SLA Print Resolution Calculator

A single-pixel-wide feature sits at the very edge of what a projector or laser light engine can resolve cleanly, since adjacent pixel exposures bleed into each other slightly at cure boundaries. The calculator treats about two pixels as the smallest feature width that reliably prints as a distinct, intact detail rather than fusing into its neighbors.

Vertical (Z) surfaces show roughness from layer stair-stepping as the printer builds up discrete slices, modeled here as roughly a quarter of the layer height. Horizontal (XY) surfaces don't stair-step the same way — their roughness instead comes from the resolution of the pixel grid itself, modeled as roughly a quarter of the XY pixel size — so the two roughness numbers respond to different input sliders.

A voxel is one 3D pixel — the volume of a single XY pixel times the layer height — and total voxel count (pixels per layer times total layers) is the addressable print resolution of the whole job. More voxels generally means finer potential detail, but it's a geometric ceiling on resolution, not a guarantee that the resin, exposure settings, and print will actually resolve every voxel distinctly.

In this model, yes — smaller XY pixel size directly shrinks minimum XY feature size and XY surface roughness, and thinner layers directly shrink minimum Z feature size and Z roughness. In practice, though, going very fine also multiplies total layers and voxel count, increasing print time substantially, and real resin behavior (viscosity, cure depth, shrinkage) can limit how much finer settings actually translate to visible improvement — factors this simplified geometric model doesn't account for.