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Left or middle drag: orbit. Right or Shift+drag: pan. Wheel: zoom.
walloverhang too steepdivision point
Side view to scale
In the X2D, seen from the front.
Three stages: shape the vase, choose its surface, then print. Each stage checks the design and only lets you move on when it will print.
Walls: 0.8 mm layers, 1.6 mm line, 25 mm/s (thick plate C3). Loops: 12 mm/s, full fan. Base: 0.32 mm layers, 0.82 mm line, 100 % flow, 40 mm/s (base plate E3 and E4). Untick to change them.
PETG prints at 245 °C for the first layer and 250 °C after, bed 70 °C, fan 60 % from the fourth layer (Bambu PETG Basic, from your X2D slices). It melts slower than PLA, so speeds are lowered to stay under the max flow. Bambu's profile says 15–16 mm³/s on the 0.4 and 0.6 nozzles (there is no 0.8 slice yet, so 16 is the starting point); your PLA ran well above its profile, so a speed test plate in PETG may let you raise it.
The height is split into equal divisions. At each point pick a shape, size, rotation and corner radius; the wall blends between them. The profile graph is off while Shape loft is on: the radius in Size is 100 %, and each point's size sets the width there.
Points, top to bottom
Side view to scale
In the X2D, seen from the front.
Each layer prints its row of loops first, then the smooth inner walls. Every layer sits half a stitch over, so each loop bridges the gap between two loops below: the knit look. With a solid base, the base reaches 1 mm past the wall so the first row of loops rests on it, then the loops step out gently over the next layers.
Vertical grooves with flat strips between them, like a Greek column. Every layer sits straight on the one below, so nothing overhangs.
A picture wrapped around the vase like a label on a can: black presses into the wall, white stays on the surface, greys land in between. Each layer prints the relief line first, then filler beads behind the raised parts and the smooth inner walls, so the inside stays clean. With no inner walls the wall itself bends and the picture shows inside too.
Patterns made right here, no picture needed: ribs, knurl, scales, hammered metal, honeycomb, bark and more. They tile seamlessly round the vase and print like an image relief: the textured line first, then filler beads and the smooth inner walls.
A plain wall, the clean canvas for a logo on the side. Each layer prints the outer line, then the smooth inner walls.
On a shape loft the loops or flutes follow the outline. Pattern bands are for round vases.
Before you choose an image: a seamless (tileable) texture works best. The picture wraps around the vase and its left and right edges meet at the back, so an image whose edges don't match leaves a line there. Search for "seamless texture" or "tileable pattern". If yours doesn't tile, tick Blend the seam. Bold, high-contrast shapes bigger than about 2 mm print best; fine photo detail is lost in a 1.6 mm bead.
The layers take turns between the two nozzles. Where a colour should show, its layer runs on the surface and the other colour's layer sits back by the cover depth, hidden behind its neighbours. From the side you mostly see one colour, with fine lines of the other at the edges. Depth can go down to 0 for a flat two-colour picture. It prints on two 0.4 or two 0.6 nozzles, PLA, with the swap code from your two-colour slices. Each swap takes about half a minute. With at least one smooth inner wall there is no prime tower and the base prints in one colour. Each nozzle starts its layer with a seam loop: a flat folded loop, two beads, lying along the inside of the inner wall at the back. The nozzle comes down there, runs along the curve, turns, comes back against the wall and carries straight on into the inner walls, so its first, uneven flow and any ooze go into the loop. Every line of the layer, the outside one too, starts on that same seam at the back, and the step out to the outside line needs no retract, so the outside seam stays one tidy line. The nozzle moves from one line to the next without printing, so nothing is dragged across the wall. Seam loop sets its length; 0 starts straight on the inner wall. With no inner walls there is no prime tower either: the seam loop lies along the inside of the wall itself, touching its innermost points, and takes the tower's place. Only with no inner walls and Seam loop at 0 does it fall back to a small prime tower behind the vase.
The layers take turns between the two nozzles. With a pattern chosen in Pattern band, each stitch shows the colour the chart wants: the layer in that colour keeps its loop full out, and the other colour's loop sits back by the cover depth, so the pattern comes out in nozzle 1 on a nozzle 2 background. Outside the band the loops are all background colour. With no pattern (and on shape lofts) the two colours simply alternate layer by layer, a fine striped knit. It prints on two 0.4 or two 0.6 nozzles, PLA, with the swap code from your two-colour slices, and each swap takes about half a minute. With at least one smooth inner wall there is no prime tower and the base prints in one colour. Each nozzle starts its layer with a seam loop: a flat folded loop, two beads, lying along the inside of the inner wall at the back. The nozzle comes down there, runs along the curve, turns, comes back against the wall and carries straight on into the inner walls, so its first, uneven flow and any ooze go into the loop. Every line of the layer, the outside one too, starts on that same seam at the back, and the step out to the outside line needs no retract, so the outside seam stays one tidy line. The nozzle moves from one line to the next without printing, so nothing is dragged across the wall. Seam loop sets its length; 0 starts straight on the inner wall. With no inner walls there is no prime tower either: the seam loop lies along the inside of the wall itself, touching its innermost points, and takes the tower's place. Only with no inner walls and Seam loop at 0 does it fall back to a small prime tower behind the vase.
One logo or piece of text, pressed into the wall or standing out of it, or pressed into the bottom. A simple high-contrast logo works best: black on white, or a PNG with a see-through background. Lines thinner than about 2 mm on the side, or 1 mm on the bottom, won't show.
Computed from this page's settings
The vase as it will print, bead by bead, in millimetres: one .zip with an STL (any slicer, Blender, Rhino) and a Rhino .3dm with the beads and the toolpath curves. Big vases make big files; pick Lighter file to shrink them about three times. To print, use the .gcode.3mf from Make print file; a slicer can't keep the knit if it re-slices the STL.
The print growing layer by layer, as a video.
Test
The rest stay fixed:
Values are separated by commas, up to 8 each. Flow = layer height × line width × speed; your donor's PLA profile allows 22 mm³/s.
Row A is at the front of the plate, column 1 on the left. A1 has one square corner.
Piece wall, cut through
Click a piece on the plate to see its wall.
python calib_plate.py test-plate.json donor.gcode.3mf
Or press Send to Claude and ask for the file in the thread.