bleed Compensation Enabled | Enable or disable Z-bleed compensation | unitless | When enabled, the software automatically reduces the exposure in specific downward-facing areas to prevent extra resin from curing where it shouldn't. Enable to ensure the sharpest possible details and most accurate dimensions on the bottom-facing surfaces of your model. In PreForm version 3.56.2 and earlier, this was disabled by setting Z-Bleed Compensation to 0. | Enabling this feature if you have already accounted for Z-bleed inaccuracies in your model can lead to more significant differences between your models and the final printed parts. |
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| Z-Bleed Compensation Offset | The amount of Z-Bleed Compensation to apply. Higher values will apply more aggressive Z-Bleed Compensation by reducing exposure in certain regions. | unitless | To adjust the strength of Z-bleed compensation, if Z-Bleed Compensation Enabled is turned on. A value of 0 uses the default, factory-recommended amount of correction. The value of this parameter increases or decreases the compensation effect by the selected value multiplied by the layer thickness of the print setting. For example, a value of 2 applied to a 100 µm print setting will result in parts being 200 µm thinner than the default settings. A value of -2 used in a 50 µm print setting would result in the part being 100 µm thicker than the default settings. If Z-bleed compensation is enabled but downward-facing details are still losing sharpness or coming out too thick, increase this parameter. This tells the printer to apply a stronger, more aggressive correction. In PreForm version 3.56.2 and earlier, setting this parameter to 0 disabled the correction rather than using the default correction. | Increasing this parameter too much can potentially cause bottom-facing surfaces to be underexposed or too thin. |
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| Preprint Wipe Speed (Left) | The speed at which the wiper moves from right to left during the preprint phase. | mm/s | Control the speed of the mixer during preprint. Decrease this value to minimize the risk of resin splashing while increasing print times. Increase this value to reduce print times but increase the risk of resin splashing. | If wipe speed is set too high for a given material, you may either experience resin splashing out of the resin tank or trigger debris detection. This depends on wipe speed, resin viscosity, filler level, resin rheology, and resin temperature. |
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| Preprint Wipe Speed (Right) | The speed at which the wiper moves from left to right during the preprint phase. | mm/s | Control the speed of the mixer during preprint. Decrease this value to minimize the risk of resin splashing while increasing print times. Increase this value to reduce print times but increase the risk of resin splashing. | If wipe speed is set too high for a given material, you may either experience resin splashing out of the resin tank or trigger debris detection. This depends on wipe speed, resin viscosity, filler level, resin rheology, and resin temperature. |
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Wipe Behavior
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0 = no wipe
1 = round trip wipe
-1 = one way wipe
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unitless
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To make sure your resin is uniformly mixed during the print. In some cases, wiping can improve surface finish and print success rate. For example, if you see cases of undeveloped features (explosions) in your prints, wiping can help prevent those cases. This does not affect wiping behavior during the pre-print routine.
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No wipe: reduces print time and maintains best surface finish possible
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One way wipe: minimizes time spent wiping, but can have an adverse effect on surface finish
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Round trip wipe: increases print time but maintains best surface and maximum print reliability
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Wiping adds approximately one second to every layer, which increases print times. Disabling the wiper may lead to unintended resin curing in the tank or on the edges of parts.
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Wipe Speed
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The speed at which the wiper moves during printing.
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mm/s
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Control the speed of the wiper during regular printing. Decrease this value to minimize the risk of resin splashing while increasing print times. Increase this value to reduce print times but increase the risk of resin splashing.
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If wipe speed is set too high for a given material, you may experience resin splashing out of the resin tank. This depends on wipe speed, resin viscosity, filler level, resin rheology, and resin temperature.
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Wipe Wall Approach Speed
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The speed at which the wiper should move when it reaches the Wipe Distance From Wall.
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mm/s
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Control the speed of the wiper as it gets closer to the walls of the tank. Use the Wipe Distance From Wall parameter (see below) to define when this speed should be applied to the wiper. Set the Wipe Wall Approach Speed lower than the Wipe Speed to slow the wiper down as it approaches the tank walls. Tuning this value allows you to maximize Wipe Speed and reduce print times while still minimizing the risk of resin splashing.
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If wipe speed is set too high for a given material, you may experience resin splashing out of the resin tank. This depends on wipe speed, resin viscosity, filler level, resin rheology, and resin temperature.
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Wipe Distance From Wall
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The distance from the wall at which the Wipe Wall Approach Speed setting should be applied.
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mm
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To tune the distance from the wall when the wiper speed changes from the Wipe Speed value to the Wipe Wall Approach Speed value (see above). Use this value to balance print times and resin splashing risk.
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If the wiper does not have enough time to decelerate while approaching the resin tank wall, you may experience resin splashing out of the resin tank. This depends on wipe speed, resin viscosity, filler level, resin rheology, and resin temperature.
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Antialiasing Enabled
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Whether to enable antialiasing in the xy plane. If disabled, pixels >= 0.5 intensity are snapped to one and other pixels are snapped to zero.
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unitless
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Disable antialiasing when clear, sharp edges are required. Enable antialiasing to mitigate artifacting from the pixel grid on fine details.
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| Scrape Routine Enabled | Enables the preprint scrape routine to detect debris. | unitless | Disable this feature if false positives stop your print when no debris is present. This is more likely to be triggered by viscous resins. | Disabling this feature can lead to print failures if there is any debris in the resin tank before the print starts. |
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| Debris Detection Z-Drop Enabled | Enables the debris detection Z-drop routing. Warning: disabling this setting can damage your printer. | unitless | Disable this feature if false positives stop your print when no debris is present. | Disabling this feature can damage your resin tank or Light Processing Unit if there is cured resin on the inserted build platform. |
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| Custom Peel Enabled | Pick between Formlabs' validated and tuned Smart Peel or finer control using Custom Peel. | unitless | To enable a custom peel move and disable the tuned Formlabs peel moves. A custom peel move consists of two movement stages. Stage one is typically a short, slow move to lift the film and part off of the LPU while the second stage is typically a long, moderate speed move to separate the part from the tank film. Reducing the peel speeds can lower peel forces on parts, allowing for fewer supports in some cases. | The Formlabs Smart Peel takes advantage of several additional factors, so it will tend to produce better results on most resins with similar viscosities and mechanical properties. |
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| Stage One Peel Distance | The height to which the build platform is raised to pull the tank film off the LPU. | mm | To determine at what height the peel move should transition to the second stage. Reducing this parameter will transition to the second stage earlier. | Reducing this value may cause print failures while increasing this value can extend print times |
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| Stage One Peel Speed | The speed at which the build platform is raised to pull the tank film off the LPU. | mm/s | To determine at what speed the stage one peel moves should be. Reducing this parameter allows the film to lift off the LPU more gently and increasing this parameter reduces print times. | Increasing this value may cause print failures or other unwanted print behavior. Decreasing this value can extend print times. |
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| Stage Two Peel Distance | The height to which the build platform will be raised to separate the part from the tank. | mm | To determine the maximum height of the peel move. Reduce this to stop the second stage move at a lower height and transition to the next motion. | Decreasing this value may cause print failures and incomplete release from the film. Increasing this value can extend print times. |
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| Stage Two Peel Speed | The speed at which the build platform will be raised to separate the part from the tank. | mm/s | To determine at what speed stage two peel moves should be. Decreasing this parameter may reduce peel forces. | Increasing this value may cause print failures or other unwanted print behavior. Decreasing this value can extend print times. |
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| Cup Mitigation Enabled | Pick between using Formlabs’ optimized cup mitigation or not. | unitless | Enable this feature if your geometry has cups that are causing poor surface finish or print failures. | Enabling this feature will extend print times. |
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| Custom Squish Enabled | Pick between Formlabs' recommended Smart Squish or finer control using Custom Squish. | unitless | To enable a custom squish for your print setting. You may want to enable this if you want to modify the speed of the various motor moves during the squish phase. | The Formlabs Smart Squish takes advantage of several additional factors, so it will tend to produce better results on most resins with similar viscosities and mechanical properties. |
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| Squish Intensity | Scale the intensity of Formlabs’ recommended Smart Squish. Will be ignored if Custom Squish is enabled. | unitless | This feature gives you easier control over Smart Squish. Lower intensity will slow down printer motion, which can help avoid surface defects or debris detection issues. Higher intensities can increase the print speed. | Setting this parameter too low can dramatically increase print times. Setting this parameter too high can cause immediate debris detection errors. For reference, most Formlabs use an intensity of roughly 80. |
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| Squish Deceleration | The deceleration limit during squish. | mm/s2 | To determine the deceleration of the build platform when it descends into the resin and sets the printing layer. Reducing this value can improve surface finish and reduce forces on parts | Reducing this value too much can extend print times. |
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| Early Layer Squish Height Cutoff | The cutoff height at which early layer squish parameters are applied. | mm | The height at which early layer squish is applied. Increasing this value allows for early layers to extend further into the print while reducing this value reduces the number of early layers. | Reducing this value may lead to poor part adhesion and delaminations. |
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| Early Layer Squish Wait | During early layers, the time to wait after squishing to allow the resin to settle. | s | To adjust the duration the printer waits for resin to settle following the squish move for the early layers. You may want to increase this value if you are having issues with part adherence or delamination. Decreasing this value can reduce print times and increase the risk of print failure. | Reducing this value may lead to poor part adhesion and delaminations |
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| Max Squish Speed | The maximum speed of the build platform during the squish phase. | mm/s | To determine the maximum speed of the build platform when it descends into the resin. Reducing this value may result in improved surface finish. | Reducing this value too much can extend print times. |
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| Squish Wait | The time to wait after squishing to allow the resin to settle. | s | To adjust the duration the printer waits for resin to settle following the squish move. Increase this value if you notice poor surface finish or decrease this value to reduce print duration | Increasing this value will extend print times. |
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| Resin Viscosity | Viscosity of the resin being used. | cP | The viscosity of the resin is a base property of the liquid. This viscosity is used as a part of calculations when running the print; for example, lower motor speeds are used to account for resin flow on high viscosity resins. | If this viscosity is too different from the actual viscosity of the resin, prints may be excessively slow or the printer may throw false debris detection errors. |
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| Resin Level Threshold | The minimum height of the resin in the resin tank during the print. If the resin level drops below this height, the printer will pause and try to refill the tank. If this is set to 0, print will run to completion even if the resin tank runs dry. | mm | To adjust the required quantity of resin to run a print. For Open Material Mode prints, this can prevent the printer from running out of resin during the printing process, or a value of 0 mm can guarantee that the printer will run through all the layers in a print. | Setting this parameter too low increases the chance of seeing bubbles in the print or print defects if there was insufficient resin to print a full layer. |
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| Color ID | The Color ID of the Color resin print setting. | unitless | Visible when editing a Color Resin print settings file. This parameter is not editable. |
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| Color Hex | The hexadecimal color of the Color resin print setting. | unitless | Visible when editing a Color Resin print settings file. This parameter is not editable. |
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