Polyslice

An AI powered slicer designed specifically for the three.js ecosystem and inspired by the discussion on this issue. The idea is to be able to go straight from a three.js mesh to a machine usable G-code, thus eliminating the need for intermediary file formats and 3rd party slicing software.

Polyslice is designed to streamline and automate the 3D printing workflow. Whether you're designing models in three.js or loading existing STL, OBJ, or other 3D files, Polyslice can process them and generate machine ready G-code. With built-in support for popular printers/filaments and the ability to send G-code directly to your 3D printer via Web Serial API or serialport, the entire design-to-print workflow becomes seamless and programmable. It can work in both a web browser or Node.js environment, this makes 3D printing more accessible and eliminates the friction of using multiple tools.

Click the image below to watch the demo video on YouTube:

Installation

Node.js

Install

npm install @jgphilpott/polyslice

Import

// CommonJS
const THREE = require("three");
const { Polyslice, Printer, Filament, Loader, Exporter } = require("@jgphilpott/polyslice");

// ES module
import * as THREE from "three";
import polyslice from "@jgphilpott/polyslice";
const { Polyslice, Printer, Filament, Loader, Exporter } = polyslice;

Browser

For browser usage, use the ES module-compatible bundle:

<script type="importmap">
{
    "imports": {
        "three": "https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/build/three.module.min.js",
        "@jgphilpott/polyslice": "https://unpkg.com/@jgphilpott/polyslice/dist/index.browser.esm.js"
    }
}
</script>

<script type="module">
import * as THREE from "three";
import { Polyslice, Printer, Filament, Loader, Exporter } from "@jgphilpott/polyslice";
</script>

The ESM browser bundle (index.browser.esm.js) is designed for browser import/importmap usage, while the script-tag bundles (index.browser.js and index.browser.min.js) are legacy IIFE builds that expose a global Polyslice (along with Printer, Filament, Loader and Exporter) for direct <script> usage.

Quick Start

Here is a simple example to get you started:

// Require THREE, Polyslice, Printer and Filament (omit for browser)
const THREE = require("three");
const { Polyslice, Printer, Filament } = require("@jgphilpott/polyslice");

// Create the printer and filament objects
const printer = new Printer("Ender3");
const filament = new Filament("GenericPLA");

// Create the slicer instance with the printer, filament and other configs
const slicer = new Polyslice({
  printer: printer,
  filament: filament,
  infillPattern: "triangles",
  infillDensity: 30,
  testStrip: true,
  verbose: true
});

// Create a 1cm cube (10mm x 10mm x 10mm)
const geometry = new THREE.BoxGeometry(10, 10, 10);
const material = new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({ color: 0x00ff00 });
const cube = new THREE.Mesh(geometry, material);

// Slice the cube and generate the G-code
const gcode = slicer.slice(cube);

To run this example locally follow these steps:

1. Clone the Polyslice repo: git clone [email protected]:jgphilpott/polyslice.git
2. Navigate into the repo directory: cd polyslice
3. Install the node modules: npm install
4. Compile the code: npm run compile
5. Run the example script: node examples/scripts/quick-start.js

Features

Polyslice provides a comprehensive set of features for the 3D printing workflow:

Feature	Description	Documentation
🚀 Direct three.js integration	Work directly with three.js meshes and scenes	Examples
📁 File format support	STL, OBJ, 3MF, AMF, PLY, GLTF/GLB, Collada	Loaders
📝 G-code generation	Full set of G-code commands with configurable precision	G-code
📊 Print statistics	Automatic calculation of filament usage, material weight, and print time	G-code
⚙️ Printer profiles	44 pre-configured printer profiles	Printer Config
🧵 Filament profiles	35 pre-configured filament profiles	Filament Config
🔲 Infill patterns	Grid, triangles and hexagons patterns (more coming)	Infill
🧱 Wall generation	Configurable wall thickness	Walls
🎨 Skin layers	Top/bottom solid layers with exposure detection	Skin
🏗️ Support structures	Automatic support generation	Support
🔗 Build plate adhesion	Skirt, brim, and raft support for first-layer stability	Adhesion
📊 Progress feedback	Real-time progress callbacks for long slicing operations	API
🔌 Serial streaming	Send G-code directly to printers	Exporters
📏 Precision control	Optimize file size with configurable precision (20-30% reduction)	G-code
🌐 Universal	Works in Node.js and browsers	API

Documentation

For detailed documentation, see the docs folder:

• API Reference - Complete API documentation
• Examples - Practical usage examples
• Development Guide - Contributing and development
• Tools - G-code visualizer and sender
• Mesh Complexity - Performance guidelines for complex meshes

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to Open an Issue or submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT © Jacob Philpott