Print steep overhangs without supports. Fork of OrcaSlicer with wave‑pattern overhang printing, two pluggable algorithms, and a rich expert‑mode parameter space.
⚠️ Experimental / Alpha. Feedback and test prints welcome. Open an issue with your results.
wave-overhang-print.mp4
Wave overhangs in action: a 90° cantilever printing without any support material. Original Reddit post.
As featured on The WAN Show with Linus Sebastian and Luke Lafreniere (Topic #6, 1:36:26 - 1:41:44).
In normal FDM printing, every layer needs something underneath it. Steep overhangs (anything past ~50°) sag or fall off the nozzle, so the slicer adds disposable support material that you snap off afterwards.
Wave overhangs replace those supports with a different toolpath. Instead of straight infill lines that need vertical backing, the slicer draws a sequence of curved rings that ripple outward from the supported edge into open air. Each new ring is laterally anchored to the previous one, like waves spreading on a pond, so it stays put even with nothing below it. The pattern propagates around corners, around holes, and across complex shapes until the layer is filled.
The result: support‑free overhangs up to 90°, less wasted filament, and no post‑processing snap‑off step.
This fork ports the technique into OrcaSlicer and exposes two pluggable generators plus a large tunable parameter space, so people can experiment and find what works for their printer and material.
Comparison of standard, arc‑overhang, and wave‑overhang toolpaths. Image from Janis A. Andersons' wave‑overhang research (see Credits).
- Two wave‑overhang algorithms with an in‑GUI dropdown
- Andersons: port of stmcculloch/PrusaSlicer‑WaveOverhangs. Arc‑overhang descendant with narrow‑region splitting and Smart/ZigZag/Monotonic pattern selection.
- Kaiser LaSO: C++ reimplementation of Rieks Kaiser's MSc thesis script. Auto seed‑curve detection, multi‑overhang handling, pipeline‑integrated (no G‑code post‑processing). Still in research; shares the flow model with Andersons and works on simple overhangs, but complex geometries are unreliable.
- Dedicated Wave overhangs tab in Print Settings with grouped sections: General, Geometry, Algorithm tuning (algorithm‑specific rows appear per selected algorithm), Speed, Cooling, Floor layers, Support integration, Debug.
- ~20 expert tunables for experimentation: line spacing, flow (mm³/mm), ring overlap, seam mode, spacing mode, pattern, perimeter overlap, minimum wave width, max iterations, authoritative floor layers, cooling overrides, and more.
- Community test‑print database at waveoverhangs.com where you can upload your results with settings and compare prints side‑by‑side.
- Wave‑aware support integration: supports only generate for overhang areas the wave couldn't cover.
- G‑code debug markers:
;WAVE_OVERHANG_CONFIG …header block and per‑region;WAVE_OVERHANG_START/ENDtags for easy post‑process verification. - First‑launch config importer: auto‑copies existing configs from OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, or PrusaSlicer so users don't start from zero.
- 100% opt‑in: master toggle off means identical behavior to upstream OrcaSlicer.
Prebuilt binaries for tagged releases on the Releases page. Linux AppImage, Windows portable zip + installer, macOS universal DMG.
- Launch the slicer, open a model with an overhang.
- Go to Print Settings → Wave overhangs tab.
- Toggle Use wave overhangs (Experimental) on.
- Pick an algorithm (Andersons or Kaiser).
- Slice and inspect the G‑code preview. Wave extrusions appear over detected overhang regions.
Simple mode shows just the master toggle plus the algorithm dropdown. Switch to Advanced (top‑right mode selector) to tune individual parameters like line spacing, flow (mm³/mm), ring overlap, seam mode, etc.
For the full reference of every config option with tuning hints, see docs/WAVE_OVERHANG_SETTINGS.md.
Presets are intentionally not shipped yet. The tunable space is large and we want community test prints to surface what actually works before baking in named bundles. Please leave your results at waveoverhangs.com/upload so the dataset can grow.
Both algorithms compute a seed at or near the supported edge of the overhang, then propagate rings outward from it into the unsupported region until the rings can't grow further inside the current layer.
- Andersons seeds from a narrow band along the support‑overhang boundary. Each iteration offsets the accumulated covered region outward and emits a polyline along the new front; a pattern mode (Smart / Monotonic / ZigZag) decides how the fronts connect.
- Kaiser LaSO seeds from the whole lower‑slice polygon shrunk inward by 2 × nozzle. Each iteration offsets the previous ring outward by
rand emits it as a closed loop.
For the full contrast table, iteration flowcharts, Python → C++ mapping, and source pointers, see docs/ALGORITHMS.md.
Dependencies are the same as upstream OrcaSlicer: CMake ≥ 3.13, gcc or clang, GTK3, plus the bundled deps under deps/. See the upstream OrcaSlicer build docs for the full platform‑by‑platform guide.
# 1. Build bundled deps
cd deps && mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake .. && make -j$(nproc)
# 2. Build the slicer
cd ../..
mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake .. -DSLIC3R_STATIC=1 -DSLIC3R_GTK=3 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(pwd)/../deps/build/destdir/usr/local
make -j$(nproc)- Experimental. The tunable space is large (~20 knobs across two algorithms) and most parameter combinations have not been print‑tested yet. Expect rough edges. Please share what works and what doesn't at waveoverhangs.com.
- Kaiser LaSO works on simple overhangs, not complex ones. After the v0.2.0 anchor-band fix Kaiser now produces clean cantilever prints on simple convex overhangs, and now shares the flow model with Andersons. Complex geometries (concave shapes, narrow multi-arm supports) are still unreliable. Andersons remains the recommended default; try Kaiser on straight ridges where a strict lateral-offset pattern looks cleaner.
- PLA recommended. Wave overhangs need each ring to cool and become rigid before the next pass anchors to it. PLA with max part‑cooling works well. PETG, ABS and PC are likely to fail (PETG cools too slowly and delaminates under heavy fan). If you've tested other materials, please upload the results (success or failure) to waveoverhangs.com/upload; failures are just as valuable for mapping out what's possible.
- Warping on larger spans. Laterally supported overhangs are prone to warping driven by thermal gradients, reheating of earlier layers, and nozzle pressure. Smaller overhangs print cleanly; larger spans may still need traditional supports. See docs/LIMITATIONS.md for the mechanisms and mitigations.
- Kaiser pin supports are not ported. Kaiser's original places discrete pin‑support nubs under overhangs. Not planned, since the goal here is fully support‑free overhangs. Use
support_remaining_areas_after_wave_overhangswith Orca's normal supports if wave can't cover everything. - Platform testing status: real‑print tested on Linux and Windows. macOS builds pass CI but haven't been validated against a physical printer yet.
Wave overhang algorithm research
Andersons, J. et al. (2026). Wave‑Inspired Path‑Planning Strategy for Support‑Free Horizontal Overhangs in FDM. SSRN pre‑print. doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6640458 Reference Python implementation and interactive visualiser: andersonsjanis/Wave‑overhangs. Accompanying dataset: 10.17632/xhw8xkjyc2.1.
Arc‑overhang algorithm (the predecessor wave overhangs builds on)
Steven McCulloch: stmcculloch/arc‑overhang
PrusaSlicer integration of wave overhangs (what our Andersons port is based on)
Steven McCulloch: stmcculloch/PrusaSlicer‑WaveOverhangs
Kaiser LaSO algorithm (the second algorithm in this fork)
Rieks Kaiser: riekskaiser/wave_LaSO Investigating the warping of Laterally Supported Overhangs in fused deposition modelling, the Python code. Written in the context of Rieks Kaiser's master thesis (Mechanical Engineering, University of Twente).
OrcaSlicer base
OrcaSlicer team: OrcaSlicer/OrcaSlicer
- Open issues for bugs, feature requests, or print failures.
- PRs welcome. Base off
main. - When reporting test results, please share: model, algorithm and parameter values used, printer, photos, G‑code snippet.
License: AGPL‑3.0 (inherited from OrcaSlicer).