So i have a 3D printer, and i have linux on a laptop but im struggling to find good 3D print-related software to use on linux or maybe i havent looked hard enough? Im pretty much a beginner to both linux And 3d printing, also using Ubuntu Mate if that matters on a old thinkpad.
So i need a 3d print slicer/way to print to my printer, i also need a simple 3d modeling software (ive tried blender but found it too hard and heavy for me and my laptop). It would help if all suggested software were open source or something like that.
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CAD:
- FreeCAD (bit clunky at times, it forces you into one specific workflow. Its free, open source and what you create with it will always be yours. Its what I use. It feels like C in programming language terms)
- onshape (feels very similar to fusion. Its a smooth experience, runs in the browser and is a nice tool. I liked it and did some cool stuff with it. Only drawback: the free only allows to store files openly, so everyone can see your designs. Kind of open source if you want, but I think files can only be opened with oshape. Its by a team that worked for solidworks. It feels more like python.)
- open s cad (you code your 3d objects. Its rough to learn and build complex parts I guess? But a pretty cool idea. Worth a try!)
SLICERS (all open source) It does not really matter, just try and pick what you like. I used them for fdm only, idk about resin.
- cura (by ultimaker, one of the older brands. Slicer is quite nice, nothing special I guess, just works quite well.
- prusa slicer (by prusa. THE printer brand I think. A bit confusion interface compared to cura I think, works great tho)
- orca slicer (based on slic3r I think? Has supposedly one of the best slicing algorithms if I remember correcly and a lot of settings. The forbidden one (baboo lab slicer) is based on this)
- slic3r (the og slicer of sorts, never tried it)
OTHERS: To control your printer (remotely if it does not offer it out of the box. I tried none of them):
- octoprint (sends live g code to your printer. Offers camera stream. Runs on a raspberry pi)
- mainsail is (controls your printer, if it runs clipper. Supposed to be one for the best I think. Runs on a raspberry as well I think?)
- many new ones have remote controll stuff build in. Prusa offer remote management, same as bamboo, sovol, some enders and anycubic ad well I suppose. Some run in the browser.
To control your printer when fiddling with it, you can send gcode to the printer over serial, if you can connect to it via usb. Can’t name a CLI tool for that from the top of my head.
There are python tools to generate 3d meshes from 2d images. Look at huggingface how to install and use it. There are also tools in the browser. Pretty cool stuff!
OctoPrint provides a snappy web interface for controlling consumer 3D printers. It is Free Software and released under the GNU Affero General Public License V3.
Its website can be found at octoprint.org.
IMHO the best slicer is orcaslicer, which works fine on Ubuntu as an appimage. On other distros i used distrobox to create an ubuntu box and then start the appimage.
Orcaslicer is also available as a Flatpak, which has worked in most distros I’ve tried it with.
Yes, i tried the flatpak too, but it doesn’t do well with hardware accerlation and nvidia gpu. Also i think there was an issue with localization to german.
What do you like about orcaslicer? I’ve mostly just used Cura because it was the first one I picked up and it seemed to work fine.
Cura was also the first one i used, but it was a creality branded shitshow of a program. So i found orca slightly after that and now use it ever since. I love the inbuilt filament calibration tools and especially, that i can control my printer directly from the slicer, to e. G. stop a job i sent too hastily or something.
+1 to TinkerCAD and PrusaSlicer. I have a (Creality) Ender V3 but switched away from CrealityPrint to Prusa due to Wayland issues and while it’s not as pretty, it’s not just as powerful but more so
TinkerCAD has also been amazing for nearly everything I need. I only recently hit the limit with it after years of printing and switched to Blender but it’s super solid
Did you forget Octoprint?
Every slicer I’m aware of runs on Linux. I’ve got PrusaSlicer and slic3r installed right now. Cura is on Flathub. Hell, Simplify3D does or did offer a Linux version, though it was one of those janky .run installers where they translate the Windows install process as literally as possible to Linux.
As for modeling software, depends on what kind of modeling. I tend to use FreeCAD, but it’s mostly suitable for engineering and not art.
Most slicers work natively on Linux. I’ve used orca slicer and lychee in just past 24h.
As for modeling software freecad, blender obviously; onshape is browser based, so it should work; fusion360 is hard to get running, but from what I’ve heard it’s doable;
SOLIDWORKS can run in wine, but just barely - I’ve found it easier and more pleasant to run it in a windows vm
Ima save you some time. If you want solidworks, use windows. Making fusion work properly under Linux is obnoxious enough but solidworks? It can be done but it’s much less agonizing shoving pine needles under your fingernails instead.
To be fair it doesn’t run that great on Windows either.
I only do technical CAD design, so FreeCAD works fine. It’s no AutoDesk, but it has gotten good for my project scale.
Slicing is done with Cura.
Printing I’m mostly living off copying to SD card like a barbarian, but I’ve used Octoprint on a Raspberry Pi board in the past. I even had the time lapse camera videos working. It was a nice setup.
Some of my kids do more advanced sculpture work with Blender and other tools.
Freecad has gotten really good. Its not as intuitive as autodesk shit but its free from their greedy clutches and always online requirements
I’m running a flatpak version of Orca Slicer on Kubuntu 24.04. Personally, just prefer Orca after trying out a couple others. Found that it worked under Mint, and the 24.04 versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Newer distros using Wayland instead of X11 seemed to have issues (which some people running Cura or Prusa slicers saw as well). Not everyone, but plenty of folks had software lock up at startup, or the build plate preview would just be a blank page. Might be a video driver problem, possibly depending upon if you use nvidia or AMD. I couldn’t find any real answers.
If there’s a slicer you prefer, you may have to find a Linux distro that it works under. Or if you are running a distro you’re sticking with, try slicers until you get one that runs. It seems to be hit or miss for people without any good reason for what does and doesn’t work.
Prusa slicer, orcaslicer, I’ve used both on Linux, runs native.
Prusa slicer was in the repos, orca slicer I had to download the app image.
Also openscad, freecad, also work for 3d modeling and should be in your distro’s repositories.
Orca has an appimage I’ve been using that prints well over wifi. I’ve picked up FreeCAD to start learning, but I’m told the learning curve is ridiculous compared to F360 and other non-CAD modeling programs.
It’s been a while since I needed to do this, but Blender had some viewport quality settings I tweaked on an old laptop years ago to smooth things out (if you haven’t already tried). It might have been the anti-aliasing settings…
FreeCAD isn’t terrible if you haven’t already learned F360
I had to watch a bunch of videos on FreeCAD to sorta unlearn the work flow of F360 stuff but its not bad.
Orca Slicer, 100%
Thats what i used on Windows; I honestly didn’t know it was on linux?
Yep, it had native Linux versions, and is even available as a flatpak (though not through Flathub iirc)
Orcaslicer hands down.
For 3d modelling software, they all suck or have an unreasonable cost for what they offer. Openscad is something at least.
Freecad is my daily driver and it’s pretty usable. Recently, it’s improved a lot, to the point it is now just mildly annoying.
Is that improvement past the 1.0 release? That update was great but it still needs some work and unfortunately I’m not the right kind of programmer to help either.
I tried a snapshot release a few weeks ago, there are new features, but nothing too significant for me. I’m mostly running a stable 1.0 release, but 1.1 should be released very soon, we’ll see if it’s a big jump, like 1.0 was. Still a long way to go tbh, especially in terms of QoL improvements. I’m talking - why is it so hard to just extrude some text. Why browse for a .ttf file in 2026? Things like that.
I’ve had pretty good results with Wings3D actually, as opposed to Blender. For proper CAD you can try Solvespace, which also sucks but at least has so little to it that you can learn to use it if you remember the idea of solving systems of equations at all.
I was new to 3d around 4years ago, and even newer to Linux.
Fusion is often mentioned but I prefer Onshape. Fusion isn’t just a simple download and install (even on windows its a pain), but Onshape runs in the browser so I can use it on ANY PC, ans its never struggled.
The tools in both are pretty much the same, sometimes with different names. Theres plenty of onshape tutorials online, and the help pages are good.
For the free version of Onshape you can have unlimited files, but they are technically available publically. Other onshape users can search and use them, but unless your planing on selling them or use it for work who cares.
Fusion brought in a limit a while ago for free accounts to have like 10 “active” documents.
You can also start with Tinkercad online, but once you learn Fusion/Onshape and parametric design its much better.
If your into writing code you can use scad on linux. Its an interesting way to design but I can see its benefits.
For a slicer Orca has been fine on linux. Not sure if it works with printers outside Bambu.
Some have gotten fusion 360 working via wine: https://github.com/cryinkfly/Autodesk-Fusion-360-for-Linux
Blender is Linux native, and it’s great for sculptures- not as great for making parts CAD style, but you can make it work: https://www.blender.org/download/
Cura seems to have native Linux support: https://linuxvox.com/blog/cura-linux/
Prusa slicer is also Linux native: https://www.prusa3d.com/page/prusaslicer_424/
Octoprint is of course Linux native, and I use it from a docker container. Can also work well from a pi. https://octoprint.org/
I use Fusion 360 + Cura + Octoprint myself, but I’m on mac. It’s really only the CAD software that I can’t recommend a native solution personally, but I have heard of a number of these: https://itsfoss.com/cad-software-linux/
Good luck!!
I’ve used Cura in Linux, can confirm it worked fine for me.
Cura’s a fantastic slicer, but kindof a terrible program. They gave up on ARM support a while ago. And their dependency situation is majorly out of control. To the point that Gentoo has literally given up on supporting it and maintaining a working package.
They still support ARM Mac version- I wonder if it’s just non-Mac Arm they’re giving the cold shoulder to?
Ages ago when I still bothered with Octoprint, Cura Engine could be installed as a module, and you could slice an STL on a Raspberry Pi through Octoprint. I quickly gave up on that as a stupid gimmick because you pretty much always need to do adjustments in the plater, but once upon a time Cura could do it.
If you pay for Fusion360 or have a student account, you can run it from the browser. I’ve run it on a crappy dechromed chromebook that way without issue.
P.s. fusion is free for personal non commercial, but I haven’t tried that version in browser, might not be possible.
It isn’t. The “browser version” is actually streaming a VM running on one of autodesk’s computers.
Most software on that front works. I usually just use Cura for slicing.
OpenSCAD works. I’ve played with it but not actually printed anything (no printer).
