Sculpteo Launches Fabpilot, Its Cloud-Based 3D Printing Software Solution

Last month, 3D printing specialist Sculpteo, based out of Paris and San Francisco, introduced its standalone software solution, Fabpilot, for the production of 3D printed parts. The company, which was the first online 3D printing service to launch its API, has spent eight years of in-house development creating the fully cloud-based software, and announced today that Fabpilot has officially launched.

In this age of Industry 4.0, the user-friendly software was designed to help professionals manage and optimize their production center 3D printing fleets. Fabpilot industrializes 3D printing – the solution evolved from Sculpteo’s own 3D printing process and software tools, which have been used internally since the company was founded in 2009 to decrease 3D printer operating costs and increase efficiency.

Fabpilot is based on four distinct pillars, the first of which is its ease of use. The intuitive software was designed to be user-friendly with no necessary downloads, installations, or training required. Because it’s available on the cloud, Fabpilot offers users access at all hours of the day, no matter where they are, so they can work together with other users. It decreases the print failure rate by 50%, and costs about five times less than competing 3D software. In addition, every step of the production process, from manufacturing and quality control to final delivery, was internally optimized so users could get the most out of 3D printing with decreased costs and lead times and improved part quality.

These features are nice contrasts to other software solutions that are too expensive, too slow, or require hours of training to be able to use, and professionals can enjoy all of them in one central, standalone solution thanks to Fabpilot.

Fabpilot is Software as a Service (SAAS), and allows third parties to manage and control their 3D printer fleets, handling all of the necessary steps such as nesting orders, preparing parts, the actual 3D printing process, and shipping. Sculpteo has paid close attention to the issues that plague production centers, and made sure that its intuitive software would provide all of the tools its users would need in one solution, without any extra modules.

“At Sculpteo, we believe that 3D printing is radically changing the landscape of industrial manufacturing. Every day we see this technology’s benefits for our customers,” said Sculpteo Co-founder Clément Moreau. “To bring this technology to a wider audience, we have decided to push things further by integrating our own expertise into this software, which is now available to everyone. Technology is nothing without the right tools to use it!”

The software gives professionals several helpful tools for production center needs, such as:

• Project management – restrict project access and receive automatic project notifications
• Data preparation – receive files from multiple sources and analyze, repair, and process them
• Plant operations – track items through production and prioritize jobs
• QC and monitoring – share real-time updates with the project team and integrate job history

Fabpilot adapts to most professional 3D printers, and offers step-by-step support to the 3D printing workshop operator at each work stage – as an example, files are automatically corrected, multiple orders are virtually nested at the same time for improved efficiency, and parts are hollowed out as much as they can be within their mechanical constraints. It is also compatible with over 30 different file formats, so you won’t have to convert data from 3D modeling software to a more readable format.

Sculpteo’s new cloud-based software solution is now available to purchase for just $99 a month; you can also request a free demo or trial.

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[Images: Sculpteo]