Contents



Learning Objectives

In this lesson you will learn how to set up and use the Prusa Slicer software (CLI) with the command line shell. As the graphical user interface for Prusa Slicer is not fully accessible using the command line shell you can access all of the different slicer features through a handy text interface. After you have sliced your model we will briefly go through steps on how to print it using a Prusa Mk3S or Mini+ printer.


Pre-Requisites

  • basic command line knowledge
  • typing skills
  • basic knowledge of how command lines work and folder and file navigation


CLI Windows Setup

These steps will allow you to run the Prusa Slicer program from anywhere and not just in the program folder. You will add the prusa-slicer-console.exe to your system environment variables PATH variable, so you do not have to type the whole path to the Prusa Slicer CLI every time you want to run the slicer from the command line. Make sure you have downloaded the latest version of Prusa Slicer if you have not already.

  1. Open powershell (as admin) (Windows + X > a)
    • Note: Sometimes Windows will prompt you with an inaccessible system dialog, if you are not hearing your powershell open try changing focus to “User Account Control” hitting tab twice and then pressing enter, you may be prompted for a user name and password if your account does not have admin credentials
  2. Type [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";C:\Program Files\Prusa3D\PrusaSlicer", "Machine") replace C:\Program Files\Prusa3D\PrusaSlicer with whatever the path to your slic3r program folder is
  3. If you do not have admin access You can check out this article about customizing your shell profile and this stack overflow answer but we recommend trying to get admin access to your system.
  4. Test and make sure it worked by running powershell and typing pru and pressing tab a couple times it should autocomplete to prusa-slicer-console.exe after two tabs and then add the help flag the whole command should read prusa-slicer-console.exe --help and will output a whole lot of text you can output it to a text file (ie: prusa-slicer-console.exe --help > prusa-slicer_help.txt if you are interested in reading it or visit the slic3r documentation page on using the command line tools

Note: The prusa-slicer-console.exe file is the one you want for command line commands the other slicer exe files are not for command line usage, and will most likely launch the less than accessible GUI program


Using Prusa Slicer CLI

In this folder you will find different slicing profiles for different printers. We obtained these by setting up the profile in the prusa-slicer GUI program (not very accessible) and exporting them to .ini files you can use these with your printer. Feel free to contribute ini files for other printers. Using a profile can be helpful to get you started printing fast. You can download these via git or open the .ini file and tab to the “raw” button select all and copy it into an empty .ini file on your computer.

Note if you try to download a configuration profile and you hear a warning about the file harming your computer hit f6 until you move to the downloads bar and tab to “keep”.

Steps for Basic Printing

  1. Determine the model of printer you are using and type of material you are printing in and download a configuration profile for the printer, make sure it is either in the same directory that you are located in or you know the path to it. Note: It is possible to not use a configuration profile and use several command line flags but we recommend for beginners to use a profile that best suites their needs and then modify them as needed by editing the configuration file or overriding the file with command line flags
  2. Run the following command, where you replace the paths in brackets with the configuration file and model file paths: prusa-slicer-console.exe -g --load [./my_config.ini] [./my_model.stl] You should receive output stating the file is done slicing, it will be available in your current directory as where layer-height, material, and supports/no-supports are determined by your configuration file probably something like: [filename]_[layer-height]_[material]_[printer-model]_[time-to-print].gcode
  3. Plug in your 3D printer SD card or flash drive to your computer and determine the drive name of your external media (3D printer SD card) use the list drives command or guess and see if powershell throws an error (ie ls d: ls e: ls f: etc.)
  4. Move your file to your external media. We recommend moving your file in the root directory that way step five is easier. mv [path_to_sliced_file.gcode] [path_to_drive]
  5. Put SD card or usb drive back into the printer slot listen for the beep it will default you to the SD card menu turn the wheel one click and then press it, it should start printing the file you most recently uploaded as long as it is in the root directory of the external drive (3D printer SD card or usb drive).


Troubleshooting

  • Sometimes if your command is incorrect you will launch the Prusa Slicer GUI
  • Determine that the model size fits on your print bed (max for MK3s is 250 by 210 by 210). Run: prusa-slicer-console.exe --info [./my_model.stl]] if your model is not slicing or throwing any errors this is probably why.


Adding or Creating a New Config File in the GUI

  • Launch the Prusa Slicer GUI application and run the configuration wizard to download different printer and filament profiles.
  • Set up the configuration you’d like to export.
  • Export config from prusa slicer GUI (file > export config or ctrl + e) and name it as [layer-height]_[material]_[printer-name]_[supports/no-supports]


Review

In this lesson you learned:

  • How to set up Prusa Slicer CLI
  • How to use the Prusa Slicer CLI with a configuration profile to slice a 3D model
  • How to print a sliced model


Resources