What the print checks look at, and what they do not

Every version is measured when it is built. The results are in the Print tab, and the chat card counts the problems. This page says what each check is, with its numbers, so you know what a green result does and does not tell you.

Problems and print notes

The checks answer two different questions, and the Print tab keeps them apart.

What is checked on every part

• Valid geometry. A part whose geometry is broken is a problem.
• Holes in the surface. For a mesh, any open edge, meaning a hole in its skin, is a problem, and so is a surface that folds onto itself.
• One piece per part. A part that comes out as two or more separate pieces is a problem, because it was expected to be one.

Overlaps

Every part is checked against every mock and every other part, and each pair's overlap is measured in cubic millimetres. An overlap bigger than 0.001 mm³ is a problem, and the Print tab names the pair. Smaller amounts are treated as rounding. Pairs whose bounding boxes do not touch are skipped without measuring. If a part and a mock cannot be measured against each other, that is reported as a problem, not as a pass.

Overhangs

A face that points downwards and leans out more than 45 degrees from vertical needs support under it. The check adds up the area of such faces and finds the steepest one. If the steepest is 85 degrees or more, the note says some of it is flat underneath.

Two details make this more useful than a plain angle test. First, a part is measured as it sits on the bed: in the print orientation the design chose, with its lowest point at the bed. If the AI turns a part another way up to print better, the note updates or goes away. Second, faces that rest on the bed are not counted, because nothing hangs there.

Bed size

Each part is compared with the board you chose, a printer's build volume or a grid of your own size. A part larger than the bed gets a print note, and nothing is rebuilt when you change the board. See printer bed sizes.

What is not checked

Being plain about this matters more than the list above.

• Wall thickness. There is no thin-wall check yet. Read the sizes in the view, or section the part, and ask for the thickness you want.
• Strength. Nothing is calculated about loads, so a bracket that "should hold 5 kg" is not shown to.
• Tolerances between printed parts. The slide-in test finds collisions in the model, not how tightly two printed parts will fit once printed.
• Your printer, nozzle and filament. They are never changed, and the checks know nothing about them.
• Slicing. ShapeDis does not slice or send anything to a printer.

Treat a clean result as "nothing obviously wrong", then measure the printed part and test it.