Troubleshooting

• Make sure you are uploading a .3MF file, not an STL, OBJ, or other format
• Export your model as 3MF from your slicer before uploading
• Check that the file is not corrupted — try re-exporting from your slicer

• Your 3MF may be missing required internal structure — try re-exporting from your slicer with default settings
• Very old slicer versions may produce non-standard 3MF files — update your slicer and re-export
• If the problem persists, contact gradientchef@gmail.com with your file attached

• Large 3MF files with high-resolution meshes can take time — try on a faster connection
• Files over approximately 50MB may time out — simplify your mesh in your slicer if possible

• Large, complex models with high polygon counts take longer to process
• Do not close the browser tab during generation — the process will be interrupted
• If generation exceeds 10 minutes, try a smaller model first to confirm the service is working

• Try uploading the file again — transient server errors occasionally occur
• Make sure your 3MF was exported from a supported slicer (PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, or Bambu Studio)
• If the error persists, contact gradientchef@gmail.com with your file and a description of the error

• Make sure you are opening the output 3MF from Gradient Chef, not your original file
• Switch to the color visualization mode in PrusaSlicer's layer view to see extruder assignments per layer
• Confirm you have the correct number of filament slots configured for your printer

The filament color shown in PrusaSlicer's preview reflects the color you have assigned to each extruder slot, not the physical filament color. Assign your actual filament colors to each slot to see an accurate preview. Gradient Chef assigns extruder numbers — the visual color is entirely up to your slicer configuration.

Check that your printer profile has the correct number of extruders configured. If you processed a 5-color gradient but your printer profile only has 4 extruders, PrusaSlicer will remap the 5th color. See FAQ — Extruder Count for details.

• Confirm your input 3MF was exported from OrcaSlicer, not PrusaSlicer or Bambu Studio
• Cross-slicer 3MF files may not process correctly — re-export your model natively from OrcaSlicer and try again

This is a known upstream Bambu bug (#9636) affecting macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon). Workaround: slice manually using the Bambu Studio GUI instead of CLI. This is not a Gradient Chef issue.

• Increase your transition speed in the Gradient Chef recipe editor for more gradual blending
• Reduce your min run setting to allow more frequent tool changes
• More extruder slots produce smoother gradients — a 2-color gradient will always look more abrupt than a 5-color gradient across the same height range

This is typically a wipe tower tuning issue in your slicer, not a Gradient Chef issue. Increase wipe tower volume or purge amounts for the specific filament combination you are using. Dark-to-light transitions generally require more purging than light-to-dark.

• Check your recipe stop positions — they are percentages of total model height (0% = bottom, 100% = top)
• Make sure you did not scale the model after processing — always set final scale before uploading

This is normal behavior for multi-material printing and is not caused by Gradient Chef. Purge material is deposited in the wipe tower, which may leave artifacts on interior surfaces of hollow models. These are hidden from the exterior and do not affect print quality.