Generating a preview of a part to be printed

An additive manufacturing system controllable to produce a part based on printing data, the additive manufacturing system comprising a processor, the processor configured to:

• receive printing data defining a part to be printed by the additive manufacturing system, wherein the printing data defines a volumetric representation of the part;
• divide the volumetric representation into a plurality of layers, each layer corresponding to an array of voxels;
• for each layer, extract data relating to at least one voxel located on a perimeter of the layer, wherein the at least one voxel has a predetermined colour;
• input the extracted data into a data file;
• and
• generate a three-dimensional preview of the part to be printed using the data file.

A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• receive a print file defining a part to be printed;
• generate a plurality of 2D slices representing the part to be printed, based on print file, wherein each slice corresponds to a plurality of voxels in a single plane defining a section of the part to be printed;
• for each slice, update a preview file with data representative of one or more voxels of a predetermined colour and located at a perimeter of the part to be printed;
• and
• generate a three-dimensional preview based on the preview file.