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3MF Export Plugin

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn’t this in HueForge?

HueForge is built around modeling — geometry, color stacks, layer assignments. Slicer support is its own moving target: every slicer has a different 3MF dialect, every Orca fork inherits something slightly different, and new ones land all the time (Elegoo Slicer, Anycubic Slicer Next). 3MF Export is a third-party plugin developed by Additive Atom; keeping it separate lets it ship updates on its own cadence — new slicers, new printer profiles, new fixes — without waiting on a HueForge release.

What’s included in the purchase?

  • The plugin for all three platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux) — one download covers your machine.
  • All updates for two years from purchase, including:
    • New slicer support as it lands.
    • New printer profiles as they’re contributed.
    • Bug fixes.
  • All eleven currently supported slicers.

What’s the latest version?

1.1.0. See what’s new for everything it adds.

What operating systems are supported?

Three: Windows, macOS, and Linux. One purchase covers all three — the release archive includes the build for each. The Linux build is validated on Ubuntu 22.04 with Qt 6.9 and should work on other modern glibc-based distros (Fedora, Arch, Debian, etc.); if yours doesn’t, let us know.

Does it work with the ColorDrop, FlatForge, and HugeForge plugins?

Yes. Whenever those plugins hand off meshes for export, the 3MF Export Plugin picks the right layout for your slicer — single plate with N volumes for FlatForge / ColorDrop / Split-by-Color, multi-plate for HugeForge tile mode.

Why do filament change layer numbers differ from Describe.txt?

Describe.txt lists layer numbers for filament changes without a Height Range Modifier (HRM) applied. The 3MF Export Plugin adds an HRM automatically — it prints the beginning of your HueForge model at a larger layer height to speed up the base. Your slicer’s layer numbers shift compared to Describe.txt as a result, but the filament changes still happen at the right Z heights.

More detail with worked examples →

Which slicers are supported?

Eleven:

  1. Bambu Studio
  2. Orca Slicer
  3. Elegoo Slicer
  4. Anycubic Slicer Next
  5. PrusaSlicer
  6. SuperSlicer
  7. Snapmaker Orca
  8. QIDI Slicer
  9. QIDI Studio
  10. Flashforge Studio (formerly Orca Flashforge)
  11. Creality Print

Will it overwrite my custom slicer settings?

No. Settings come from your printer profile — including start/end G-code, speeds and retraction tuning. The plugin only writes the HueForge-specific bits (layer height, first-layer height, color stack, mesh assignment), and sets each filament slot to your HueForge filament’s type with a matching slicer filament preset and temperatures. In Bambu Studio and its forks it also sets the purge volume for each filament pair, calculated from your filament colors. The full list →

My printer isn’t bundled. Can I still use the plugin?

Yes — import a printer profile from any 3MF you’ve sliced in your slicer. The plugin reads the embedded profile, lets you select it in the dropdown, and uses it for all future exports until you delete it.

Will it work with my AMS / CFS / ACE / CANVAS / MMU / Tool Changer setup?

Yes. If your printer has an AMS / CFS / ACE / CANVAS / MMU / Tool Changer, the plugin emits filament changes the slicer turns into automatic swaps. The slot count is the Total Printer Slots setting, which fills in from your printer profile and which you can change in the dialog. Set it to 1 for a single-extruder printer and every color change becomes a pause for a manual filament swap.

When does the plugin add pauses vs filament changes?

The plugin compares Total Printer Slots (set in the Export 3MF dialog) to the number of unique filaments in your HueForge project:

  • Slots ≥ unique filaments — no pauses are added. Every filament gets its own slot and the multiplexer swaps automatically.
  • Slots < unique filaments — the plugin keeps track of which filaments are loaded. Switching to a filament that’s still loaded needs no pause. When the next filament isn’t loaded and every slot is in use, a pause is inserted one layer before that change, so you can load the next filaments by hand mid-print.

The pause is written the way each slicer expects: a pause entry in Bambu Studio and its forks, M600 in PrusaSlicer, and M0 in SuperSlicer and QIDI Slicer.

So if you don’t want any pauses, bump Total Printer Slots up to match (or exceed) the unique filament count in your project. If you’re intentionally hand-swapping on a low-slot printer, leave the value at the actual slot count and the pauses will land where they need to.

Can I choose which AMS slot each filament goes in?

Yes. Click Edit… next to Filament Order, arrange the spools to match how your printer is loaded, and click OK. Filament changes and pauses follow the new order. The order is kept until you change your filaments, open a project with different ones, or restart HueForge, and Reset returns to HueForge’s order. More on Filament Order →

Can it open the 3MF in my slicer for me?

Yes. Tick Open 3MF after export and the plugin launches the slicer you exported for with the new .3mf loaded — not your operating system’s default .3mf app. It looks in each slicer’s standard install location on Windows and macOS, and for Flatpak installs of Bambu Studio, Orca Slicer and PrusaSlicer on Linux. If it can’t find yours, it asks you to locate it once and remembers. For HugeForge tile exports, the slicer opens once, after the last tile. How it finds your slicer →

Can I rotate the model on the bed?

Yes — tick Rotate HueForge 90 Degrees in the Export 3MF dialog or the Save Project As tab. The exported model turns 90° clockwise (looking down at the bed); your HueForge project isn’t changed. The bed-fit warning updates as soon as you tick it, so you can see whether a model fits sideways.

What’s the translucent slot at extruder 1?

You’ll only see it on FlatForge exports made with the Face-down print (cap layer) option. It’s a #E6E6E64D translucent filament the plugin puts in slot 1 for the cap layer, which becomes the visible front of a face-down print. Other exports don’t get it — your first HueForge filament is slot 1. More on the cap layer →

I found a bug / something doesn’t work right

Contact us. Include the plugin version, slicer version, and ideally the exported 3MF so we can reproduce.

Where do you get the bundled printer profiles from?

Each bundled profile started life as a real 3MF or config bundle exported from the target slicer, with HueForge-required overrides (layer height, filament colors, custom G-code) applied. If you have a profile for a printer we don’t bundle yet, import it via the getting started import profile steps.