Eiger is Markforged’s own 3D printing software. It was launched alongside Markforged’s original 3D printer, the Mark One, and it has since evolved to accomodate all their latest 3D printer’s features. For example, back in March, Markforged added adaptive bed levelling to Eiger for the Mark X, and way back in September 2015, they added the Use Brim feature.
At its core, Eiger is a robust slicing software that offers an outstanding level of printer management. With it, you can monitor your Markforged 3D printer in real-time and oversee your print activity. It’s also easy to use and intuitive for all skill levels, so it’s a decent learning tool for beginners. However, as with all 3D printing software, we do recommend that you read or watch a few tutorials first to get an understanding of how it works.
Interesting fact: Eiger was named after a 3,970-metre (13,020 ft) mountain located in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland.
The video we have published above is a great place to start. It’s an overview of the Eiger software, with a live demonstration of printing with continuous fiber, created by the Markforged team during a webinar. It looks at part settings, including brim, units and fill patterns, the layer editor, and it shows you what an internal view of a part looks like within the Eiger software in 3D and 2D. It also takes a look at the Eiger library, and how you import new designs. All of these things will come in handy when you come to use Eiger software for the first time.
In the image below, we can see a 3D view of a Full Kevlar Bracket in Eiger:
And in this image, we can see a 2D view of the same part in Eiger:
As you can see, the visuals within Eiger are excellent. As you’d expect though, they are only half the story when it comes to 3D printing with a Markforged 3D printer. You also have control over the following features:
– The parts library (STL)
– Creating convenient project folders
– Fiber Material type
– Fiber Fill Type (Concentric Fiber or Isotropic fiber)
– Selecting which layers to add fiber to
– Nylon Fill Pattern
– Nylon Fill Density
– Number of Nylon Wall Layers
– 2D Mode and 3D Mode views
– A convenient layer bar
– And much more
With such a rich feature set, Eiger is undoubtedly the lifeblood of Markforged’s 3D printers. Without it, composite fiber reinforcement wouldn’t be possible. And so, mastering it is just as essential as mastering the 3D printer itself. Thankfully, the software is cloud-based, so you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection.