Text to G-code on your phone: from a sentence to a printer-ready file without a slicer
How SpeakCAD turns a description typed on a phone into G-code sliced for your printer: what happens in each step, which printers and profiles are covered, and how the file reaches the printer.
The gap every mobile 3D tool leaves open
A phone can hold a 3D model. Until recently it could not turn that model into something a printer accepts, because slicing meant a desktop program: PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, Cura. So the "3D printing from your phone" story always had a hidden step: mail the STL to yourself, walk to the computer, slice, walk to the printer.
SpeakCAD closes that gap. The description is typed on the phone, the model renders on the phone, and the download can be G-code already sliced for the printer you own. There is no slicer app on the phone because the slicing happens on SpeakCAD's servers with OrcaSlicer and the printer's official profile.
What "text to G-code" means here
It is not an AI writing G-code line by line; no model does that reliably and none should. It is three deterministic steps chained together:
- Text to parametric CAD. The AI writes an OpenSCAD program from your sentence. Every dimension you gave is a named variable used exactly.
- CAD to mesh. The browser compiles the program into a watertight, manifold mesh in millimetres. This is the STL or 3MF you can also download.
- Mesh to G-code. OrcaSlicer slices that mesh with the print profile and filament profile of your printer, at the speed, infill, wall count and support setting you picked in the download dialog.
The output is a .gcode file, or a sliced .gcode.3mf for Bambu Lab printers, with the estimated print time and filament weight shown before you download.
Which printers
More than 380 printers ship with their official OrcaSlicer profiles: Bambu Lab (A1, A1 mini, P1S, P1P, X1 Carbon, X1E, H2D), Prusa (MK3S, MK4, MINI, XL, CORE One), Creality (Ender 3 family, K1, K1C, K1 Max, K2), Elegoo (Neptune, Centauri Carbon), Anycubic (Kobra), Sovol, Qidi, Voron, Flashforge, Artillery and others. Each printer's own quality profiles are there (0.12 mm Fine, 0.20 mm Standard, Strength, Draft) and so are its filament profiles, from Generic PLA to the branded PETG, ABS and TPU entries.
Your printers and their last settings are saved to your account, so the second download is one tap.
The phone workflow, step by step
- Open SpeakCAD in Safari (iPhone, iPad) or Chrome (Android). Nothing to install.
- Type the part with the numbers you measured: "a wall bracket for a 32 mm pipe, two M4 holes 40 mm apart, 3 mm walls".
- Check the render with your finger. Tap a face to read its size.
- Say what to change. "Make the walls 4 mm." The ghost shows what moved.
- Tap Download, choose G-code, pick the printer, profile and filament. Read the print time.
- The file lands in Files (iPhone) or Downloads (Android). Send it to the printer: Bambu Handy or a network upload, the printer's own app, a USB stick or SD card.
Typical time from the first sentence to a G-code file: three to four minutes, standing next to the printer.
When you still want the STL
If you tune your own profiles, print on a machine that is not in the list, or arrange several parts on one plate, download the STL or 3MF and slice on the desktop as usual. Both formats are one tap away in the same dialog, and downloading the same design in both, or re-slicing it with other settings, does not cost extra credits.
What it costs
G-code downloads are part of the Pro plan ($7.99 a month, 200 credits, 7-day free trial). A sliced download spends the same 10 credits as an STL, and a small fix after a test print re-downloads free. Maker ($3.99 a month) downloads STL and 3MF for your own slicer.
Prompts to start from
Open one in the builder, change the numbers to yours, and the model renders in seconds. Keep adjusting in the chat before you print.A wall bracket for a 32 mm pipe: a half-round saddle with two M4 screw holes 40 mm apart, 3 mm walls, 25 mm deep.
A cable clip that presses onto a 20 mm desk edge and holds three 6 mm cables side by side, 2.5 mm walls.
Questions
Not reliably as raw G-code, and SpeakCAD does not try. It generates a parametric CAD model from the text, compiles it to a watertight mesh, and slices that mesh with OrcaSlicer and your printer's official profile. The G-code you download is real slicer output, not language-model text.
No. Slicing happens on SpeakCAD's servers when you choose G-code in the download dialog. The phone only receives the finished .gcode or .gcode.3mf file.
It is produced by OrcaSlicer with the printer's own profile, so it is as trustworthy as slicing on the desktop with default settings. As with any first print, watch the first layer; the estimated print time and filament weight are shown before you download.
Yes. Bambu printers receive a sliced .gcode.3mf that Bambu Handy and Bambu Studio open directly, so the file can go from the phone to the printer over the network.