Five ways to reduce layer lines on your 3D prints - Adaptive layer height and more!

[@ernieoporto1111]

In the 8 years I have been 3D Printing I constantly see that Fuzzy Skin setting and have always wanted to give it ago, but I never have. I’m going to give this a shot TONIGHT now!

[@squidcaps4308]

I have about the same amount of years, and also going to print my first fuzzy skin tonight.. but i had that idea yesterday, for a temperature&humidity display housing.

[@darrennew8211]

It works great to hide the gap between two parts you're going to clip, screw, or otherwise put adjacent. Totally hides the seam.

[@Smokinjoewhite]

If you do it, to it on a part that does not require tight tolerance. You can however disable Fuzzy skin in areas that require tight tolerance, but I can't explain it completely right here, you basically have to model parts that fit perfectly into the areas you don't want to be fuzzy and disable fuzzy skin on their common overlaps. There are many videos here on youtube that explain the process, It's actually extremely easy.

[@jaguarke069]

@@SmokinjoewhiteAre you referring to the modifiers in Orca Slicer (eg)?

[@yuripolak]

​@@Smokinjoewhite I wish they do fuzzy skin paint tool, so you can apply only on the surfaces you want... It would be awesome

[@nitzerebbhead]

I knew about adaptive layer heights, but really didn't know how to use them properly until this video. Thanks!

[@mixtermuxter8602]

YES - the tips for min and max layer height are really handy!

[@AndrewAHayes]

combining adaptive layers with a scarf joint also fets rid of the seam, this is a must for any rounded parts.

[@SOHCHEAD]

I've found if you use hybrid tree supports and independent support layer heights in Ocra 2.1.1 you can have adaptive layer prints with tree supports. It's a neat addition for more complex prints.

[@jasondominguez5392]

8James​@@SOHCHEAD

[@NeonDreams7]

You were killin' it on the troubleshooting scene 6 years ago when I got an Ender 3, and you're still making waves today. Thanks for everything

[@anthonystownsend]

You can also turn off the one wall on top layer, I do that for most prints. Using concentric or Archimedean Chords top layer also helps to hide the top stair steps.

[@mikropower01]

I am new to 3D printing, do it now for 2 weeks and find here more interesting settings and tips to improve my 3D builds. Thank you!

[@terrain4print]

Thank you very much, I had missed the automatic setup of variable layer height. Very nice addition to the toolbag.

[@FranklyPeetoons]

For years I've been watching your videos and they've always been interesting and often helpful. This one in particular is extraordinarily useful for the mid-level hobbyist.

[@grimmx]

Wow I played with adaptive layer height before, but didn't realize you could push the layer height down to 0.04, that fixed the last bit of stair stepping I was getting before, thanks!

[@SpencerPaire]

Speed-adaptive layer lines seems like a game changer! And using fuzzy skin for a stipled grip on any kind of tool seems like a free upgrade. Thanks for this video! These are some awesome tools!

[@UncleManuel]

This has to be the best explaination & demonstration of variable layer heights! It is amazing how far slicer software has come compared to just 6 years ago. 😲 I had a Tevo Little Monster back then with complete changed electronics (f.e. Duet3D Smart Effector) and this magnetic ball effector holder. I never got out of the PLA testing phase (unsatisfying print results) and quickly lost interest and sold it (yeah, "life" happened). 🤷‍♂️ I actually thinking about getting back into 3D printing with a Bambu X1-C and armed with fresh modern KZbin knowledge (material moisture, printer settings, slicer settings). 😎

[@Poorgeniu5]

The combination of adaptive layer and fuzzy skin really sells that cast iron look!

[@MotocrossRider155]

This is a total game changer. The adaptive layer higher height is something I knew I needed but didnt know how to use it.

[@matttavani]

That was a seriously good explanation of how to get the best results!

[@m3rty1lm4z]

I found a lot of answers to my all questions with your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge/wisdom on this topic.Glad we have you! Keep going!

[@sleepybear101]

Cool! I didn’t know about the variable layer height, definitely gonna try it on my next print. You could also try ironing for the top surface though.

[@larrybud]

Ironing wouldn't really help in this test case since the lines we see on the top aren't planer, they are separate layers.

[@umbratherios5614]

Lots of awesome tips in this vid for those who wanna experiment!

[@josephpk4878]

I've finally printed a model with OrcaSlicer and am highly impressed with the entire process - it's a nice merger of the best of both Cura and PrusaSlicer. Painted z-seams, with a vertical line option. Impressive wipe and gap fill functions. Archemedian Chords solid fills (and more). G Code viewer... the list goes on. So far, it's produced excellent prints and I can see myself using Orca for the majority of my printing needs.

[@byronjamest]

Thanks for this, never realised adaptive layer height was an option. Such a great tip!

[@jeffharrison5265]

Great information!!!! Layer lines are the one thing that drives me nuts. Thanks so much for sharing this stuff.

[@nahuelise4055]

Thanks a lot for this advice,its super useful,also i liked the very last point of having a basic calibration dialed in before diving deeper into more advanced settings and tips like the previous ones

[@algauthier]

As is the case with almost all your videos, you do a superb job of giving enough detail to make the concepts easily understood and also immediate actionable while also not providing so much detail that it’s overwhelming. It seems easy but must take a lot of effort. Thank you for creating such great content. It allows so many of us to save time and frustrating and embrace the joy of 3d printing.

[@JamesTenniswood]

Amazing difference, thanks for sharing

[@junx82187]

Great video man. Thank you. Informative! Helpful to all newbies in 3d printing.

[@jorgesantander7454]

Thank you for the tutorial on the adaptive layer interface!

[@sjoerdvandereerden5676]

Great video! I'm gonna give this a go!! For the top surface I sometimes use a Hilbert curve infil. This gives also a sort of textured look.

[@Badbufon]

adaptive layers seem great, crazy that no one really talks about them

[@MiroSays]

Those adaptive layer lines were the top tip for me! I am currently printing almost non-stop and have prepared overnight projects. Adaptive lines save me an hour each on those projects and any curved surfaces will probably look considerably better!

[@MrUniq]

OMG I have never used adaptive layer height! Layer height has been my bane!

[@greg4367]

As always, educational and well worth the time to watch. I learn something from every one of your postings. Yhank you.

[@JustisSaayman-y8y]

Dude this is amazing! Thanks loads for this video. I knew most of it but damn that adaptive layer thing is something I have never played with and WOW!

[@WillPeterson]

I would like to mention one other thing: on this model, the very top rounded dome is the obvious location of layer lines. RE-ORIENTING YOUR MODEL is another huge important trick to use in combination with the other things you have described here.

[@Jnijst]

Excellent video and techniques !! man this is great engineering

[@hobbyistnotes]

Interesting, I haven't actually used the Adaptive Printing before and I am printing a lot. Thanks for the info.

[@windforward9810]

Thanks gave me a lot of things to think about. As a former lazy machinist like you I hate sanding or any post processing. Being retired i don’t want to spend all my extra time sanding so this will help. The fuzzy looks a little like a casted piece that was not totally cleaned up, so I’ll be using a little of both and lots of filler spray primer.

[@thmo_]

With each video I'm still eagerly jumping up to see whether it's the SV08 Toolchanger Part 2, still love all the other content as well tho!

[@FedericoAlbano83]

same here.... i wonder if he had to ditch the project because it was not working...

[@thmo_]

@@FedericoAlbano83 nah I don’t think so. He stated in another comment that the firmware was already talking to multiple tool heads and that he was waiting for parts. Those things probably take some time, as well as compiling all the details to publish on GitHub since people inevitably will ask for it. I sure hope we’ll get the video soon tho, but good things take time.

[@davidpyo3455]

same, development work def takes a while tho

[@TeachingTech]

It is being worked on. Some time waiting for components to come from China, now waiting for design. The trouble is I don't have a Voron 2, the the DraftSight guys don't have a Sovol SV08. It's hard to meet in the middle in a way that is easy for viewers to follow, but we'll get there.

[@thmo_]

@@TeachingTech excited to see whatever you get done! Quality work needs time, we get that 👍

[@vahpr]

That's great, I regularly print models that can benefit from this, thank you!

[@magatsu82]

great video. You should have mention ironing as well, I know it is not useful for every case but when you have flat top surfaces it really makes a difference.

[@veganmo]

I really appreciate your videos. I’m going to start playing with these settings today. 👍👍

[@aidanm7225]

Got to love waking up to another awesome tutourial , cheers for all your work mate

[@philipershler420]

These are really wonderful ideas!

[@KeithZim]

Thx. I've seen these texture but did not know how it happens!!

[@genemaster74]

G'day and cheers for your excellent channel. This big old boof just keeps learning, this is how to use this function, i have looked at it but never played around.....didnt want to break something. thankyou from Brissy

[@proaudiorestore8926]

I use adaptive layer lines now with every final print I do. Printing faster now has just really given me access to better quality since I have never really been too fussed with print times. If I’m prototyping then sure, I’ll bang it out at 0,28 until the part is right, then it’s adaptive all the way.

[@michaelhaas9053]

Amazing video, thanks! I never got the UI for variable height in Orca.. until now 🎉

[@petermg22]

Great video, LOVE that mask! I'm surprised that you didn't try the smoothing option as well. This is what I use with adaptive layer lines, quality set to MAX, smoothing radius set to 10. It makes a significant difference. I think that's the only thing missing from this video.

[@kellyjean4981]

I will have to play around with this. Thank you

[@TYGAMatt]

I made a bunch solar garden led light holders with natural nylon in vase mode with fuzzy skin. The rough surface does a great job of diffusing the light and look way better than the original product. Oh, and I changed all the plain old boring white LEDs to fancy colours. The green and blue look very nice 😊

[@compudude]

Great tips!

[@theeox]

I'll be honest half way through I almost clicked off the video because I didn't see using different color filament as really a viable option. I'm glad I stuck around to learn about adaptive layer lines which I didn't know anything about. Another thing to consider is topside ironing. That should help smooth out the top portion that you have.

[@kevinsmart2165]

Hi there Michael, great video as always! One thing that could have warranted a place in this video, or in a part 2 perhaps, would be the printer motion system. In my experience, coreXY and delta produce much more consistent layers over bed slingers. I'm sure your experience would be similar.

[@S.A.S.H.]

Superb tip-combo!

[@fernandezvonschwephausen1979]

Great Video!

[@AngryGinger79]

Thank you for this video, some great suggestions!

[@guilhermecarvalhotrindade2625]

This was top notch advice. Thanks!

[@James-u9z2v]

This was really helpful information, great video as always. Thank you!

[@aeynosarturii8053]

This video earned you a sub. Very good information in this. Thank you.

[@Garoninja]

I might use that flocking trick. Got a project that would be perfect for

[@3printed]

Perfect video on time, I was tinkering with the same settings on Orcaslicer and its clone New Creality Print Slicer 5.1

[@Ace01010]

I've been using Ironing and it's been great on my prints

[@alfvicente]

Good tips, I would add for round objects, change the top layer infill pattern to concentric.

[@filiepmaes9071]

Very great video, Thanks Michael

[@jayrepairs]

Love all your videos!

[@Dimble]

I use matte filaments most of the time. Printing at .16mm layer heights the results are pretty good regarding layer lines. Combined with adaptive layer height gives great results.

[@Nitro150Cl210]

Great video! I use variable layer heights on almost all of my prints, and the only drawback I see are for the chamfers I place to limit the impact of elephant foot on the first layer. On adaptative mode, the layer height is stuck on max value which is a killer in visual quality for chamfer at 45deg. Otherwise great addition to the 3D printing toolkit !

[@milz0]

Fantastic Info! ❤

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

Yet another great video. Thank you.

[@DingoPaints]

Just what I was looking for

[@JeromeDemers]

great video! will try these tips!

[@DeeSnow97]

for those lines on the top surface i'd recommend trying out ironing.it's not perfectly consistent unfortunately, but it's incredible how much smoother you can make your top surfaces with it. an interesting pattern also goes a long way

[@rsmeaton]

For round objects like your test model, concentric top layers help to hide the stairstepping even further.

[@sonicsupersam7793]

how is it only today that ive realised you are also TT racing

[@squidcaps4308]

Flocking: that is stupidly simple, nice tip. For manual post-processing, i usually use woodfiller and thin it a bit with water/iso mix. Extremely cheap, non-toxic, easy to sand. Downside is that it needs to be sanded, sometimes sticking is a problem (clean the print from ANY oils and roughen it up a bit...) and the dust goes everywhere. Note: do not EVER blow the gypsum dust, always wipe it with moist rag. The dust is abrasive and goes everywhere. It is a fan killer.

[@ponsaravanan]

Great video.

[@MrDivinePotato]

This is great info, thank you!

[@illusionmanager]

What should be implemented in slicers is some anti aliasing. Reducing a complete layer down to 0.04 mm is fine, but is only needed in some areas of the model. The model in the video is easy, but having any slanted surface could use some anti aliasing. First print the parts on the edges where anti aliasing is needed at half the height, then print the rest at full height. You could even do 4x,8x or 16x anti aliasing. There is a bit more to it than I mentioned, but you'll get the idea. It will even speed up the simple thing in the video as all the internal parts are printed at full height.

[@Gryfang451]

I've started turning on external walls first. For some overhangs, this isn't a good answer, but for a lot of prints, it smooths out the outer walls tremendously. That and slowing down the outer walls down to 80 or even 60 on a high speed printer doesn't take a lot of extra time, but gives a nice smooth finish and reduces artifacts.

[@steggy53]

You can also use a cheap pyrography iron with a shading point to "iron out" layer lines in tight spaces or where you need to keep sharp edges, of course you'd need the proper PPE.

[@StoneCut]

Great video, many thanks.

[@802Garage]

Fiber filaments are possibly the easiest cheat code. Not only are they often easier to print, but they can make layer lines disappear almost entirely. It will vary by brand, product line, and color. Generally the more matte the fiber filled filament, the better it will hide the lines. People who hate PETG should also try PETG-CF.

[@avejst]

Great video as always :-)

[@cgimadesimple]

great video!

[@KingCreationsAU]

Another great video, go you!

[@mscir]

Great video, thank you.

[@jackgai1929]

When I saw you use variable layer height, I thought of a problem that has troubled me for a long time. As we all know, the Z-axis height in normal slicing mode is (number of slice layers * layer height). But this value often has errors with the design value of the model itself. For example, when the model design height is 2.1mm and the slice layer height is 0.2mm, the slicer will actually generate 10 or 11 layers of slices, resulting in a slice error of +-0.1mm. Although this error is small, it is a serious problem in some special cases. For example, if there is a +-0.1mm error in the height of the idler seat and the slider at both ends of the X axis of a coreXY structure 3D printer, it is very obvious and seriously affects the accuracy of the printer. I know that variable layer height can be used to improve this problem. But I found that when we set the minimum and maximum values ​​of the layer height, the automatic variable layer height cannot be automatically adjusted according to the integer multiples of the minimum value. For example, let's take the dimensional error mentioned above. Normally, when we set the minimum layer height to 0.1mm, the variable layer height should be able to correctly identify the design height as 2.1mm, and then slice it into 11 layers, one of which is 0.1mm, and the other 10 layers are all 0.2mm, which is a perfect result. Or there can be 3 layers with a height of 0.1mm and the other 9 layers with a height of 0.2mm, which is also a very good result. However, after many tests, the actual situation is not like this. The slicer is a bit superfluous. It will automatically generate many layer heights with multiple decimal places between 0.1mm-0.2mm, such as 0.100230mm, and so on. The superposition of these values ​​results in the final slicing result still not being an exact 2.1mm, but 2.03mm. Or 2.13mm, and so on. This makes me very confused. Shouldn't the primary task of the slicer be to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the slices as much as possible? The accuracy of the automatically generated layer height value has reached 4-5 decimal places, which is far higher than the Z-axis motion accuracy of most printers. Is it really necessary? Why can't the slicing software recognize the automatic layer height change division value as the minimum layer height? In this way, you can freely configure the minimum layer height according to the Z-axis motion capability of the printer to avoid unnecessary calculations and errors. At the same time, you can appropriately select the minimum layer height according to the design height of the part to achieve the number of slices to be an integer multiple of the minimum layer height, thereby meeting the accuracy requirements. I thought of the above questions when I saw your video. I haven't solved it myself. May I ask how you deal with the Z-axis slice accuracy problem? I also hope that more seniors can help to solve the doubts.

[@Dustmuffins]

For round models like this, I'll use concentric top infill patterns for an even smoother look.

[@johnnyrocko7105]

Variable layer hight is a very effective method in reducing layer lines on steps, overhangs and top surfaces

[@htw007]

Thank you for this video

[@adcrane]

Another great vid!

[@MakeKasprzak]

Great as always

[@cebau1]

Great tips

[@dansimonds7779]

For some parts changing the orientation is a good way to get rid of stair stepping or design parts without domed faces.

[@kimmotoivanen]

Slant3D videos teach to use orientation to reduce supports, to hide layer lines by allowing fuzzy skin on almost all surfaces and to make parts stronger by aligning layers (and by design) :)

[@Fat-totoro-cat]

awesome video

[@mikechu01]

You could also use the concentric top layer pattern in circular parts to make it look even better

[@JeffHanke]

If you want to smooth out the last bit on top you could try ironing. It involves running the hot head over surfaces that are parallel to the build plate a second time after they are printed.

[@TeachingTech]

On the contrary ironing is the opposite of what I personally want here. I'd prefer texture to match the whole way around.

[@Sasuke.out.of.Chakra]

Thanks for the tips.

[@mtrivelin]

Great video. Have you tried "concentric" instead "zig zag" on top layers? I believe that is a better choice.

[@hobbypsychologist6444]

Very helpful ty breh

[@Alluvian567]

I typically will just do a layer height modifier for a part like this where the cutoff between coarse and fine layer lines are pretty clear. But for many parts adaptive layer height can be quite helpful. It just feels a little too inexact for me usually.