HueForge layer height: 0.08 mm layers on a 0.16 mm first layer

HueForge’s default layer height is 0.08 mm, and its developer prints those layers on a 0.16 mm first (base) layer at 100% infill. Set both in your slicer exactly as in HueForge, because every color swap is counted from those two numbers.

Setting	HueForge print
Layer height	0.08 mm default, 0.04 mm in the developer’s Color Aware tutorial model
First (base) layer	0.16 mm
Infill	100%
Nozzle	0.4 mm works, down to 0.02 mm layers per HueForge
Color swaps	At the heights listed in HueForge’s Describe.txt

What layer height should you use for HueForge?

Use 0.08 mm, HueForge’s default layer height, with 100% infill and a 0.16 mm first layer. The developer’s Color Aware tutorial model drops to 0.04 mm, and HueForge says layers as thin as 0.02 mm work on a 0.4 mm nozzle for more blending. Whatever you pick, enter the same value in HueForge and in the slicer.

HueForge says lower layer heights increase blending and image fidelity. Halving the layer height doubles the number of layers above the base.

Going under 0.08 mm on a 0.4 mm nozzle takes you below what slicers expect:

• Bambu Studio: its 0.4 mm nozzle profiles set a 0.08 mm minimum layer height. Below it, Bambu Studio says the value “exceeds the limit in Printer Settings -> Extruder -> Layer height limits” and offers Adjust or Ignore. Choose Ignore, or lower that minimum.
• OrcaSlicer: its documentation puts the usual floor at 20% of the nozzle diameter: 0.08 mm on a 0.4 mm nozzle. HueForge’s thinner layers go under it on purpose, to blend colors. The layer height calculator shows the usual range for any nozzle.

If you change the layer height in the slicer, set it in HueForge too and export again.

What first layer height should you use for HueForge?

Use 0.16 mm, the base layer HueForge’s developer prints under 0.08 mm and 0.04 mm layers, and set it in both HueForge and your slicer. Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer and Original Prusa profiles use a 0.20 mm first layer on a 0.4 mm nozzle. Change it: HueForge counts every swap layer from the base.

The developer’s model pages read “Print at 100% infill with a layer height of 0.08mm with a base layer of 0.16mm”, and one says “0.16mm as the first layer”. In an early devlog post he explains that the layer height and base layer settings make the layer numbers come out right in the slicer.

What a 0.20 mm first layer does to the swaps

The top of layer n sits at first layer + (n − 1) × layer height. HueForge’s swap list for the developer’s Man in a Spacesuit print puts the first swap at layer 8: 0.16 + 7 × 0.08 = 0.72 mm. Slice it with a 0.20 mm first layer and layer 8 ends at 0.20 + 7 × 0.08 = 0.76 mm.

Swap	Layer	HueForge, 0.16 mm first layer	Slicer left at 0.20 mm
Black to darker color	8	0.72 mm	0.76 mm
Darker to lighter color	13	1.12 mm	1.16 mm
Lighter color to white	17	1.44 mm	1.48 mm

Entered by layer number, every swap lands 0.04 mm high, half a layer. Entered by height, no layer ends at 0.72 mm: the slicer’s layers end at 0.68 and 0.76 mm.

Where to set it

Slicer	Layer height	First layer height	Infill
Bambu Studio	Process > Quality > Layer height	Process > Quality > Initial layer height	Process > Strength > Sparse infill density
OrcaSlicer	Process > Quality > Layer height	Process > Quality > First layer height	Process > Strength > Sparse infill density
PrusaSlicer	Print Settings > Layers and perimeters > Layer height	Same group: First layer height	Print Settings > Infill > Fill density

Picking a 0.08 mm preset doesn’t fix the first layer: Bambu Studio’s 0.08 mm process presets inherit a 0.20 mm initial layer. Alongside 100% infill, the developer adds “NOT tons of perimeters”. Prusa notes that changing the first layer height will most likely mean redoing your first layer calibration.

How do you enter HueForge’s color swaps in your slicer?

Enter each swap at its height in mm, as HueForge’s FAQ advises. HueForge is not a slicer: it exports an STL plus a Describe.txt file listing each swap’s layer number and height, for example “At layer #11 (0.56mm) swap to Starlight Neptune”. Slice the STL, open the preview and move the layer slider to each swap layer:

• Bambu Studio: right-click the slider handle, which shows the layer number above its height. Choose Change Filament > Filament N if the project has several filaments, or Add Pause to swap by hand. Both act at the beginning of that layer. Jump to Layer, in the same menu, takes a layer number.
• PrusaSlicer: click the orange plus icon to add a color change, or right-click it and choose Add color change to pick the preview color. The printer pauses at that layer and asks for the new filament.

You don’t need an AMS or other automatic changer: HueForge’s FAQ says any filament printer that can pause for a swap works. With one, each swap also flushes plastic. Count the swaps in Describe.txt and price them with the multi-color waste calculator.

The swap list for the developer’s tutorial print also says “You may print at higher layer heights below the Min Depth of 0.48mm”. Thicker layers there shift every later layer number, so place the swaps by height. The optional 3MF Export plugin, a third-party add-on for HueForge, adds the thicker base layers itself. It writes the layer height, first layer height and color changes into a .3mf for 11 slicers.

If the print doesn’t match the preview

HueForge’s FAQ gives this checklist:

1. Check each filament’s Transmission Distance (TD), the thickness of solid filament that light still gets through. A wrong TD is the most common cause. Remeasure it with the Seashell test or a TD1 meter.
2. Match the layer height and the base (first) layer between HueForge and the slicer.
3. Don’t scale the model’s Z height in the slicer. Resize it in HueForge instead.
4. Judge the result in the Front Lit preview if the print will be lit from the front.