TrestleFDM

FDM tree supports. Resin-fine tips.

TrestleFDM grows sturdy filament tree supports under your miniatures and lets them touch the model only through a fine resin-style tip. They hold every overhang, survive the nozzle brushing past, and snap off leaving only small marks. Export a 3MF and print it in any slicer.

What it does

• Hybrid tree supports: branches merge into thick trunks that stand on wide feet. Only the last fraction of a millimetre is thin.
• Finds the edges that would sag: every hanging edge and corner gets its contacts, in rows along the edge and evenly across flat faces, so outer walls never print over nothing.
• See every contact: Show contact dots colours each point by the reason it was placed, with a key.
• Layer-by-layer contact check: the print is simulated layer by layer to find islands, hanging edges and the underside of arms and legs. You get the fewest contacts that still print clean.
• Reaches the tight spots: inside a mouth, between teeth or under a chin, a support can stand on the model. It ends on a fine tip too.
• Edit by hand: left click adds a point, right click removes one, with undo and redo.
• Orient, scale, repair: find the best face to lay the model on, rotate it with handles, scale it in mm or %, and repair broken meshes in one click.
• Any slicer: one 3MF with the model, supports and raft. In Bambu Studio and OrcaSlicer the supports bring their own print settings. It opens in PrusaSlicer and Cura too.
• Nothing hidden: any spot that would print in the air is marked in red, with the reason.

What you get

• TrestleFDM.exe (Windows app) and trestlefdm-cli.exe (command line)
• 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm nozzle presets, Light / Normal / Dense support density
• Instant download (0.5 MB ZIP)

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11. No install, no account, works offline.
• Any FDM printer and any slicer that opens 3MF or STL. Developed and tested on a Bambu Lab A1 mini.

This is the 1.0 beta. Questions, or a model that does not work? Email diogom3d1@gmail.com.