Now that 3D Builder is Gone, what can we use since Windows hates 3D Printing?

It seems that Microsoft's distain for 3D printing is deeper than initially thought. If you missed your chance to get 3D Builder, don't despair, there are a few alternatives you can still use:

Special Thanks to @SlicePrintRoleplay for providing an archived version of 3D Builder:

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00:00 Intro
00:55 Where do Bad Meshes Come From?
06:41 Blender Repair
08:53 Prusa/Orca Slicer
12:28 NetFabb Classic
14:41 MeshMixer
15:55 Autodesk
16:47 Yo Ho Ho

[MrLzender]

10:00 PrusaSlicer is telling you that the model needs to be fixed. There is a small exclamation mark warning symbol next to the name of the object

[SlicePrintRoleplay]

For anyone interested, the 3rd party installer for 3D Builder has been fully tested and scanned for viruses. 😊
Thanks so much for the link to my video. I hope that solution helps this awesome community.

[SlicePrintRoleplay]

A fantastic deep dive into the different possible options to replace 3D Builder. I'm sure this will save people a ton of time!

[theaninova]

I'm pretty sure that orca slicer uses the same windows fix thing, and I can say that that often threw errors that it was not available because I was on Linux when it detected a bad mesh

[oBsRVr]

In PrusaSlicer (if you have at least switched it to normal or expert mode) you will find that there is little exclamation mark inside a triangle icon right next to the name of the model in the list of models / instances if the slicer thinks there is anything wrong with the model. The icon can even be seen in this video. The same is true for OrcaSlicer if you switch to the Objects section where you can see a similar model list with the same icon next to the name. I do agree that we don't know how this repair function is implemented however and that we don't know if it will still be there when / if Microsoft decides to remove this feature from Windows.

[sierraecho]

We need a new Meshmixer/3D Building standalone software tool. I would even pay for it.

[grinningidiot]

I never actually knew about these repair tools. I always just used the 3d print menu in blender to analyze the errors in a model, then I manually repair them. Over the past few years of doing that I've gained a kind of instinctive understanding of how blender does it's boolean math which has shaped my modeling techniques to minimize errors starting with base geometry.

[Anthromod]

I've wanted to make a geometry nodes set up in Blender that can do most of my part clean up, but not quite managed it yet. I did build a hollowing and lattice tool which I often use to make infill patterns in parts. Especially useful in resin, or powder based printers where the slicers typically have far fewer options. It's non-destructive, so you can edit the base mesh and have the changes auto updated.

[MakerBees]

One of the best things about Blender, if you put in the time, you learn step be step how to avoid and prevent bad booleans! This used to be a big problem, as I went step by step and checked and repaired small mistakes, especially with ‘Remesh’ on the parts as I went it truly resolved the final problems that this video is addressing…

I should really make a tutorial 🤔 but I still squirm thinking about the hassle of kicking off my YouTube channel

[glabifrons]

The carnevil coin reminded me of an utterly fantastic song with a bizarre name: Karn Evil 9 1st Impression, Part 2 (by Emerson Lake & Palmer)
While next to no-one will remember it by name, any Gen-Xer or anyone who likes Gen-X music will absolutely recognize the song as the first word of the lyrics is sung, if not by the first notes from the keyboard.
Highly recommended... I had to pause the video to listen to it.

[sirrola]

I have a 2 year old Qidi X-Plus 2. There is a network plugin only for Cura. My Neptune 4 only have been printing reliably with Cura and not with Orca since I made a firmware update. I wanted to fix a bed leveling Issue.

[MrRschutte]

you can see in the popups it is uploading it to windows services for the repair Prusa slicer/Orca Slicer ... If that is the same as 3D builder?

[avejst]

Great walkthrough of the possible ways to repair our STLs.
I wish too, that MS just released the source code for the program thou.
Thanks for letting the work out about the removal of 3D Builder

[Hilmi]

I'm not sure but I seem to remember orca giving me a warning when I loaded an stl with sever issues. But might be I'm remembering incorrectly. I think same people who won't upgrade their slicer will also not download an external app to fix the STL. Also Microsoft is the company that said release date of processor is one of the criteria for compatibility with windows 11 regardless of feature set and performance

[deandavies]

I recently had an issue where i was going tip more from cura to orca as everyone and their dog was singing it's virtues. I have stl models and subsequent gcode that had worked fine in cura and produced perfect prints again and again. When i then imported the same stl into orca it had a melt down with non manifold mesh. And then when it tried to repair the mesh it destroyed the model. The model had good for captive magnets and decided that they were no longer needed and destroyed them. I did in the end find a way to brute force orca to print the alleged non manifold model to print. There is a setting in orca that over looks the problem, I'm not at my pc so can't remember the exact setting name but it is for printing certain types of rc plant files where internal voids are purposefully included to save weight and increase rigidity.

[jamesfowley]

Creality Print 5.1 has a repair menu choice. I haven't tried it yet.

[mikex]

"There is nothing on this screen that tells me that this mesh is bad", ignores the error symbol telling you that you need to repair mesh.

[maikgorspott]

You could test whether the repair routines in the Prusa or Orca slicer use windows components by testing the whole thing in a Linux version of the corresponding slicer.

Under Linux, no components of the 3D Builder should be included.

I don't have an active Linux system to test at the moment.

[LifeguardLeroy]

The Black box of the Repair tools are the most confusing part. Would be great if there's a tool too replace this too explain what its doing. Like it could highlight the errors before applying the fixes would be great.

[adrianlachlan]

3d builder is still available on softonic