Free tool for making custom tree supports in Maya
I've written a free tool to make custom editable tree supports for FDM printers, using Autodesk Maya. I've had mixed luck with automatic tree support solutions (such as in Meshmixer and Cura) and have found this to be a good solution in some cases. You can adjust the supports after creation, including changing their thickness, bending them around, etc. There's a button to import a fake Prusa print bed (for sizing purposes) and even a 1 click STL exporter that will rotate your models to be Z up and export the model and supports to different files, if desired. Let me know if you can think of any other useful features you'd like to see.
Here's where you can download the script:
https://github.com/MikeMcR/3D-Printing-Assistant
Here's a video about the script, showing off its features:
RE: Free tool for making custom tree supports in Maya
One thing I forgot to put in the video....there's a box to export your tree supports separately from your model. If you do this, you can change the infill and perimeter settings for the supports in Prusa Slicer, thus using less plastic for the supports.
RE: Free tool for making custom tree supports in Maya
Hi Michael,
I would very much like to be able to edit the support trees created in Bambu Studio as STLs. I have a specific use case and need the supports to have the more organic look of the Bambu versions than your versions that are more practically oriented. In our workflow (a public nonprofit so we use mostly open source stuff) we use Blender but if we need to get Maya for this purpose I sure we can manage that. So my question to you is do you think you could either 1) customize your scripts to be more organic looking OR 2) Help us to figure out how to capture the supports of Bambu into an editable STL? If you think you can feel free to contact me directly reefball AT reefball DOT com .