Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this whole 3D printing thing for a while now, and I finally decided to see if I could get Bambu Studio working on my iPad. Let me tell you, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but I figured it out, and I’m here to spill the beans on how I did it.
First Try: No Dice
First off, I tried just going to the Bambu Lab website on my iPad, thinking maybe they had some web version or something. Nope. Nothing. Zilch. Just the usual download links for Windows and Mac. So, that was a dead end.
Cloud Gaming to the Rescue?
Then I remembered some folks talking about using cloud gaming services to run PC apps on other devices. Seemed worth a shot, right? I’ve used a few in the past for gaming, so I fired up one of those. I signed up for a service, got a virtual PC going, and installed Bambu Studio on it.
- Signing up: This part was pretty straightforward. Just the usual email, password, and pick a plan kind of deal.
- Virtual PC: Getting the virtual PC up and running was also a breeze. Just a few clicks, and boom, I had a Windows desktop in my browser.
- Installing Bambu Studio: I downloaded the installer from the Bambu Lab website, just like I would on a regular PC, and installed it. So far, so good.
It Worked… Kind Of
Okay, here’s where things get interesting. Bambu Studio actually launched! I could see the interface, load models, and even slice them. But… it was laggy. Like, really laggy. Moving the model around, changing settings, it all felt super sluggish. It wasn’t unusable, but it definitely wasn’t a smooth experience.
Also, I couldn’t get the printer connected directly. It just wouldn’t recognize my printer. I’m guessing it has something to do with the virtual PC setup and USB passthrough, but I couldn’t figure it out.
Exporting G-code to the Rescue, Again
So, direct printing was a no-go. But, I did manage to slice a model and export the G-code. This meant I could save the G-code file, transfer it to an SD card, and then pop that into my printer. This worked just fine! Not ideal, but hey, I was printing from my iPad, kinda.
Final Thoughts
So, can you use Bambu Studio on an iPad? Technically, yes. But it’s not exactly a great experience, at least not with the cloud gaming route I took. Maybe there’s a better service out there, or maybe with some tweaking, you can get better performance. But for now, it’s more of a workaround than a proper solution.
If you’re desperate to use your iPad for slicing and you don’t mind a bit of lag and transferring files via SD card, then go for it. But if you have a PC or Mac handy, you’re probably better off sticking with that.
That’s my story of getting Bambu Studio sort of working on my iPad. I did a whole lot of try, and I found it hard, but I still get it through. I hope you guys do not have to go through the same process as me. I will keep messing around with it and see if I can find a better way. Stay tuned!