.X3G File Format

Introduction

X3G is a binary print file for the MakerBot Replicator, Replicator 2 and 2X, and the many printers that copied them, such as the FlashForge Creator, running MakerBot or Sailfish firmware. These printers do not read text G-code; instead a program on the computer translates the G-code into X3G, which the printer plays from its SD card.

The format belongs to an earlier generation of desktop printers. Later MakerBot printers use a different .makerbot file, and most current printers read G-code directly.

Structure

An X3G file is a sequence of binary commands from s3g, the protocol MakerBot printers use over USB. Each command starts with a one-byte command number followed by its parameters in fixed little-endian fields: for example, a move to a position given in motor steps with a speed, a change of temperature, or a wait for the extruder to heat. There is no header; the file is simply the commands the printer would otherwise receive from a computer.

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