Cura wish list

Discussion of Ultimaker's open-source Cura software
Anders Olsson
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Cura wish list

Post by Anders Olsson »

I don't know to what extent people form Ultimaker reads this (nallath? :-) ) but I have been thinking about a few features which would be really nice to have in Cura.
Haven't followed the last versions of Cura and if any of these features are being worked on, but anyway, here is my list:

"Intelligent fans"
Fan speed that depends on layer time rather than height.
One should be able to set the the relation between layer time and fan speed.
Preview of fan speed in the layer mode.
This would be particularly useful with ABS, as fans is generally your enemy there, except for very tiny objects where cooling is really needed.

Different layer thicknesses in one print
(I know this has been discussed before)
If one could change the layer thickness throughout the print, one could get much better surface quality when printing spherical objects, without ending up with ridiculous printing times.

Double thickness infill
(has probably been discussed before too)
By printing two perimeter layers and then one infill layer with double thickness, one should be able to speed up large prints quite a lot.
This would be most useful for large prints and with large nozzles due to the lack in feeding precision with bowden and 3 mm filament.

Constant feed rate rather than constant speed
I have a feeling that if the Ultimaker machines were printing at constant filament feed rate rather than constant travel speed one could gain quite a lot in printing quality.
Currently, when the feed rate changes for example between infill and perimeters, there is quite some mechanical delay which often has a negative effect on the print quality. You often see this if printing with 100% infill, the extrusion rate is unstable for a few seconds every time the printer goes from perimeters to infill.
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Neotko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Neotko »

Points a/b/c simplify3d. The auto fans I never use it since I just set the fan strength for each layer or printing process, but it has an option to kick fans in% to the layer speed and you can set a max fan for that, he increase it auto.

The layer height for the infill, there are two ways to do it. Separete the object in two process one for infill other for perimeters. This one it's a bit tricky to control if you have two perimeters, but I got some tricks that allow you to use it. But for 3 perimeters this don't work.

The 4 it's way harder and might need a new cpu to handle the flow calculations (atmega 8bit it's already on its limits).
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Neotko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Neotko »

Ah yes forgot to say the second method for infills. I do a 'offset surface' calculation on rhino with 0.4-0.8 less. Then use the original 3d for perimeters on a process and the offset object on the other.

I do that for my eyeglasses since I need the interior to have not only a bigger infill but also taller. It needs some tricky tunning but on s3d when you disable the autocenter of objects you can drop the stl and it remains on the same x/y as it was done. That also allow me to make subparts on the print to just change the texts (on my keychains) without lossing more than a few seconds.
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Neotko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Neotko »

A fast example. Also you might be able to import the processes if you have s3d (I think). Anyhow, check the gcode. Infill 0.3 Perimeters 2 (0.8 speaking on cura language).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ywqdg0md0tyn ... gcode?dl=0

Don't try to print that btw, Unless you want to waste pla XD it's the beta pancake extruder holder. Also it's done for 1.75mm filament with combing on, and high retractions on the perimeter job, no retractions for the infills.
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Dim3nsioneer
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Dim3nsioneer »

Double thickness infill is included in Cura 1.99 which is btw not that bad. I'm working with the November beta for quite some time now and achieved nice results. Still a few things don't yet work as they are supposed to such as coasting or the profiles.
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Neotko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Neotko »

Dim3nsioneer will the new cura have a nice retract when changing from a to b? And it's finally posible to drop two objects without they being autocenter and group them in a list or its all visual? Just wondering because when you work with tiny parts select them visually isn't an option. Also last question, any improvement on the user interface? Thankss
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Dim3nsioneer
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Dim3nsioneer »

Dim3nsioneer wrote:not that bad
doesn't mean 'good'. S3D might still be better (I should try that one...).

Up to now everything is visual. A nice retract is one that works, correct? Well, yes for 80% of the cases. But still no implementation for 'RectractWhileCombing' or similar. Improvement on the GUI to what stage?

edit: I actually don't understand why they don't compile another BETA now...
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Amedee
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Amedee »

<off topic>
I stick to Cura 14.07, there were changes after that version that I didn't like (infill before perimeters) and then I stopped following releases...
There are some oddities but we've learned to live with it, and I am reluctant to upgrade...
Re. S3D, I don't like to buy without having tried, and since they don't have trial versions :roll:
</off topic>
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ivan.akapulko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by ivan.akapulko »

You can try any cracked version, and if you like it, then buy. Of course, if you don't like it, just uninstall it ;-)
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by ivan.akapulko »

Its a shame, when users cannot use a trial version.
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LePaul
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by LePaul »

I bought Simplify3D and haven't done a thing with it. It's guidance on setting up the printer, plus the addition of a heated bed is quite lacking.

I've gone to their support and forum...and both gave me no real direction. If you have one of their "profiles" built in, it seems to be popular. But if you have a kit build and options...not very intuitive. in fairness, I haven't spent much time trying to figure it out. I wanted to click and go...and well, that failed :)
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by nallath »

Neotko wrote:And it's finally posible to drop two objects without they being autocenter and group them in a list
Yep
Neotko wrote:Also last question, any improvement on the user interface?
There are a ton of changes on pretty much everything.
Amedee wrote:I stick to Cura 14.07, there were changes after that version that I didn't like (infill before perimeters)
New cura has the option to change the order.
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Neotko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by Neotko »

Awesome news!
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ivan.akapulko
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by ivan.akapulko »

Nallath, closed beta is already started?
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Re: Cura wish list

Post by nallath »

Nope. Closed beta should be released very soon.

We learned from the past and hired two fulltime test engineers to ensure that we hammer out as much bugs before actually shipping something. Due to the backlog we had in that regard, things are a bit slower than we like it to be. Once we have a stable platform I expect that we will have more frequent releases.
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