Articles on: Cloud Slicer

Guided slicer: get a model ready to print

Guided slicer: get a model ready to print


Pre-release: Guided slicer and its AI assistant are not live yet. This article is available for internal review and may change before release.


Guided slicer gives you a shorter path from a model to a printable file. You tell SimplyPrint what the part needs to do, review a print check and suggested setup, then apply the settings and slice from the same three-step flow.


Guided slicer includes an instant rules-based print check on every plan. AI print checks are optional, use a separate allowance, and may be disabled by your organization.


Table of contents


What Guided slicer does

Guided slicer focuses on the decisions that matter most for a successful print. It measures the active build plate, checks whether the model fits, looks for common printability concerns, and recommends a compatible print profile plus a small set of practical settings.


The workflow is designed for a first print, a classroom task, or any time you want a sensible result without searching through every slicer setting. Recommendations remain visible before they are applied. You can decline optional rows, while settings locked by a teacher or organization stay applied.


Open Cloud Slicer and choose Guided. You can also open Guided slicer directly from the slicer link in your panel.


Step 1: Pick

The Pick step brings the model, printer, and print goal together. Upload a model, choose it from My Files, or select an item from the Starter Library when your organization has enabled it.


Choose what the print should do, such as a decoration, a strong part, or a part that must fit another part. This changes the recommendation baseline. A decorative model can favor surface quality, while a strong part can favor more walls and a strength-oriented profile.


Guided slicer can select a printer automatically when several models are available. It considers whether the model fits and uses the machine and profile data already configured in your account. You can also pick a printer manually. The slicer engine is chosen for the printer brand when possible and remains manually overridable when your permissions allow it.


Read the detailed Pick-step guide.


Step 2: Check

The Check step measures the model and shows a verdict, the most important concerns, and a suggested setup. The rules-based result appears first, so the core workflow does not depend on AI or a paid allowance.


Each suggested setting includes a reason. Optional rows can be turned off before continuing. Teacher-locked rows are clearly marked and cannot be declined by a student.


When AI is available and you opt in, SimplyPrint can also review six labelled views of the active plate with the measured report. The AI response is schema-validated and constrained by measured fit and teacher policy. Guided then maps it to a real compatible profile and rechecks permissions when you apply it.


Learn how to read the Check step.


Step 3: Print

Choose Use these settings and slice to apply the accepted setup and start slicing in one action. A successful action does not require a second Slice click. If slicing fails after the settings were applied, Slice my model lets you retry.


The Print step shows the settings used and the usual output actions. If you have a connected print target, you can continue with the available print or queue actions. If you only use the slicer and have no connected printer, you can save or download the generated G-code instead.


Your remaining cloud-slicing allowance is shown before the slice starts. The normal Cloud Slicer quota still applies independently of any AI-check allowance.


Follow the Print-step guide or read Cloud Slicer limits and queue.


Local checks and AI checks

The instant local check runs in your browser and uses measured geometry plus deterministic rules. It is the default and remains available when AI is off, unavailable, or out of allowance.


An AI check is a progressive enhancement. It can add visual context and a short explanation, but it does not replace the measured report or the server-side safety checks. Failed AI requests fall back to the local result.


The AI card shows whether AI is available and, when applicable, how many checks remain. Free accounts without an AI allowance can still complete the full Guided workflow with the local check.


Printers, engines, and profiles

Guided slicer uses the printer models and slicer profiles already available in your account. A printer needs a compatible machine profile before it can slice.


The selected engine matters because profiles belong to an engine. Guided slicer prefers the official engine for a printer brand when a compatible profile is available, such as PrusaSlicer for Prusa or BambuStudio for Bambu Lab. You can override that choice if the engine-change permission is enabled for your rank.


The Check step chooses a real compatible print profile rather than inventing settings that do not exist. It considers the selected quality goal, nozzle diameter, nozzle volume type, and the profiles available for that machine.


School and organization controls

Organizations can make Guided mode optional, the default, required for a rank, or unavailable. Account administrators choose the print goals and student AI recheck limit across the account. Per-rank controls decide whether AI and written instructions are allowed and lock values such as material, quality, infill, supports, orientation, fit-only scaling, or adhesion.


School AI access also follows SimplyPrint's school privacy controls. If the required zero-data-retention approval is not active, students keep the complete local rules workflow and see why AI is unavailable.


See the teacher and administrator guide.


When to use Expert mode

Choose Use Expert mode when you need per-object settings, paint tools, detailed support controls, custom G-code, or another advanced workflow. Moving between Guided and Expert mode keeps the same slicer project.


Expert mode also has an optional AI assistant. It can suggest a profile and a small set of global process-setting changes for a written print goal, or help find one exact setting. It never applies a recommendation until you choose it, and applied changes use the slicer's undo history.


Read about AI help in Expert mode.


Updated on: 25/08/2026

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