Quote a model

Two endpoints put a price on a model before you commit to printing it. POST /api/price is open to anyone and turns a bounding box into a full cost breakdown. POST /api/slice-quote runs a real OrcaSlicer slice of a model we already hold for you — but it is authenticated by the browser, not by an API key.

Estimate from dimensions#

curl -X POST https://x3dstudios.com/api/price \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"bboxMm":{"x":60,"y":40,"z":20},"material":"pla","quality":"standard","quantity":1,"color":"Black"}'

{
  "filamentChanges": 0,
  "multiColorGrams": 0,
  "multiColorHours": 0,
  "grams": 27,
  "printHours": 1.32,
  "materialCost": 3.24,
  "machineCost": 0,
  "shipping": 7,
  "shippingSpeed": "standard",
  "baseFee": 0,
  "perUnit": 3.24,
  "subtotal": 3.24,
  "total": 10.24,
  "currency": "USD",
  "material": "pla",
  "quality": "standard",
  "quantity": 1,
  "color": "Black",
  "customColor": false,
  "pricePerGram": 0.12
}

Measure a stored model with a real slice#

This runs the same engine the farm prints with — OrcaSlicer on the Bambu H2S profile — against a model already in your X3D account, and stores the result so every later quote of that model uses it. It is idempotent: a model that has been sliced returns the stored measurement instead of slicing again. A GLB you uploaded (or an exact edit of one) is sliced with glTF's up axis, Y, as the printer's up, lying the way the page shows it, which is how the farm prints it. The one exception is a GLB plainly written Z-up, against glTF's convention (a flat base facing its -Z, as some STL-to-GLB converters leave it): it is sliced standing on that base, with its Z as the printer's up, as the farm prints it, although the page shows it on its side. A model generated here is measured in the pose the farm prints it in, as it always has been.

Each size is its own measurement. With scalePercent the model is scaled to that size before the slicer runs and the result is stored beside the 100% one, so asking for the same size again answers from storage. An order at that size is charged on exactly this slice: the order routes slice it themselves when it is missing, and refuse the order while it cannot be measured.

const res = await fetch("/api/slice-quote", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  credentials: "include",
  body: JSON.stringify({ generationId: "gen_abc123", scalePercent: 200 }),
});

const data = await res.json();
if (res.ok) {
  const { filamentCm3, seconds, layers } = data.sliceAnalysis;
  console.log(data.scalePercent, data.cached ? "cached" : "freshly sliced", filamentCm3, seconds, layers);
} else if (data.measuring) {
  // Nothing was learned about the model this time. Ask again in a little while.
}

{
  "ok": true,
  "cached": false,
  "sliceAnalysis": {
    "filamentCm3": 100.6,
    "seconds": 19700,
    "layers": 428,
    "sliceScale": 2,
    "slicedAt": "2026-10-08T12:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "scalePercent": 200
}

filamentCm3 is filament volume — multiply it by the density of the material you are ordering (PLA 1.26, PETG 1.27, ABS 1.04, ASA 1.07, TPU 1.24 g/cm3) to get grams, then round up to the whole gram and multiply by the rate. Ask with the material you are ordering: a tpu measurement is TPU's own, and only it prices a TPU order. seconds is the slicer's own time estimate and layers is its layer count. sliceScale is the factor the slice ran at: 1 at 100%, 2 at 200%. scalePercent echoes the size you asked for.

Why a slice differs from an estimate#

An estimate is arithmetic on geometry: volume times a fixed model of solid walls and sparse infill, times the material's density. A slice is what the machine will actually extrude. The two disagree in both directions, and the disagreement is not small.

• A slice counts supports, brim, skirt and prime line. No estimate models any of them.
• A slice counts purge: every filament change flushes the hotend, so a four-colour plate can burn three times the filament of the same model in one colour.
• Billable weight rounds up to the whole gram either way, which is also what Bambu Studio displays — so a quote and a slicer preview agree on the number.
• Where a measured slice exists, we bill it. That is the point: the grams charged are the grams that leave the nozzle.