As multi extruder printers and core XY printers with tool changers become more prevalent, this might be the case. Out the box 3mf can carry much more data about colors, materials, etc. Out of the box I believe that STL doesn't support that, but it's also just a text file, so I can't see why you couldn't extend the format.

I just looked at Cura and Kisslicer and they both support the 3MF format.

I could imagine some future where you've got a file that would fully support building a complex product that might include additive, subtractive, trace drawing, pick and place and firmware load. That would be cool.

Tim.

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 7:28 PM Richard Klein via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:

Somewhat off-topic for this list, but we often discuss 3D printing...

I'm sitting in a SolidWorks user group meeting. The presenter mentioned that Windows 10 includes a 3D paint program (or maybe it's a 3D mode in the regular paint program). You can paint in there and import the files into SolidWorks for further editing.

He also mentioned that he thinks 3MF files will replace STL because they carry more data.
_______________________________________________
WLUG mailing list -- wlug@lists.wlug.org
To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave@lists.wlug.org