--- title: "Radu joins Snapmaker to further ‘Full Spectrum’ color printing" url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/radu-joins-snapmaker-to-further-full-spectrum-color-printing/ date: 2026-05-22 modified: 2026-05-22 lang: en author: "Tess Boissonneault" description: "When Snapmaker's U1 3D printer became the most funded 3D printer ever on Kickstarter ($20.61 million!) it was clear that the desktop hardware was going to make an impact within..." categories: - "AM Software" - "Color 3D Printing" - "Desktop 3D printers" - "Makers" tags: - "future" image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/radu-snapmaker-1-640x360.jpg word_count: 628 --- # Radu joins Snapmaker to further ‘Full Spectrum’ color printing When [Snapmaker's](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/snapmaker/) U1 3D printer became the most funded 3D printer ever on Kickstarter ($20.61 million!) it was clear that the desktop hardware was going to make an impact within the maker community. Since launching in April, this has come to fruition, with fertile online communities of hobbyists and tinkerers driving innovation with the system, particularly in the realm of multicolor 3D printing. The U1 itself is based on a CoreXY motion system and is equipped with a four-toolhead configuration, which enables the printing of multiple different colors. Notably, the printer integrates a proprietary SnapSwap tool changer that can switch between printheads in just five seconds and, because each toolhead has its own filament spool, the need for purging in between switches is eliminated ([you can read more about the printer's usability in our recent review](https://www.voxelmatters.com/the-snapmaker-u1-is-here-and-its-something-else/)). [![Radu joins Snapmaker to further ](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/snampmaker-u1-340x340.webp)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/snampmaker-u1.webp)Behind the scenes, the Snapmaker U1 community has been developing full-color 3D printing for the 3D printer. According to a Reddit post by Snapmaker, an early experiment by a user called *Rob_Bob_you_choose* enabled the printing of nine colors from just four filaments. Another user, *Aceman11100*, then demonstrated how to achieve "near-full-color" printing using just three filaments and layer-alternating color mixing. From there, user *beybladetable*, also known as Radu or "Ratdoux", had forked Orca slicing software to enable full multicolor printing. This resulted in a prototype of Snapmaker Orca Full Spectrum. This did not go unnoticed by Snapmaker, which has now recruited Radu to join its development team. There, the community developer will further develop the full-color-spectrum slicing capability and advance the future of multicolor extrusion 3D printing. This means that the Full Spectrum virtual color-mixing technology will soon be fully integrated into Snapmaker Orca, allowing all U1 users to print a broad array of colors within a single print. A beta version is reportedly expected to be launched within weeks. [![Radu joins Snapmaker to further ](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/snapmaker-radu-3.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/snapmaker-radu-3.jpg)Post demonstrating near full-color printing capability by user Aceman11100 "Full Spectrum started when I saw Aceman11100 on Reddit doing color mixing in Blender and thought—why not do this directly in the slicer?" said Radu (aka Ratdoux). "Snapmaker U1 was the only machine fast enough to make it work, and the community response was incredible. Joining Snapmaker means we can develop these ideas where they started—right alongside the hardware that made them possible." Daniel Chen, CEO of Snapmaker, shared: "We believe the most important innovations in the maker community come from the maker community. Ratdoux’s work represents exactly the kind of experimentation and creativity we want to nurture. We are honored to have him join our team." [![Radu joins Snapmaker to further ](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/snapmaker-radu-2-340x214.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/snapmaker-radu-2.jpg)Continuing Snapmaker's open-source ethos, Full Spectrum will continue to be developed under AGPL-3.0, a free, copyleft license for software. The Orca slicing software is also completely open source, enabling innovative makers like Radu to innovate and expand the hardware's capabilities. In terms of how Full Spectrum works, Snapmaker says it achieves a greater color palette by "alternating filament layers and visual blending techniques". Over on Reddit, the response to this announcement from the maker community has been overwhelmingly positive. User *auwrx7* said: "This is awesome!! It is great to see a company get developers involved instead of just taking their ideas and putting their name on it. This is a great post that truly shows how great this Snapmaker community is!!" Interestingly, the news from Snapmaker comes at the same time as Bambu Labs has come under fire for sending a cease and desist to a community developer for a slicer fork they had programmed. This litigious response has drawn ire from the maker world and has provoked concerns that the company itself has violated the open-source license. Bambu Studio and Orca slicer are both, as many will know, themselves forked from PrusaSlicer, which itself was forked from Slic3r, licensed under AGPL-3.0.