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Multicolor went from party trick to default in about two years. Color systems now ship in $299 bundles, toolchangers and multi-nozzle machines have solved the waste problem, and the slicers paint models as easily as a coloring book. But the systems behind the color differ wildly: the wrong choice wastes a third of your filament as purge, and the right one depends on whether you print two-tone logos, sixteen-color display pieces, or multi-material functional parts.
This guide compares the system types on their real costs, swappers, toolchangers, multi-nozzle and dual-nozzle machines, then picks the best of each kind at every budget. One expectation to set first: hobbyist multicolor means discrete filament colors, not the millions of blended shades of industrial full-color machines; the sec