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Chitubox Settings for Miniatures: A Step-by-Step Configuration Guide

Walk through Chitubox from first open to first sliced miniature. Resin profiles, layer height, exposure, supports, rafts, hollowing: the settings that matter for tabletop printing.

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Chitubox is the slicer that almost certainly came on the USB drive with your printer. Elegoo ships it, Anycubic ships it, Phrozen ships it. The reason it’s everywhere is that Chitubox’s parent company controls the file format most consumer MSLA printers use. That convenience comes with the cost of a UI that assumes you already know what you’re doing — and a set of defaults that are fine for generic printing and actively wrong for miniatures.

This guide walks through Chitubox from the moment you open it to the moment you have a sliced file on your USB drive. If you’ve already set up my Lychee slicer settings for miniatures, the concepts will feel familiar — I just call out where Chitubox differs. If you’re still picking a slicer, the short version is: Chitubox is free and always will be, Lychee is more visual but requires Pro for the best features. I use both, and most printers can slice into either.

Before diving in — if this is your first print session, start with the complete beginner’s guide to resin printing for the full workflow, or the first miniature quick-start guide if you want the condensed version. This guide assumes you’ve unboxed a printer and want to get the slicer dialed in.

Chitubox Free vs. Chitubox Pro

Chitubox has two tiers:

Chitubox Free — the version on your USB drive. Unlimited use, all the core slicing, most support features, manual support editing, basic hollowing.
Chitubox Pro — ~$169/year. Adds adaptive layer thickness, advanced hollowing with drain hole tools, island detection, dynamic supports, texture mapping, and higher-detail slicing modes.

For most miniature hobbyists, Free is enough. The Pro features that matter for miniatures are the improved hollowing tool (drain hole placement is much cleaner than Free) and island detection. If you print a lot of large monsters or terrain, Pro pays for itself in resin savings. For infantry-heavy army builds, Free handles everything.

Everything in this guide that mentions “Pro” requires the subscription. Free users can use every other setting.

Step 1 — Add Your Printer and Load a Resin Profile

Open Chitubox. On first launch, you’ll see a machine selection prompt. If you dismissed that already, the dropdown is in the top-right corner.

Select your exact model. Not “Elegoo Saturn” if you have a Saturn 4 Ultra — the build volumes and native resolutions differ and a mismatched profile will slice at the wrong pixel size. Chitubox ships with profiles for essentially every consumer MSLA printer released in the last five years.

Once your printer is loaded, open the Parameter tab on the right-hand panel. This is where every setting this guide covers lives.

Chitubox comes with resin profiles built in. Click the resin dropdown at the top of the Parameter tab and pick something close to what you’re actually running. For Siraya Tech Blu on a Saturn, I start with a generic “Gray Resin” profile and adjust from there. For Elegoo ABS-Like or Anycubic ABS-Like Pro, the manufacturer profile is a reasonable starting point but still needs verification.

Never trust a profile blindly. Run a calibration print (Ameralabs Town or Validation Matrix V3) after loading any new profile and adjust exposure based on results. Your resin age, room temperature, and FEP film condition all move the target.

Step 2 — Layer Height

Layer height is the single setting that changes print quality the most.

0.05mm (50 microns) — My default for infantry. Fast enough to batch 10–15 models on the Saturn overnight. Layer lines are invisible at arm’s length. This is where everyone should start.
0.03mm (30 microns) — Noticeably cleaner on curved armor, faces, and cloth folds. Print time goes up roughly 65% for the same model height. Reserve for named characters and display pieces.
0.02mm (20 microns) — For extremely fine detail, small-scale models (15mm), or close-up photography. Print time is significant. Not practical for army work.

In Chitubox, layer height is the first setting under the Parameter tab. It’s a simple number entry — no sliders, no presets. If you change it after loading a resin profile, exposure times do not auto-adjust. You’ll need to re-verify exposure at the new layer height.

For most miniatures: 0.05mm layer height on standard characters, 0.03mm on centerpiece models.

Step 3 — Exposure Time

Exposure is where printer, resin, and layer height interact. There is no universal number. The ranges that follow are starting points, not answers.

Normal exposure (Exposure Time): The time each standard layer is exposed to UV.

Mono 4K printers (35µm pixel): 2.0–3.0 seconds
12K printers (22µm pixel): 1.8–2.8 seconds
16K printers (18µm pixel): 1.5–2.5 seconds

For miniatures specifically, aim slightly toward under-cure rather than over-cure. Under-cure means fragile features; over-cure means merged features. You can reprint a fragile mini. You can’t recover a face whose eyes have filled in.

Bottom Exposure Time: The extended exposure for the first several raft layers. 30–50 seconds is typical. Too short and the raft pulls loose mid-print. Too long and the raft welds to the build plate and rips the factory coating off when you pry it. My default on the Saturn is 35 seconds for most resins.

Bottom Layer Count: How many layers get the extended exposure. I run 8–10 for most resins. If the raft is pulling off, increase to 12. If it’s welding to the plate, drop to 6.

Exposure Off Time / Light-off Delay: The pause between the exposure ending and the next layer lift starting. Default is often 0 or very low. For miniatures, adding 0.5–1.5 seconds dramatically reduces mid-print peel failures on models with large flat surfaces. Worth enabling for terrain, large creatures, and anything that keeps failing on the same layer range.

Step 4 — Advanced Parameters (Lift Speed, Retract, TSMC)

Scroll down in the Parameter tab and you’ll see Advanced Parameters (or “Lift Parameters” depending on your Chitubox version).

Lifting Distance: Usually 6mm for the bottom layers and 5mm for normal layers. Don’t change these without a reason. If your printer has a short lift option, it can cut print time significantly, but verify one print first.

Lifting Speed: 60mm/min is a safe default. Faster speeds save time but increase peel force, which increases failure rate. If you’re printing fragile minis with thin extremities, drop to 40–50mm/min.

Retract Speed: 150mm/min is fine for most prints. This is the speed the build plate returns to the vat for the next layer. Faster retract = less wasted time, no quality impact.

TSMC (Two-Stage Motion Control): If your printer supports it (most recent Saturn and Photon models do), TSMC splits the lift into a slow initial peel and a faster continuation. This is almost purely upside for miniatures — slower peel = lower failure rate. Enable it. Default values are reasonable; leave them alone until you see failures.

Step 5 — Support Settings for Miniatures

Chitubox supports are on a separate tab, not inside the Parameter tab. Click the Support icon on the left panel.

Preset to use: Chitubox has “Light,” “Medium,” and “Heavy” presets at the top of the support panel. For miniatures, Light is almost always the right choice. Medium for flying models or large horizontal overhangs. Heavy is for non-miniature functional prints — using Heavy on a 28mm warrior leaves the model looking like it got stabbed by a porcupine.

Top diameter (Tip Size): 0.3mm for fine features (fingertips, weapon tips, facial detail), 0.5mm for structural supports on heavier masses. Thinner tips leave smaller scars. Use the right size for the job — don’t slap 0.5mm tips on a face.

Middle/Bottom diameter: 0.8mm middle and 1.0mm bottom is a fine default. Thicker columns are more stable mid-print; thinner columns are easier to cut cleanly.

Contact Shape: Sphere is the miniature default. It creates the smallest possible contact scar.

Contact Depth: 0.1–0.15mm. Shallower = cleaner removal. Deeper = stronger hold. On faces and visible armor: 0.1mm. On undersides and hidden surfaces: 0.15mm.

Auto-support then manual check. Click the Platform tab to run auto-supports. Then zoom in to every extremity on the model — sword tip, staff top, outstretched fingertips, cloak hem, bent elbow undersides — and add manual supports to anything that’s hanging in air with nothing below it. Auto-support reliably misses the tips of thin features and the insides of bent joints.

Manual supports are added by clicking the model surface in manual support mode. Right-click to delete. See my separate supports guide for resin miniatures for the full walkthrough of what to look for by model type.

Step 6 — Platform Adhesion (Raft Settings)

Back in the Parameter tab, scroll to Platform Adhesion (sometimes labeled “Raft” in older versions). This is the base layer pattern under your model.

Shape: Skate is Chitubox’s default and it’s fine. The raft extends slightly past the model footprint, which is correct — a footprint-exact raft peels at the edges.

Raft Thickness: 1.5–2mm. 1.5mm for smaller/lighter models, 2mm for plates loaded with multiple miniatures or one big heavy model.

Raft Area Ratio: Default (~85–90%) is fine. Don’t shrink this.

If your Chitubox version has an anti-suction or perforated raft option, enable it for plates with large combined surface area. Ten infantry in a row create significant suction against the FEP on each peel; a perforated raft reduces that force. The option may be under “Raft Expand Ratio” or a separate toggle depending on version.

Step 7 — Hollowing and Drain Holes

Hollowing is the single biggest resin-saver for large models. A solid 60mm monster uses 4–5x the resin of the same model hollowed to a 2mm shell.

Hollow menu: Top toolbar in Chitubox — the icon that looks like a cross-section of a pipe.

Shell thickness: 1.5–2mm for miniatures. Thinner and the walls crack under support-removal stress. Thicker and you’re wasting the resin you were trying to save.

Smoothness: Higher smoothness = cleaner interior, longer processing time. Medium is a fine default.

Infill (Pro): Chitubox Pro adds internal infill patterns. Leave empty for most miniatures — hollow shell with drain holes is what you want. Infill traps more resin than it saves.

Drain holes: After hollowing, the Drain Hole tool (next to the Hollow tool in the toolbar) places holes in the model shell. Hollowing without drain holes is a trap. Uncured liquid resin gets sealed inside the model, cures slowly over months, expands, and cracks the shell. Always add 2–3mm drain holes in locations that won’t show on the finished piece — underside of the base, inside a flowing cloak, inside a shield’s rear face.

When to hollow: Skip it for standard 28–32mm infantry — resin volume is low enough that solid is fine and the shell can compromise fine detail at small scales. Start hollowing at 50mm+ model height: large creatures, monsters, terrain pieces, vehicle components, display bases.

Step 8 — Save a Named Profile

Rather than re-entering these settings every time you open Chitubox, save named profiles for common scenarios.

In the resin dropdown at the top of the Parameter tab, select “Add resin profile” (the + icon) after dialing in settings. Name it descriptively: “Siraya Blu Infantry 50µm” or “Elegoo ABS-Like Display 30µm.” Chitubox saves these per-machine.

Profiles I keep active:

Infantry 50µm — 0.05mm layer, Light supports, 2.2s exposure (Saturn + Siraya Blu). My daily driver for army work.
Display 30µm — 0.03mm layer, Light supports, 2.0s exposure. For named characters and painting commissions.
Terrain/Large 50µm — 0.05mm layer, Medium supports, 2.2s exposure, anti-suction raft enabled. For monsters 50mm+ and terrain.

Once saved, switching printers is a one-click dropdown change.

Step 9 — Slice and Preview

Hit Slice in the top toolbar. Chitubox processes the file and opens the slice preview.

Scrub through the preview. This is non-negotiable. Every single print. Drag the slider from layer 1 to the top layer and watch what happens. You’re looking for:

Islands — patches of model that appear on a layer with nothing below them. In Chitubox Free, islands show as red highlights. In Pro, the Island Detector flags them with counts and locations. Any island = guaranteed failure at that layer.
Disconnected features — a sword tip that appears three layers before any support reaches it will fail.
Weird support gaps — sometimes auto-support places the column but not the raft, or puts the raft in a strange corner.

If you see any of these, go back to the support tab, fix, and re-slice. The slice preview is the last opportunity to catch a failure before you’ve wasted four hours of print time and a quarter-bottle of resin.

Step 10 — Export to USB

After the slice preview looks clean, hit Save (or the export button, depending on version). Chitubox exports a .ctb file (or .pwmx, .pws, etc. depending on your printer’s native format) to your USB drive.

Plug into the printer, select the file, and you’re printing.

Troubleshooting Common Chitubox Issues

Print sticking to FEP instead of build plate: Bottom exposure too short, or the build plate needs re-leveling. Re-level first. Then increase bottom exposure by 5 seconds and add 2 bottom layers.

Detail merging on faces and fine surfaces: Over-exposure. Drop normal exposure by 0.2 seconds and verify with a calibration print.

Random failures mid-print on the same model type: Almost always a support issue. Re-check orientation, re-run auto-support, and scrub the slice preview for islands before reprinting.

“Slicing Failed” error: Usually a malformed mesh on the model — non-manifold edges or flipped normals. Import the STL into Chitubox’s built-in repair tool (Edit > Repair) or fix in a mesh tool like Meshmixer before re-importing.

Chitubox crashes on Slice: Typically memory-related with very large models or high part counts. Close other applications. If it persists, slice in smaller batches — five minis per plate instead of fifteen.

Supports won’t remove cleanly without damaging the model: Tip diameter too large or contact depth too deep. Switch to Light preset, 0.3mm tips, 0.1mm contact depth. And remove supports after IPA wash and before final UV cure, while the resin is still in its slightly-flexible green state.

Chitubox vs. Lychee: Which One Should You Use?

Honest answer: use whichever you open first and stick with it until it stops working for you. Both slice clean files. Both auto-support well enough that miniatures print. Both require manual support cleanup for detail areas. The differences are UI ergonomics and specific Pro features.

Chitubox strengths:

Free tier is genuinely usable forever
Comes preloaded for every printer
Lighter and faster on older computers
Better native resin profile library

Lychee strengths:

More visual support editing
Better island visualization in the free tier
Per-model hollowing with cleaner drain hole placement (Pro)
Stronger beginner presets specifically labeled “Miniature”

If you’re new and want the path of least resistance, Chitubox Free plus my Lychee slicer guide side-by-side is a good way to compare before committing. I keep both installed and use whichever matches the file source — pre-supported STLs from Patreon creators often ship in one slicer’s format and import cleanly into that one but not the other.

For the full workflow from first print to painted mini, see the beginner’s guide to resin printing miniatures. For deeper support placement technique, the supports guide walks through specific miniature scenarios. Once you have a clean print off the plate, the support mark removal guide covers how to prep the surface before priming. If prints are still failing after settings are dialed in, the resin miniature troubleshooting guide covers what to check next.

Before any slicing session ends and printing begins, make sure your workspace meets the basics in the resin safety guide — gloves on, vent running, IPA and paper towels within reach.