Cura 2.1 open beta

Discussion of Ultimaker's open-source Cura software
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drayson
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by drayson »

drayson wrote:Successfully done... :-)

next step: setup the nozzle/offset and the custom head dimensions
Hmmm.... seems that after selecting the printer in cura and confirming it, the settings are not safed/a ned printer is not added... strage...
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

Just did a quick test...

My first impressions / questions
  • Look & feel: it is....
    ... different. I won't comment further, when you use a tool for a long time any change is disruptive, so I probably need to get used to it...
  • What strikes me is that it is much slower. The auto-slicing never bothered me much, but now it is 2-3 times slower and it starts to be annoying.
  • The idea of configuring visibility for settings you care is interesting. But is it possible to see all settings at once without turning visibility on?
  • Is the 'Load profile from GCode' option gone?
  • Is there a UI to edit start/end GCode, or is it only in the printer .json files?
  • The UI is 'flashing' a lot for no reason, this is very disturbing
nallath
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

Amedee wrote: What strikes me is that it is much slower. The auto-slicing never bothered me much, but now it is 2-3 times slower and it starts to be annoying.
Only the layer view is slower in processing. Rendering is much faster. Slicer itself is somewhat slower, because we handle way more edge cases better (which tends to be expensive). Auto slicing will actualy help you get results faster as it will already be working for a bit before you decide to start slicing.
Amedee wrote: The idea of configuring visibility for settings you care is interesting. But is it possible to see all settings at once without turning visibility on?
If you want to see all the settings, you need to change the visibility. What option would you suggest?
Amedee wrote: Is the 'Load profile from GCode' option gone
Nope. Check import profile (and read the manual ;))
Amedee wrote: Is there a UI to edit start/end GCode, or is it only in the printer .json files
Not at the moment. That one kinda slipped through (we had bigger fish to fry; stability)
Amedee wrote: The UI is 'flashing' a lot for no reason, this is very disturbing
I don't really understand what you mean by this. Could you be more specific what you don't like / mean?
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by johan »

What I think would be good feature is to be able to save your layout of objects as a project, including slicing settings. Perhaps that is already in the pipeline.
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

Thank you for your answers.
nallath wrote:
Amedee wrote: What strikes me is that it is much slower. The auto-slicing never bothered me much, but now it is 2-3 times slower and it starts to be annoying.
Only the layer view is slower in processing. Rendering is much faster. Slicer itself is somewhat slower, because we handle way more edge cases better (which tends to be expensive). Auto slicing will actualy help you get results faster as it will already be working for a bit before you decide to start slicing.
To be more specific I am running Cura on Mac (iMac or Macbook Air), none of these being recent hardware (4 years+ old)
I open 'old' and 'new' Cura side by side:
- Rendering is the same (not faster or slower)
- Slicing is definitely slower, not 'somewhat'. For the simple model I used for testing, I changed a parameter and waited to see how long it took to re-slice: Cura 14.07: 3-4 seconds, Cura 2.1: 8-10 seconds (similar settings in both cases of course)

I don't want to start discussing auto-slicing, I never made an argument about that, this is not the point. But I want to point out that is it not as fast as it was, and that starts to be annoying.
nallath wrote:
Amedee wrote: The idea of configuring visibility for settings you care is interesting. But is it possible to see all settings at once without turning visibility on?
If you want to see all the settings, you need to change the visibility. What option would you suggest?
In my typical workflow I just change a couple of parameters, and these are the ones I would set visible.
But then I have 2 different use cases:
- I want to change a specific parameter for a specific print -> I need know to go into the visibility menu, set it visible and the change it, remove it from the list, ...
- I want to be able to have a quick overview of all parameters before printing as final check that it is all I need.

So I like the 'visibility' idea to have a limited set of dials on your screen, but I would like to be able to have a separate screen/popup where I would see everything, without changing my visibility. (A bit like the Expert screen from the 'old' Cura)
nallath wrote:
Amedee wrote: Is the 'Load profile from GCode' option gone
Nope. Check import profile (and read the manual ;))
My bad -- it didn't want to read my GCode yesterday, but it's working now -- not sure what I did.
nallath wrote:
Amedee wrote: Is there a UI to edit start/end GCode, or is it only in the printer .json files
Not at the moment. That one kinda slipped through (we had bigger fish to fry; stability)
Fair enough ;)
nallath wrote:
Amedee wrote: The UI is 'flashing' a lot for no reason, this is very disturbing
I don't really understand what you mean by this. Could you be more specific what you don't like / mean?
Drawing artifacts. Typically the 'Ultimaker' backround will go black for a split second when you change a parameter or hover something, giving a 'screen flash effect'.
Screen Shot 2016-04-15 at 11.57.44.png
Screen Shot 2016-04-15 at 11.57.58.png
It is not the only part going 'black' at random, but that one I can reproduce easily
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

johan wrote:Perhaps that is already in the pipeline.
Yep :)
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

Amedee wrote: In my typical workflow I just change a couple of parameters, and these are the ones I would set visible.
But then I have 2 different use cases:
- I want to change a specific parameter for a specific print -> I need know to go into the visibility menu, set it visible and the change it, remove it from the list, ...
- I want to be able to have a quick overview of all parameters before printing as final check that it is all I need.

So I like the 'visibility' idea to have a limited set of dials on your screen, but I would like to be able to have a separate screen/popup where I would see everything, without changing my visibility. (A bit like the Expert screen from the 'old' Cura)
Ah, right I get it now. Removing from your visibility is actually easy; right click a setting and press hide ;)

If you want to see all changed settings, you can also check your "current_settings" profile (manage profiles tab thingie). That should list all changed values.
Amedee wrote: Drawing artifacts. Typically the 'Ultimaker' backround will go black for a split second when you change a parameter or hover something, giving a 'screen flash effect'.
Those are graphic driver issues.
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

nallath wrote:Those are graphic driver issues.
That's an easy answer ;)

When I have a problem on 2 different platforms with a specific product and not with anything else, I wouldn't put that on the graphic driver side :roll:
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by drayson »

Amedee wrote:
nallath wrote:Those are graphic driver issues.
That's an easy answer ;)

When I have a problem on 2 different platforms with a specific product and not with anything else, I wouldn't put that on the graphic driver side :roll:
I also faced this behavior on my Win64 Dell notebook...
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

I used the easy answer as we had exactly the same problem on one of our testing machines, where updating the drivers helped. You guys are right that just because it fixed it there, doesn't mean its always the solution.
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

The Max/OSX golden cage is far from being perfect, but when you encounter such issue on 2 different machine type and 2 different OSX versions, it is very unlikely that it could be the driver. I would think more of an issue of the graphic libraries (Qt?) on Mac...
... but then if it reproduces on Windows as well...
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

I played a bit with it and have additional questions...
  1. Couldn't find the equivalent of the old 'Cut of object bottom'. You can now play with the vertical blue arrow, but you can't give an exact metric.
    (Use case: it is an easy way to cut an object in 2 and print the 2 parts separately, but then you need to be able to cut at an exact distance)
  2. It does not seem that the sate of the post-processing plugins is kept between sessions. Is this intended behaviour?
    (Use case: in 'old' Cura, I have 2 plugins permanently enabled and setup)
  3. Where do I need to put my own post-processing scripts? (Equivalent of ~/.cura/plugins directory in 'old' Cura)
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

We don't use QT for rendering of the build plate. Thats all direct openGL calls.
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by nallath »

I played a bit with it and have additional questions...

[*] Where do I need to put my own post-processing scripts? (Equivalent of ~/.cura/plugins directory in 'old' Cura)[/list]
Amedee wrote: Couldn't find the equivalent of the old 'Cut of object bottom'. You can now play with the vertical blue arrow, but you can't give an exact metric.
Yeah. Time constraints there (The Infernal Enemy Of Any Developer!). 2.2 has it though (change values in a infill box, like scale)
Amedee wrote: It does not seem that the sate of the post-processing plugins is kept between sessions. Is this intended behaviour?
Yes. The way old cura handled it caused a ton of confusion (and messed up prints) if you forgot about still having em. Saving everything (all settings, post processing stuff, etc) is high on the list (because everyone loves workspace saving!)
Amedee wrote: Where do I need to put my own post-processing scripts?
PostProcessing folder (in plugins) has a scripts folder.
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Re: Cura 2.1 open beta

Post by Amedee »

nallath wrote:I played a bit with it and have additional questions...
PostProcessing folder (in plugins) has a scripts folder.
Yes, in the Cura software folder, but in my local .cura folder?
(I am not sure if new Cura allows it, but in old, you would put your own plugin in your home directory (Mac/Linux) so when you upgrade you don't loose your stuff)
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