About processing slices

Getting from the raw slice contours to the final toolpaths

Loading parts into Slices generates a stack of its contours. Process these contours to generate the actual toolpaths and exposure patterns suitable to your model and machine.

What is it?

• Processing takes existing slice stacks and uses the contour and hatching information contained in them to derive new stacks with new contours and hatchings.
• Only one generation method is performed at a time.

Pros and Cons?

Pros

• Generating toolpath information in incremental steps provides granular control, so you can develop a toolpathing strategy progressively.

  Using a Lua script, even complex chains of processing actions can be run as if it was just one action.

• Each new slice stack is added to the project, so you can inspect the processing result in the display immediately.
• Stack generation is parametric. Any adjustment of parameters for earlier steps propagates to derived stacks until you apply the calculations and finalize them.
• Working on slice level rather than 3D geometry can be significantly faster due to smaller set of data per slice layer.

Cons

• Processing actions must be run separately and manually unless chained in a Lua script.
• Processing results are always added to the project even when they are just intermediates for further actions and are themselves not used during exposure, so they must be cleared before, or separated during, slice file export.
• Working in 2D may skew geometry as each layer is processed individually regardless what angle against the Z axis the original surface had from which the current layer's contour was generated, and any such information, like downskin angles, must be regenerated from stacks of 2D contours

Where do I do this?

Use the commands in the main menu while slice stacks are selected, or use the context menu of slice stacks directly.

Notes

• You can use Undo and Redo to revise steps at any time.
• The result from copying and pasting a generated slice maintains the link to the parameters used for the original.

  For example, you create an offset, and then clone the offset. Modifying the distance value in the original offset also adjusts the distance value in the clone. If you do not want this link, you must create a new offset independently, not through copy & paste.

• Use Edit > Apply Calculations on slice stacks to finalize them for the next steps if performance becomes an issue during toolpath animation or general processing. While this removes the option to adjust the generation settings for those stacks, you can still use Undo to get them back.
  Tip: Create working copies for stacks meant to be input stacks before actually processing them.
• Until you actually do apply calculations to a stack, what's shown in the display view is only a preview of a processing filter's effect, and generated on the fly only for the currently shown layer. For example, this means that the bounding box of a slice stack remains unchanged even if a filter is used that should change its size, such as generation of an offset. The bounding box of a stack is only then updated when you use Apply Calculations.
• Some operations (EBPAs, for example) may be computationally expensive. To speed up rendering and animation, especially during toolpath preview, you have the option to postpone displaying and applying the results.