What to know about multi-color prints

We are equipped with an Automatic Material System (AMS) which automates the switching of different filaments during a print.

This means we can support prints with up to 4 different colors for a single object.

However, there are important practical limitations to keep in mind:

• You generally cannot mix materials of different types (e.g. PLA and TPU) since these require different operating temperatures - but you can mix PLA variations (matte, metal...). Also some materials are not compatible with AMS. We will notify you if your selection is not doable.
• In practice, filament swaps are a relatively costly operation in terms of time (about 2min for each swap to unload and purge the old filament and load the new one) and material (since some filament is wasted every time), and should be minimized. Remember that the printing process happens layer by layer, so if for instance you print an object with 200 layers (e.g. 40mm height at standard quality of 0.2mm layer), and each layer has 4 colors, the print will require a staggering 4x200 = 800 filament swaps! The orientation of the object in the print can heavily impact this, but cannot be automatically simulated in the online preview, and will be optimized manually by our staff once you submit your project for review.
• Color encoding in 3D model file formats is not well standardized, and many models you find online may not have the different color regions defined in a way that our online tool can easily interpret. If you cannot find the right color assignment in the online tool, don't hesitate to tell us in the project notes or reach out over chat, and we can send you a preview of what we can do.
• STL files do not have color support, so the object can only be assigned a single color.