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OrcaSlicer

OrcaSlicer is the slicing engine PrintStudio uses to convert uploaded STL/3MF files into printer-ready G-code. The slicing step runs as a BullMQ job in the slicing queue.

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”

When a job enters the SLICED queue stage, the slicing worker:

  1. Downloads the STL/3MF file from storage
  2. Resolves the slicer profile for the job’s SKU + quality tier
  3. Spawns OrcaSlicer as a CLI subprocess
  4. Uploads the generated G-code to storage
  5. Advances the job to QUEUED
VALIDATED job
      │
      ▼
slicing worker
      │  OrcaSlicer CLI
      │  --load-settings {profile}
      │  --export-gcode {output}
      ▼
G-code stored → job status: QUEUED

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

OrcaSlicer is included in the ecosystem Docker Compose. For local development, install it manually:

Terminal window
# macOS
brew install --cask orcaslicer


# Linux (AppImage)
wget https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/releases/latest/download/OrcaSlicer-linux.AppImage
chmod +x OrcaSlicer-linux.AppImage


# Set the path in .env
ORCASLICER_BINARY=/Applications/OrcaSlicer.app/Contents/MacOS/OrcaSlicer

Slicer Profiles

Section titled “Slicer Profiles”

PrintStudio ships with slicer profiles for common materials and quality tiers in packages/integrations/slicers/profiles/:

profiles/
  fdm/
    pla-draft.json
    pla-standard.json
    pla-fine.json
    petg-standard.json
    abs-standard.json
    tpu-standard.json
  resin/
    standard-resin.json
    engineering-resin.json

Profiles are JSON files in OrcaSlicer’s native format. You can export profiles from OrcaSlicer’s UI and drop them in this directory.

Mapping SKUs to Profiles

Section titled “Mapping SKUs to Profiles”

Each SKU specifies a slicerProfile key that maps to a profile file:

{
  "id": "sku-pla-functional-part",
  "slicerProfile": "fdm/pla-standard",
  "qualityTiers": {
    "draft": { "slicerProfile": "fdm/pla-draft" },
    "fine": { "slicerProfile": "fdm/pla-fine" }
  }
}

The slicing worker resolves the correct profile at runtime based on the job’s quality tier.

Environment Variables

Section titled “Environment Variables”
Terminal window
ORCASLICER_BINARY=/usr/local/bin/orcaslicer
ORCASLICER_PROFILES_DIR=./packages/integrations/slicers/profiles
SLICER_TIMEOUT_MS=300000      # 5 minutes max per job

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Slicing times out — Increase SLICER_TIMEOUT_MS for complex models. The default 5-minute limit handles most parts up to ~500MB STL.

“Profile not found” — Check that the slicerProfile key on the SKU matches a file in ORCASLICER_PROFILES_DIR.

OrcaSlicer crashes — Run the CLI command manually to see the full error output:

Terminal window
$ORCASLICER_BINARY \
  --load-settings ./packages/integrations/slicers/profiles/fdm/pla-standard.json \
  --export-gcode ./output.gcode \
  ./input.stl