laydient

Swap filaments throughout am FDM 3D print to create a vertical gradient effect

usage

from a command prompt, use laydient.py /path/to/source.gcode

Or place /path/to/laydient.py in the Post-processing scripts section in PrusaSlicer or maybe other slicers

how it works

it searches for LAYER_CHANGE in the input gcode, counts them, then generates a gradient with that number of steps. Then it searches again and inserts toolchanges into the gcode at the appropriate layers. Finally, it outputs the code as input-filename_gradient.gcode into the source directory.

toolchanges

This script inserts the following gcode for each tool change:

G10
T#
G11

This retracts the filament, swaps the tool, then unretracts. The rest of the toolchange/purge is up to your firmware.

IMPORTANT

Make sure you slice your file for a single extruder, this does not take existing toolchanges into account.