Which Slicer 3D Prints the Fastest? Resin 3D Printer Test!

[@UncleJessy]

Some really wild results here and would love to hear all of your thoughts on the Print Times / Quality and if you've done anything similar! Link to my Comparison Results Breakdown + Sliced File Details bit.ly/ResinSlicerCompare

[@resynnminis7406]

I do have a question, so we have the information of the actual time spent on the prints and how long they took. How close is Pikaslice to the actual estimated time for the print? I know we always get these estimated times from these slicers but they are always so far off. How close was Pikaslice to the actual stated time?

[@loganc2334]

In the slicer comparison data i notice that all 3 slicers think that they're going to use a different weight/volume of resin to produce the print. Is there any difference in actual printed weight?

[@wolfassassin359]

Please do a comparison on what slicer is best at placing supports automatically, i feel like non do it good. and there should be a better way to auto generate support. Chitu skipes a lot of supports or it places the supports too close to the model pars so they merges.

[@joshuaimobersteg954]

Check out Tableflip Foundry’s video (yes, it’s two hours long) about slicer basics and their semi-auto workflow in Lychee. It’s been giving me solid results and no failed prints yet.

[@IPrint3dMinis]

@@wolfassassin359 Lychee so far has done the best job, but that is assuming you are hollowing, keep balance on your build/vat, and you should keep it on the "low" setting, not anything above that. Once it sets the autos, I usually go in do my manual clean-up, and then island search on "real" and add as many of the island supports that can be added and remove the islands that will just cause issues and add little to no actual detail. This has worked for a charm for me over several printers. Also for all the folks asking about time, the slicers are all bad about that. I use the "Print time override" function in Lychee add up the times for retract, lift, compensation etc. and I get times within a few minutes of estimates.

[@PolyWorkshop]

I'm answering about Lychee Slicer (as I'm from the team) For the rest time settings that you don't see in Lychee Slicer, it's because you didn't enable the TSMC mode (which is by default on in Chitubox). Then because TSMC is not on, it uses the default value of 0. Then it comes to the exact same settings that you have in Chitubox. Enable it (on top of the resin settings and you will find these values. For the Mars 3/3Pro Z value at 170, it's probably because you enabled the printer when it was in beta. If you reset it (in the printer settings, the first top icon) and restart the slicer, you will have the proper value (I have both Mars 3 and mars 3 Pro :) By the way, Loot Studios files are prepared in Lychee Slicer ;)

[@UncleJessy]

Fantastic details man! Going to reset my Mars 3 profile now and thanks for exolaining tsmc as well!!

[@Lychee3d]

@@UncleJessy We don't enable TSMC by default because these extra settings are overwhelming for a lot of users, however, if you want to use the rest time feature (opposed to the old "light off delay" feature (that su***, let's be honest), you must enabled the TSMC mode... By the way your finding is quite interesting about the extra 0.5s that add Chitubox... because the Mighty 8K is adding these extra delays while we don't put them in Lychee Slicer, then perhaps it's done on the firmware level.... :( I'll need to check that more into detail....

[@johngover1455]

Great to see the direct replies from the Lychee team, showing the dedication to the project and likely resulting in a better slicer in the future.

[@Voidmonster]

These are deeply weird results and I can only conclude that it has something to do with how the antialiasing is done. If it's baked into the image layers, it shouldn't have any effect on print time, so the printer must be doing some of the work... And somehow each slicer has the printer do that differently. Completely mysterious. Bravo for doing these tests!

[@UncleJessy]

Yeah, I thought that as well, but even the printer with AA disabled lychee and pikaslice printed a good bit faster than Chitu. But agreed... really fun to see that there are actual subtle difference between them

[@camdavbax]

@@UncleJessy I want to know whether chitu and lychee use different acceleration settings for raising/lowering. I feel like there might be something to that.

[@JM-qz4ik]

Thank you for exploring all these community questions and really putting it through the paces. You always have a video on a question I have or present a question i never considered. You rock!

[@cactus22minus1]

Thank you for covering this - I've been curious about how or IF different slicers would make any significant physical difference. As a newish resin guy... another video I feel is missing out in the YouTubiverse is a good comprehensive resin comparison. Like, brand vs brand and type vs type. How they actually result compared to what the manufacturers claim etc. I know it's a LOT of work, which is why it really hasn't been done yet, but printers around the world would rejoice and likely reward you with tons of views. :)

[@chikhai]

Lychee is still my go to. I was a big Chitubox evangelist until about a year ago, but Lychee is now so far ahead in terms of useful features and UI it makes Chitubox all but redundant (for me anyway). For business use I spend maybe 2/3 of my work day supporting STLs. This is one aspect that Lychee completely destroys Chitubox on. It cuts my time spent per model in half. Retract speeds are the pretty much the be-all and end-all of print times. Even a fraction of a second multiplied by a couple of thousand layers is going to make a difference.

[@Gladedancer]

Are you using the pay version?

[@chikhai]

@@Gladedancer Yeah. It's worth it imho.

[@zer0ish84]

I'll still stick to Lychee, I really love the UI and it's flow. If Chitubox made an effort to rebuilt their UI to bring it from its 1995 looking UI to a more modern look, I might give it a shot. It's just too clunky. I also don't use Apple products so can't judge the other one.

[@AndrewSink]

Man, this is such a clever idea. Awesome execution!

[@UncleJessy]

Thanks man... I really wasnt expecting to see print time & varying print quality between them

[@erickdredd]

I've heard of Chitubox enforcing a hard coded light off time on certain printers when using faster lift speeds, with Saturns specifically mentioned.

[@gbspikyfish]

For the print times with AA; Lychee printed approx 24m faster than Chitubox. With 2028 layers it means it's about 0.7s per layer quicker. Pikaslice is 16m faster than Lychee, which works out to about 0.5s per layer. Pikaslice gains approx 1.2s per layer vs Chitubox. As others have noted; the file sizes differ for the three slicers, so there might be some difference with loading the image slices from the USB stick. But it is interesting that the per-layer differences are close to 0.5 or 0.75s (i.e. possibly some delay in one sliced file that's not present in the other). The non-AA differences are smaller, but Lychee is about 0.4s faster per layer than Chitubox. Interestingly, the difference between Pikaslice and Lychee is exactly the same as the difference between Lychee and Chitubox. Could just be a coincidence though. A 5mm lift distance at 240mm/min would take approx 1.25s. If Pikaslice is running the printer at 242mm/min then it'd take 1.239s, or a difference of about 0.01s per layer; so not enough to make the differences seen in the print times. Ignoring the slicing times for Pikaslice on a tablet, what also interested me was how long Lychee took to run the slicing on PC (5 to 6 minutes vs 1 minute for Lychee on Mac and Chitubox on Mac OR PC). Seems like there's either a lack of optimisation on the PC version, or maybe they're using some resources (GPU acceleration?) that's not present on your PC?

[@Gladedancer]

Thank you for this demonstration! I am brand new to 3d printing, and am waiting on my Elegoo Mars 2 Pro to arrive this week. :)) Most of the Tubers I have watched to learn what to expect with the Mars 2 were using Chitubox, so I grew comfortable with following along with that slicer. Then I stumbled on to all these Lychee vs Chitubox videos, so was agonizing over which to use. I don't fancy spending 65.00 a year on a slicer to save 16 minutes on a print that doesn't provide better results. I just hope Chitubox fixed the crashing problems that people have mentioned.

[@3DMusketeers]

VERY INTERESTING DATA! Wow, thanks for this deep dive! Really looking forward to the follow ups! I have been a hardcore Lychee user since I found it and as a windows and android user it seems I am making the right decision there :) But Pikaslice makes me want to get a mac product to try it out!

[@SlicePrintRoleplay]

A fantastic and very thorough comparison video!

[@DigitalChadLife]

Wow. I might have to try Pika. Thanks.

[@UncleJessy]

It's honestly pretty fantastic. Firing off some more prints right now with it

[@whatnotzone6866]

Just got my Elegoo Saturn 8k printer. Learning to use Lychee Slicer and quickly noticed that the estimated time is way off from actual print time by around 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. The actual print time is that much longer, Give or take a few. Coming from FDM printing and using Cura where the time estimate is far closer, not perfect but dang close. It seems that the resin slicers are still very far behind FDM.

[@jacobrichards8359]

Great shirt. I have mine on today as well 🤣. Great vid as always.

[@UncleJessy]

haha nice!!! Mine has more than a few resin stains on it now haha

[@noid5058]

The Mars 3 specs say that it is capable of 10 micron layer height which means you could do those models with a better resolution of like .025 or less instead of .05 mm height to really pick them apart. You'll almost double the print time but layer lines will be non-existent and details would be way more visible. Keep cranking out the vids!

[@xandersnyder7214]

I would love to see how the Vlare slicer (for the Peopoly Forge) compares to the other slicers.

[@resynnminis7406]

Yes! I was one of these people, Thanks for the follow up video!

[@FreedomAirguns]

The difference is most probably in the file used and the compression used to render each slice, which is a picture in the end. A RAW/BMP/TIFF file takes more time to get processed/read by the board running the printer, which also has limited RAM/CPU resources. That's all. Quite the difference though. Good to know. I never considered the boards to be a bottleneck for the files themselves. Another reason behind the extremely cheap prices of these printers. At this point, I'd rather pay a little more for a faster RAM/CPU combo. With more computational power, the difference would be negligible and the printers would all produce prints at the same speed.

[@daphnemiller5247]

for me print time isn’t as important as usability and for that i just can’t use lychee. chitubox is just easier to use and much less confusing, i had no idea how to do anything in lychee and the tutorial they linked to upon boot up was out of date

[@tomdove3772]

Same, I find chitubox so user friendly. The prints I'm getting from it are perfect for me. 😉👍

[@mestevep12]

Great video...is there a way to stop the print at its finish height ?? as going all the way to the top allows the resin to splash into the print tray..maybe a G code setting or just change the Z height setting for every print

[@stewiex]

Well done! The file sizes are quite different despite that tool only showing slight variances in settings. I'm curious if the sliced files can be opened directly in a text editor to see where all that fill is coming from.

[@teyrasiridae4704]

Thank you for diving deeper into this with a follow-up. It's much appreciated. Do you have the gcode vroom settings on the printer you used? (By default the Elegoo machines are limited to a lift speed of 180 mm/m I believe?) Since it said 240 mm/m in your spreadsheet.

[@kokio3416]

Hello uncle, I want to ask if I can use reusable gloves for resin and how can I get the resin on the surface on the gloves cured ?

[@MaheerKibria]

Great video. I went and got Pikaslicer and the fact that you have to do stuff like separate shells, how much it crashes just are deal breakers for me. I look forward to 6months to a year when I hope it might be more stable. It looks promising.

[@J3DTech]

I like that you added the size of the file, did my post on your last video help this path?

[@blakeh8681]

Was there any different in each of the slicer estimated print times versus the actual print times? I have a Phrozen Mini 4k and 8k and use Lychee to slice. The 4k print time estimates are almost spot on yet the 8k times are usually 30% longer than the estimated.

[@IPrint3dMinis]

Just an observation, your bases in the beginning shots look like the rafts are coming off the build plate. Between 1:13 and 1:16 on the time slider you can see the droopy rafting that is failing and falling off the build there. Just from perspective the rafts look quite thin, are you using less than .5 mm? Just curious, as it seems that they are heavily supported with the smallest little supports. It might benefit to have a slightly thicker raft, less clustered supports at a slight larger anchor/diameter size and that might make removal a bit easier, and less chance of the raft failing. Love the videos by the way, this is interesting to see how each software works.

[@HMudd69]

Thanks for all the videos. They have really helped me. Not sure if it in other comments, but I notice in both of these videos you are ONLY counting actual slice time, and by that, you are missing other elements that it takes to get a final printable file, which to me is the real time comparison. With Lychee, you click Slice and it asks for a file save name, then proceeds to slice and save the file. With Chitubox you click Slice, but then have to Save the file, and then it also converts it to your printer format. After seeing your video I did do my own time tests for my Anycubic Mono X 6K. Lychee Pro (3.7.1) was the one step click and it took 1m 52s. Chitubox (1.9.3 free) in comparison was 18s! BUT the file write took 2m 17s and the conversion took 1m 15s for a total of 3m 50s! Twice the time of the Lychee Slice/save. It took less than a second to click the save and enter, so that's not really a factor. I did try Photon Workshop since I have the anycubic, and that is a click slice and name save like Lychee. That ran at 1m 16s total! Can you do the tests with a full slice to final file time? Thanks!

[@Wheres_Bunny]

Thank you Uncle Jessy

[@UncleJessy]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@stowlo]

I wonder how long it takes the printer to load the image. Maybe the other 2 are slightly compressed? Would be interesting to dry run without a build plate and time a full movement.

[@UncleJessy]

That might also help explain why the Chitu files are larger in file size than Lychee and Pikaslice

[@theromeog]

@uncleJessy Since Pikaslice is an M1 app - Have you tried to use it on the iPad ability of the Macbook to see if it will speed it up a bit over using it on the iPad?

[@oem42]

So in the shots of your settings you're using rest time 0.5 in chitu but light off delay 0 in lychee

[@richardburns4820]

Could you add in Photon Workshop to your comparing? I realize this video is six months old and I apologize in advance if you have already done so and I missed it. Thanks!

[@crashgtr]

Hi Uncle Jessy, thanks for your very informative and entertaining videos on resin 3d printing. I have a question, I tried out the laycee slicer but realized i needed a firmware upgrade. Have you done this on the saturn S? I the poorly written instructions on the elegoo website so I am still not sure how to do the firmware upgrade. Any Advice?

[@matthewwells2239]

Would you recommend using AA on prints? I've heard you lose detail when using it.

[@lorenzobortolin1112]

I have a problem with Chitubox. I just got my Anycubic Photon M3 and i tried to do some test prints. The problem is when i slice, chitubox gives me a time but the printer takes TWICE as long. Can someone please help????

[@DigitalAI_Francky]

The printing times are the real printing times or the printing times indicated by the softwares ? Because I have seen sometimes a big difference between the printing times indicated by the softwares and the real printing times.

[@RM_VFX]

It's a long shot, but would mirroring have anything to do with the print times? I would have recommended a true 1:1 comparison including orientation since you're setting all the other options identically.

[@dgarvin53]

Lychee is still my number one slicer. I’m wanting to try pikaslice. I always use Gurilla glue and never have that problem. How is scaling with pikaslice? I scale up to 1/3 scale. Love your videos, they are very helpful.

[@potat0457]

Hey! I saw there were puzzle pieces/connectors, did you do this? I'm trying to find a software that does it

[@JohnVanderbeck]

Is that correct in the chart that Lychee takes 6 timers longer to slice with AA on PC? Seems to be an outlier so wondering if it is a typo.

[@Roger-uw1pj]

Would you suggest the elegoo mars 3 or saturn 2 8k for someone wanting to get into 3d printing? Or should we wait until the FEP-basins are swapped out with some smarter, less labor intensive basins (preferably with a resin filling and draining system like ultra expensive formlabs have)? For my part the use would be both printing figures for dnd as well as parts for tools.

[@BenSabersTV]

Hi Uncle Jesse can you please help me i need your help. I'm trying to print quite tall cylinder shapes on my elegoo saturn and the prints are saying 6hrs but the print is taking 22hrs?? i can't find anyhting on how to setup chitubox for faster printing and i know the Bottom lift speed and lifting speed have a big part to play but i'm to afraid to change these. can you please do a video showing in depth what we can do with these setting for chitubox V1.9.4. thank you so much

[@ChrisDeger]

I use lychee, but its because the support system is awesome imo.

[@UncleJessy]

Indeed!! Funny enough I believe thats what Loot-Studios uses for their files ;)

[@ChrisDeger]

@@UncleJessy They are amazing :)

[@catnamestaken]

What camera are you using? it's super annoying how we can't clearly see the results because it's all blurry as if the lens is on f1.2 or something

[@Starganderfish]

Does Pikaslice have two stage motion control (TSMC)? That can have a massive impact on print times.

[@AustinD367]

Hey Uncle Jessy, love your videos! I’ve been getting big into 3D printing and recently got a Photon Mono X which has been a monster machine. I used to have a ball joint build plate but hated it! The build plate on the Mono X is so much better. I was curious, how is the ball joint plates on the Elegoo? I’m curious because otherwise I don’t see a reason to ever want to use a ball joint printer. Let me know!

[@JohnVanderbeck]

I wonder what "LargePreviewOffset" does and why it is son insanely different on Lychee? 88,552 vs 336

[@MedMaxMotto]

Great review...could you help me please with chitu settings for mars 3 pro - water resin yellow... appreciate it

[@Dark0Storm]

At a guess it could be different z motion accelerations (rather than speed, which is only going to be final speed achieved), which afaik there is never an option to adjust in any slicers. No idea if that is even adjustable through files though.

[@dagondeepone3071]

@uncle Jessy does your patreon resin settings cover the mono-x?

[@johnstephenson4428]

Thanks for sharing your results, I do have a concern with the software crashing (Chitubox) latest rev 1.94 crashes when I have large files and especially when I try to load .ctb files.

[@GamingWithSantanas]

I'm curious if the slicing time has anything to do with the print time. For instance, for chitubox, I'm sure there are some instances where you slice the same file different times and it takes longer to slice. I.E. 1m2sec vs 4m24sec. I wonder if printing those 2 sliced files from chitubox would have different print times. Not sure if my ramble made sense. Just a thought. Great video Jesse nonetheless!

[@yorickp]

Did I just see a lot of spilled resin on the printer with the Lychee print? Or was it just poor lighting?

[@MMQsTacosConLimons]

Sup uncle jessy I have a mono x 4K using siraya tech fast, can u share those settings since u did a video back then with the same machine and same resin please?

[@briangipperich1933]

I thought the new chitu boards had the use chitu box to run on the printer. What am I missing?

[@JasonLynch]

The other slicers added support for the file format needed.

[@notajp]

No Voxelprint?

[@iura_ch]

why would you call it time "savings", if these are more like time bugs potentially leading to print failures. If the print goes faster than you have configured, that means it cuts time from what you intended either of the stages of exposure/lift speed/delay. It's not "savings" it's hacking in the bad sense.

[@seanbloomfield1238]

hi i found that that gorilla glue expands when curing

[@3dpicks]

I enjoy your videos. GG.

[@i8urbabi]

Wow you're saving 5+ mins every job by using a Mac vs a PC. That applies to all jobs.

[@Rod_Zaramella]

I think Chitubox is very buggy. It inverts the retract and lift speeds. I always have to set everything about the same speeds to get predictable results. So, maybe, the time we put on retract, is been setting to the lift speed, actually. I tried so many times that I'm about to give up on Chitubox.

[@memocontini]

this printer is very good the best, im use to jewelry

[@daniel-pablo]

Honestly, if you're doing an apples to apples comparison with pre-processed files, you're kind of missing the point of doing a slicer comparison. What really makes a difference is workflow - how easy it is to get a file processed, hollowed and supported using each slicer. Ease of use features are also big variables in slicer choice like model analysis and autosaves, and stability should not be overlooked. (Cough cough, chitubox be crashing)

[@UncleJessy]

Yep! Mention that towards the end of the video

[@daniel-pablo]

@@UncleJessy ya sorry lol I went into armchair expert mode there. You do amazing work. Thanks for the amazing content as always

[@BleedingDev]

My idea is the file size - see that the time goes down together with the file size. Time ratio is: Chitu vs Lychee - 1,1 Lychee vs Pika - 1,0714285714 Filesize ratio is: Chitu vs Lychee - 1,3056994819 Lychee vs Pika - 1,3496503497 My guess is that processing the file takes some time and given the low performance of 3D printer CPU it might have big impact. And no, I am not a programmer (hahaha). :D

[@makewithmegma]

🔥💕👍

[@SpaceGringos3D]

23rd to comment lol 🤣

[@tomtomgo55]

les sous titres svp!!!!👎👎👎 pas cool😪😪😪