FAQ for Triangulatica users about: technical tips and issues, troubleshooting, collaboration with Triangulatica, licensing, trial and etc.
- General questions
- Support and documentation
- Licensing and trial
- Purchasing and choosing type of license
- Technical tips and issues
- Troubleshooting
- Collaboration with Triangulatica
General questions
- What is Triangulatica?
Triangulatica is a slicer (a program for generating layers for 3D printing) for all additive technologies. - What technologies are supported by Triangulatica?
Triangulatica supports all existing 3D printing technologies based on vector and raster construction methods. Triangulatica can be used to slice for: SLA Laser, SLS, SLM, FDM/FFF, DMD/LMD/DMT, MJM, BinderJet, SLA DLP, SLA LCD, LCD, Bio-printing, etc. - Is it possible to use Triangulatica with new technologies of additive manufacturing or with non-existing ones before?
Yes. You can email us to discuss it at info@triangulatica.com - Is it possible to create new 3D printing systems based on Triangulatica?
Of course it is. Besides the software product we also have a hardware solution, which allows to create new additive systems quickly, including systems based on undiscovered principles. - Is it possible to replace my 3D printer’s native slicer to Triangulatica?
Yes. Please, take a look at the Documents section on this website or download a trial version of Triangulatica and try to create a new printer profile. Have some problems? Email us: info@triangulatica.com - Who is Triangulatica for?
Triangulatica is designed for users and developers of 3D printers: both individuals and organizations. We have flexible price policy, so you can always find a suitable version of Triangulatica. - I am going to develop a new 3D printer. Does Triangulatica suit for me?
Of course it does. Moreover, Triangulatica has its hardware platform, which helps to considerably shorten the development time and make the development easier. Printer manufacturers, which use Triangulatica hardware platform and tribin format get some advantages. - What advantages do manufacturers which use Triangulatica hardware platform get?
The manufacturers that work with Triangulatica hardware platform aside from quicker and simpler development of the new 3D printer get a possibility of creating correction tables with the TriCorrection utility for applying them in the process of working with Triangulatica. It is very important when devices with distortions are used as scanning systems. It is also useful for systems based on EB. - What are the differences between Triangulatica and similar software products?
We have our own way of development, based on the practical experience of the manufacturers of additive systems. The main advantages are full control of the entire technology of additive manufacturing and the possibility of the deep control of the details of the technological processes.
On this simple scheme one can see how Triangulatica replaces the entire complex of software solutions:
- What languages does Triangulatica support?
Triangulatica is a multi-language software. For now, it supports English, Russian, French and Spanish. We also plan to translate it to Chinese soon.
Support and documentation
- Are there any manuals or video-lessons for Triangulatica?
Yes, we are developing the Documentation and Video Tutorials sections of our website. - How is the Triangulatica products support implemented?
We will be glad to see you on our Community forum and Support section.
Licensing and trial
- How can I test Triangulatica?
You can download trial version from Software : Download Triangulatica Products and try all the possibilities of Triangulatica. - Are there any limitations of Triangulatica trial version?
Yes. The trial period will end in 90 days from the first run of Triangulatica and it is only possible to slice 10 times using our raster or vector slicers. After the first 10 times you could only slice one random layer. - What can I do if I need more from the Triangulatica trial?
Email us (info@triangulatica.com) and we will decide how to help you. - I tried Triangulatica trial and ready to buy a license. What should I do?
Step 1: pay the selected license in the Buy section
Step 2: the payment system will send an activation key on your email, which is needed to be applied in Triangulatica (File – Licensing). When the activation succeeded, you will see the message that the activation succeeded.
Enjoy using Triangulatica! - What should I do if the Triangulatica trial period has finished and it doesn’t start anymore? How do I activate my license?
Email us (info@triangulatica.com) and we will send you instructions.
Purchasing and choosing type of license
- What versions of Triangulatica can I buy?
At the moment we provide the following versions of Triangulatica:
Triangulatica Premium, Triangulatica Master и Triangulatica Basic. - Which version of Triangulatica does suit me better?
In the first place, you need to decide what additive technologies you have Triangulatica planned to use with, then, how much you are going to print. The following scheme will help you to make the right choice.
- Is it possible to save money buying Triangulatica?
Yes, there is a license Pay by slice made especially for those, who is not going to print much. You can buy TriPoints when you need them, and interchange them for raster or vector slicings.
Technical tips and issues
- I have more than one printer, and they are based on different technologies. Will it be convenient for me to use Triangulatica?
Yes. You can slice for different technologies using Triangulatica and switching between the printers and “Triangulatica slicer cores” takes seconds; - What are “Triangulatica slicer cores”?
Triangulatica has two slicers inside it: a raster and a vector. We call them “Triangulatica slicer cores”. You can turn off any of them in order to make the interface simpler; - Can Triangulatica generate supports?
Yes. We provide the following types of supporting structures: pillars, linear pillars and simplified pillars. Also there are different modes of automatic support generation, pillar support connectors generation, automatic support generation for local extremums of objects and a perimetrical supports generation. Also there is an option to place and edit the supports manually. - I use different types of supports, will it be convenient for me to use Triangulatica?
For those who love precise set-ups of the support generator for every case they need, Triangulatica has a possibility to create and save support presets. - How long does it take to calculate supports in Triangulatica?
Practically immediate (on the fly) thanks to the using of GPU. - Is it possible to generate supports that penetrate into the model?
Of course, everything is customized. - I have a SLA printer and I need to generate rafts for the printing process to be succeeded. Does Triangulatica provide rafts?
Triangulatica has a good collection of rafts of different types, which makes the SLA printing easier. All rafts are customizable. - Which materials does Triangulatica work with?
In Triangulatica you can use the following materials: filaments, photo polymers, metal powders, heat-melt polymer powders, thermoplastic granules, heat-melt waxes or gels и uv-curable waxes or gels. - What is TriCorrection?
TriCorrection is an utility, developed by Triangulatica team for creating correction tables for vector printers. In the process of printing some non-linear distortions could appear because of peculiarities of the optics and scanning systems. In order to compensate these distortions, the correction table is needed to be created for each printer individually. These tables could be created in TriCorrection and applied to the printer’s profile in Triangulatica. - What 3D models formats does Triangulatica support?
For the moment Triangulatica supports the following 3D model formats: .stl, .ifc, .amf, .3mf, .3ds, .blend, .blender, .fbx, .obj, .ply, .x3d and .tristl - What is tristl format?
Tristl is a new format, developed by Triangulatica team for internal usage. It is based on the normal stl format and can be opened with the standard stl viewer. But in addition to the standard stl format, tristl has some information, which accelerates calculation and slicing processes while working with Triangulatica. - How can I view a tristl file?
The simplest way is to open it in Triangulatica. Alternatively, you can change the extension of the file to stl and open it with any standard stl viewer. - What formats of output files of slicing does Triangulatica support?
Triangulatica provides a large amount of formats of slicing. For the moment it is possible to slice scenes into: png, bmp and tiff for raster printers, and .gcode, .svg, .cvs, .slc, .cli and .tribin for vector printers. - What is tribin format?
Tribin is a RAW (low-level format of storing unpacked «raw» data) format, supported by Triangulatica hardware platform and it allows to benefit from all the advantages of the Triangulatica complex, such as for example TriCorrection. This format stores data about the movements of the actuating mechanism (placement of the point of the laser scanner) along with time, power and other characteristics. - Who is tribin format useful for?
Tribin format is useful for scientists and those who does science. By investigating and processing the data point by point and comparing received results, it is possible to discover the correlations (in SLM or ceramic printing for example), that cannot be found using traditional methods in known formats. - Where can I find the specification of tribin format?
We are in the process of developing the documentation, it will be published soon. If you have any questions right now, email us at info@triangulatica.com. - How can I view files of tribin format?
In order to view tribin files you can use TriBin Viewer utility, which is free to download. The program lets you watch the state of laser, electronic beam or extruder in every point and you can choose from static, step-by-step or animated modes. - Why does Triangulatica have so high slicing speed?
It uses graphics card in the large amount of operation along with pre-calculations of models, that can be saved in tristl format for future usages. - How do I get a tristl file?
To get a tristl file go to Optimize – Make TriSTL file. It has two options: “To selected” and “Add data to generate perimetrical supports”. The first one will convert only selected models and the second one should be used only in the case when you know that you will generate perimetrical supports for the model. It takes some time, so don’t select it if you won’t generate perimetrical supports. After the conversion completes, you will find the result in the same directory and with the same name as the original model, only with “tristl” extension. The original file will stay unchanged. - Can I replace my 3D printer’s native software with Triangulatica?
Yes. Triangulatica has been successfully tested with some European and Chinese printers. For compatibility reasons Triangulatica supports SLC and CLI formats. Video instructions are available in Video Tutorials section. - What advantages does Triangulatica have?
You will get any possibilities, such as a lot of customizable parametrized fillings, a possibility of multipass slice, including raster printers. If you want more from your 3D printer, consider Triangulatica as your slicer. - How many customizable parametrized types of fillings does Triangulatica provide?
In Triangulatica Premium version there are 23 customizable parametrized types of fillings. You can find every single one of them for SLM technology, including some exotic ones, such as Hilbert Curve. In Triangulatica Master version, there are less of them, but even so, it is more than sufficient for the SLA or SLS systems. - What is multipass slicing?
Multipass slicing is a calculation for vector (laser, electronic beam, extruder) and raster (LCD, DLP, BinderJet, MJM) technologies, in which one layer is formed by passing the instrument with defined parameters one or more times. Thus the user can create the conditions to process the most complicated materials. - Can I slice models into raster with internal structural filling?
Of course, Triangulatica has various patterns for this purpose. - Is it possible to make multipass raster slicing? UV-curing with LCD DLP matrix doesn’t imply multipass!
It didn’t before. Now we have created an instrument, which contains in its most basic version (Triangulatica Basic) a core, which is able to realize this unique technology. Using this technology gives a big opportunity for all manufacturers of additive systems based on matrices to obtain a new quality of printing. For example, thanks to this function, it is possible to calculate and print supports, that penetrate the model. - Does Triangulatica suit for printing systems based on piezo printheads (JET)?
Yes. - Bio-printing and Triangulatica?
Yes. We have a possibility to calculate the interpenetration of materials. This function could be useful to use Triangulatica for 3D bioprinting. - Triangulatica is a very good slicer with many possibilities, but it lacks of a function I need. When could you realize this function?
We pay a lot of attention to the needs of our customers and if you email us at info@triangulatica.com describing how you would like to make Triangulatica better, we will strongly consider to include this new function in our TODO list.
Troubleshooting
- I found a bug or a problem. How can I report it?
Please, email us as soon as possible at info@triangulatica.com or you can also describe the problem in Support section. - I downloaded and installed Triangulatica, but the models I import on the scene don’t appear.
Due to the fact that Triangulatica is a high performance program and many calculations are made using GPU, Triangulatica requires OpenGL 4.6. Unfortunately, if the computer or notebook has an integrated graphics card, then Triangulatica likely won’t function correctly. Check if your graphic card supports OpenGL 4.6 and update your graphic card’s drivers.
Collaboration with Triangulatica
- I would like to collaborate with Triangulatica LLC.
Please, email us at info@triangulatica.com - How much does the integration of my additive system with Triagulatica cost and can it be free?
There are some options of collaborations. Please, write us at info@triangulatica.com
In case of any other questions, please email us at info@triangulatica.com
