How do you export slicer supports as an STL?
Not great at CAD, but sick of slicer supports changing every time someone else prints your file? Slant 3D has a trick most people don’t know: export supports from PrusaSlicer as an STL. You generate them once, check where they land, and bake them into the model.
Applies to
- Process
- FDM / filament (supports generated in PrusaSlicer’s SLA mode)
- Software
- PrusaSlicer
- When
- You want fixed supports in a shared file but don’t want to draw them
Why it matters
The whole reason to design supports is that you, the designer, get the result you intended. Not whatever someone else’s slicer decides on the day.
PrusaSlicer will only export supports as solid geometry in SLA mode. FDM supports exist as a toolpath, so all you can get out is G-code. Switch the printer to an SLA machine and the tree supports become a real mesh you can save.
That’s a clean model, part plus supports, that you can upload to a print service or share with your community. Nobody downstream has to generate anything.
What good looks like
- Supports generated where you, the designer, want them
- Pillars and heads made fat enough for FDM, not resin-thin
- One STL with the part and supports as geometry
- The part sits on the bed in your FDM slicer, not floating
How to apply it
- Open PrusaSlicer in its normal FDM setup, then switch the printer to an SLA machine profile.
- Turn on supports and make them fat and thick: raise the pillar and pinhead diameters well past resin defaults, because these will print on an FDM machine.
- Generate the supports and check where they land. Edit the support points to move them where you want.
- Export the plate as STL including supports. That saves geometry, not a toolpath.
- Open the STL in your FDM slicer and confirm the part sits where you expect on the bed.
- Slice with slicer supports off and print it once to prove it before you share it.
Exceptions & tradeoffs
Slant 3D is upfront that these supports are a little weird. They’re not always dense enough for FDM, so a long flat overhang can still droop between pillars.
SLA mode lifts the part off the platform by default. For an FDM print you usually want the part on the bed, so lower that elevation or check the exported part lands where you want it.
Common mistakes
- Exporting with resin-thin supports that snap the moment an FDM nozzle touches themMake the pillars and heads fat before you generate
- Sharing the file without printing it once yourselfPrint it on your own machine before you upload it
- Trying to export FDM supports and getting only G-codeGenerate them in an SLA profile, then export the plate with supports
Frequently asked questions
- Can you export supports as an STL in PrusaSlicer?Yes, in SLA mode. Switch to an SLA printer profile, generate supports, and export the plate as STL including supports.
- Why can’t I export FDM supports as an STL?FDM supports only exist as toolpaths, so the slicer can only give you G-code. SLA supports are real geometry, which is why the SLA-mode trick works.
- Do exported SLA supports work on an FDM printer?They can, if you make the pillars and heads fat first. Slant 3D notes they’re not always dense enough, so print it once before you share the file.
- Why bake supports into a shared model?So everyone who prints it gets the supports you chose, instead of whatever their own slicer generates.
PrusaSlicer’s SLA mode exports tree supports as a solid STL for FDM use; make them fat, they’re not always dense enough — Stop Using Slicer Supports | Design for 3D Printing ↗ at 10:05.
The SLA-profile trick is Slant 3D’s, and it’s a clever one. The setting names (pillar and pinhead diameter, export plate with supports) are PrusaSlicer’s. If you’d rather place breakaway fins one by one with a waist that snaps clean, that’s what we built the Wingman for.