3D Printer Slicer Settings for Cosplay

Quality begins in the slicer. Your print settings directly determine how much sanding, filling, and repair work you’ll face later, as well as the long-term durability of your prop.

In this guide, I’m sharing the slicer settings and approaches that I personally use when printing costume props. These are the methods that have consistently worked well for me, and I’ve refined them through trial and error. Your printer, environment, and preferences may differ, but this should give you a strong starting point for dialing in your own workflow.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• Material selection
• Bed adhesion
• Model orientation
• Slicer settings for strength and quality
• Support tuning

Material Selection 

Different filaments offer different strengths and weaknesses for costume use, especially for armor parts that may be worn, transported, and handled at events. Your choice of filament impacts strength, heat resistance, sanding characteristics, and paint adhesion.

PLA softened within 30 minutes of warm airflow; PETG remained rigid.

Working with PETG
PETG absorbs moisture easily, which often shows up as blobs or stringing. When heated, absorbed moisture becomes steam and disrupts extrusion. Drying spools in a filament dryer results in cleaner, smoother prints. Even new spools may need drying.

Choosing the Right Material

Always consider the environment where the prop will be used. For indoor display pieces, PLA is often fine. For convention or outdoor use, PETG or ASA handle higher temperatures without warping. Color variety is irrelevant if you plan to paint the surface, since paint fully covers the base filament.

PETG strikes the best balance of durability, heat resistance, and ease of printing for most costume parts.

Bed Adhesion

Good bed adhesion is the foundation of every successful print. If the first layer doesn’t stick properly, the rest of the part is compromised before it even begins. Matching your material to the right build surface, maintaining that surface, and using adhesion aids when needed will prevent warping, lifting corners, or parts breaking free mid-print.

Material and Surface Matching

Different filaments perform best on specific build surfaces:

• PLA / PETG: Adhere reliably to PEI build plates.
• ABS / ASA: Work better on smooth glass or a heated surface with adhesion aids.

Adhesion Aids

Adhesion aids provide extra grip when prints struggle to stick, or act as a release layer when adhesion is too strong.

• Apply glue stick, hairspray, or painter’s tape to balance grip.
• Use barriers to protect plates from damage during part removal.

Maintenance

A clean surface ensures consistency across prints.

• Wipe down with 90%+ isopropyl alcohol or ammonia-based Windex between prints.
• For stubborn issues, wash with warm water and dish soap, then dry completely.
• Avoid touching the surface with bare hands, as oils reduce adhesion.

Pro Tip: If corners lift or prints detach mid-run, fine-tune your first layer height and extrusion. A slightly squished first layer improves grip dramatically.

Common Issues and Solutions

• Warped first layer: Increase bed temperature slightly and re-check leveling.
• Part stuck to plate: Wait for the bed to cool fully, then use a thin spatula. Adding a glue stick layer before printing can make removal easier.

Orientation 

Orientation affects visible surfaces, supports needed, and how your armor or prop handles stress. A perfectly flat base is not always the best choice. Prioritize strength and finish over base contact if it reduces post-processing time.

Surface Quality

• Flat surfaces parallel to the build plate can use ironing to improve smoothness.
  
• Avoid shallow slopes as they exaggerate stepping.

  
  Horizontal vs vertical orientation. Horizontal caused significant layer stepping. Printed vertically takes more time, but gives a much cleaner result to start post processing.

Strength Considerations

• 3d printed parts are weakest along the layer lines.
• Align layer lines perpendicular to the direction of anticipated forces and stress.  
  

Support Considerations

• Rotate the model to minimize overhangs below your printer’s threshold (usually around 45 degrees).
• Add supports to overhangs missed by the auto-support feature. 
• Block supports for overhangs that don't need it, such as the center of most helmets.

Optimizing Orientation:

• Minimize Overhangs: Orient parts to reduce angles exceeding 45° (typical threshold for supports in FDM).
• Prioritize Critical Surfaces: Align cosmetically important surfaces parallel to the build plate for maximum smoothness.
• Balance Build Time and Quality: Vertical orientation may reduce build time but compromise surface quality; test trade-offs.
• Consider Post-Processing: If sanding or polishing is planned, orient to simplify access to critical surfaces.

Quality and Strength 

cosplay props or costume armor, your slicer settings determine how durable the part will be. The layer height controls resolution and crispness of details, while wall count and infill govern structural strength. For props that need to survive conventions while trooping, these settings matter as much as the filament you choose.

Layer Height

Layer height determines the resolution of your print. A lower layer height improves surface detail and makes fine engravings appear sharper, but it does not increase part strength. Think of it as a trade-off between appearance and print time: 

• Lower layer height = more detail, longer prints
• Higher layer height = faster prints, less detail

Choose lower layer heights only where the detail will actually be visible. Large, flat armor panels often look identical at 0.20 mm but print much faster.

• 0.20 mm works for most costume parts and balances clarity with speed.
• 0.16 mm is better for fine surface details, such as engraved text, panel lines, or decorative edges.

Wall Count

Walls (also called perimeters) contribute more to strength than infill. Increasing wall count makes parts heavier and increases print time, but also significantly boosts durability. If you need a stronger prop, increase wall count before adding more infill. A thin-walled part with dense infill is still likely to crack along the outer shell

• Six walls is a good standard for armor parts, helmets, and props that need to withstand handling.
• In many cases, walls will create a fully solid part even before infill is considered.
• Additional infill density rarely matches the strength gain from more walls..

Infill Pattern and Density

Infill provides internal support for your print. The outer walls do most of the structural work, while infill simply prevents surfaces from collapsing or flexing too much. For large props, a low-density gyroid infill adds stability without wasting filament. If you need more durability, increase wall count rather than cranking up infill percentage

• 5–10% gyroid infill strikes the right balance between weight, strength, and print time.
• Gyroid distributes stress in all directions, unlike grid or line infill which can create weak planes.
• Because gyroid flows smoothly, it avoids the nozzle collisions and layer shifts that sometimes occur with grid patterns.

Supports

Supports provide a surface for overhanging areas to print, they are meant to break away after the print has completed. Your support settings can make a huge difference in post processing time. Supports that are fused to your part will be hard to remove and can leave significant scaring. The goal is to provide a temporary structure for the filament to print onto, that will break away easily once the part cools. 

Recommended Support Type: Tree - Slim/Hybrid

• Tree supports use less material and are easier to remove.
• The branching structure reaches overhangs in tight or intricate areas without excessive support,
• Tree supports contact the model at fewer points, minimizing marks or blemishes on surfaces after removal.

Interface Settings

• Top Z distance: This is the gap between the top of the support and the bottom of the part 
  • 0.25 mm is a good starting point, 1.5–2× your layer height is a general target
  • Supports fused to surface: Increase Z distance slightly.
  • Drooping overhangs: Reduce Z distance.

• Interface Pattern: Concentric support interfaces on curved surfaces reduce scarring and make sanding easier.
• Top Interface Spacing: 0 mm. This creates a smooth, solid layer that improves the surface quality of supported overhangs, especially on curved parts.

Next Steps: Post-Processing

Choosing the right material, slicer settings, orientation, configuring supports, and ensuring good bed adhesion gives you a solid foundation for post-processing. Each decision you make during printing has a direct impact on the strength, surface quality, and how easy cleanup will be.

With those fundamentals in place, after you have printed your part, you are ready to move on to the post processing phase. The next section will cover Support Removal and Surface Cleanup. This step preps the raw print for smoothing and painting.