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ArunC

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  1. Strap in for the first Cura release of 2024! This 5.7 beta release brings new material profiles as well as cloud printing for Method series printers, and introduces a powerful new way of sharing print settings using printer-agnostic project files! Also, if you want to download the cute dinosaur card holder featured below, it was specially designed for this release and can be found on Thingiverse! Introducing Universal Cura Projects Cura 5.7 includes a new way to share both models and print settings: Universal Cura Projects (UCP). These printer-agnostic project files allow you to selectively share print settings that are common across nearly all printers. At the moment, when you want to share a model with someone, you have two main choices, you can either share an STL file that contains only the model itself with no additional information that would help inform you how to best print the model. Or, a project file such as a 3MF file that contains a whole host of metadata which can include all of the print settings that you have applied to that model (or models). The problem is that many of the settings that can be included in a 3MF project file are not universally applicable to all printers. If you accidentally include a setting value that conflicts with or does not take into account the specifics of the printer that the file is then printed on, the result could be anything from a failed print to a damaged printer. UCP files solve this problem! UCP files only include a limited selection of settings that are either universal across all commonly used FDM printers or are safe to modify even when using a variety of different printer types. There are 40 allowed settings that can be included in a UCP export, a full list of which can be found here. They include commonly modified settings such as those that control supports, infill, and build plate adhesion. UCP projects export using the .3mf file extension but they have a number of safeguards in place that make them more reliable than a regular .3mf. You can tell if a .3mf file is also a UCP by the preview image for that file, all UCP files will have the UCP symbol in the top left corner of the image preview as you can see in the left-most file in the image below. When selecting a Universal Cura Project, you can choose to either import the models into Cura as you normally would or to open it as a Universal Cura Project. When opening the file as a UCP, a screen will pop up that shows you which settings were included by the creator. In the top right corner, you can select the printer on which you want to open the model. This will overwrite the settings on the printer and remove any models already loaded on the buildplate. Cloud printing and new materials for Method series printers In the previous Cura 5.6 release, we added the ability for Cura users to slice files for Method series printers. With one major limitation, cloud printing was not yet supported. We are happy say to that this limitation has now been removed. Both the Method X and Method XL printers now fully support cloud printing using the UltiMaker Digital Factory. That means it is now possible to send a sliced file directly to a network-connected Method printer from Cura over the cloud, or to send it to Digital Factory first. Allowing you to make use of the many features of Digital Factory, including: file storage and organization, monitoring of ongoing prints, collaboration of print management using shared workspaces, and more! This is the latest step in bringing our two professional desktop printer ranges together so that both the S series and Method series can benefit from all of the workflow advantages that Cura and Digital Factory provide. ASA combines the strength properties of ABS with added UV and moisture resistance. Nylon12-CF is a carbon fiber composite with an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, high stiffness, and brilliant heat resistance, making it a powerful replacement for parts that would normally be made from metal. Finally, SR-30 is a dissolvable support material that pairs well with ABS and other high-temperature materials. New failed slice analysis We have also rolled out a new tool that allows for better analysis and tracking of failed slices within Cura. From now on, when a crash occurs during slicing, a log of the errors will automatically be sent to our support team so that they can diagnose the reason for the crash. This will hugely improve our internal process for identifying and fixing bugs and we expect it will help us prioritize and ultimately solve the issues that lead to failed slices. If you do experience regular crashes, make sure to reach out to our support team who can now consult your crash logs to help troubleshoot the issue. Finally, if you do not want your crash logs to be automatically sent to our support team, you can disable data sharing by going to the Preferences menu and unticking the "Send engine crash reports" in the Privacy section. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.7 beta release: Faster slicing of complex models Additional settings for customizing rafts Ability to manually define the print sequence when printing multiple models at once Various bug fixes And much more! Check out the full release notes on GitHub for a complete list of changes. Give us your feedback Download this latest beta release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Let us know what you think of the release in the comments below!
  2. In this article, we will take a look at some of the new features of Cura that you can look forward to in this 5.6 stable release. Including, the long-awaited support for Method series printers, as well as additional settings that now let you control the base of your prime towers. Additionally, since the previous 5.5 release, the Cura team has leveraged the engine plugin capabilities introduced in that release to create a new plugin that gives you a bunch of new infill options! Cura now supports Method series printers! A year after the merger of Ultimaker and MakerBot, we have unlocked the ability for users of our Method series printers to slice files using UltiMaker Cura. As of this release, users can find profiles for our Method and Method XL printers, as well as material profiles for ABS-R, ABS-CF, and RapidRinse. Meaning it’s now possible to use either Cura or the existing cloud-slicing software CloudPrint when printing with these printers or materials. Why did this take so long? Cura allows users to slice files for hundreds of 3rd party printers, so why did it take so long for Method series printers to be supported, which as of the merger, are made by UltiMaker? There are several reasons, but the most relevant is that Method series printers use a different file type than the majority of printers, including S series printers. Most use .gcode files whereas the Method series uses .makerbot files. Enabling Cura to generate .makerbot files was a difficult and lengthy process that took months of dedicated work by the Cura team. Another reason was that we wanted the print profiles for our Method printers to be as well-tuned and as well-tested as the profiles inside of CloudPrint. Since the slicing engine and available settings are different between Cura and CloudPrint, this required a lot of test prints and validation before we got our profiles to where we wanted them. Why use Cura instead of CloudPrint? If CloudPrint meets your requirements, then there is nothing stopping you from continuing to use it. However, there are some distinct advantages to using Cura instead. Local slicing For companies with strict security policies in place, locally installed software that does not require internet access to operate is sometimes preferred over cloud-based software. In cases where CloudPrint is not an option, Cura can now provide a secure local alternative. Extensive settings selection Cura has always provided users with access to a large number of settings and this release extends those options to Method series printers. In CloudPrint, the setting selection was limited to provide a controlled and repeatable printing experience, with the Labs extruder unlocking additional settings for users who wanted to experiment. Cura, on the other hand, gives users unlimited access to over 600 settings for complete 3D printing flexibility. New features and regular updates Throughout its history, Cura has always been on the cutting edge of 3D printing technology with regular updates introducing new industry-leading features like tree supports, the Arachne slicing engine, and much more. All of which came to Cura first before later being adopted by the wider industry. By incorporating Cura into their workflow, users get access to all of these features, as well as the many future features that will turn up in upcoming releases. How do I slice files for a Method series printer in Cura? You can add a Method series printer by choosing the ‘Add printer’ option within Cura. You can then choose ‘UltiMaker printer’ and then ‘Add local printer’ Unfortunately, it’s not possible in this release to use Method series printers with Digital Factory. That functionality will be coming in a later release, however. Once your Method series printer has been added, you can slice with it as you would with any UltiMaker printer. The same ‘Balanced’ and ‘Solid’ profiles that can be found in CloudPrint are available and can be selected based on your requirements. After that, you can manipulate your model on the virtual build plate, select the materials you wish to use, and even modify custom settings or use a plugin from the Marketplace if needed. Finally, you can slice and preview your model before saving the final project file. You will then need to transfer the resulting .makerbot file to the printer using a USB device in order to start your print. Will there be more Cura updates for the Method series in the future? This is just the first step in a series of updates that will improve the compatibility of the Method series with Cura. In future releases, we intend to introduce additional material profiles, enable compatibility with the UltiMaker Digital Factory, and more. Additional settings for adjusting prime tower bases New settings have been released that let you modify the base of your prime tower. The new settings are: Prime Tower Base Size Prime Tower Base Height Prime Tower Base Slope Prime Tower Raft Line Spacing You can modify these settings to help improve the reliability of your prime towers. You can also use them to calibrate how well your prime tower adheres to the build plate for increased print success, or to avoid over-adhesion that may damage your build plate. An engine plugin for added infill flexibility A new plugin has been created by the Cura team that makes use of the improved engine plugin capabilities introduced in Cura 5.5. The plugin is called CuraEngine Tiled Infill Generation and it allows users to select from an expanded list of infill patterns, as well as allowing users to add their own infill pattern by uploading a *.wtk file. The plugin can be downloaded now through the UltiMaker Marketplace. This plugin is just a taste of what is now possible when creating Cura plugins. We look forward to seeing what the Cura community creates next! Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.6 beta release: Start and end gcode now accepts variables and math that includes variables Spanish translations related to lightning infill have been updated (contributed by @Pelochus) Additional bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Let us know what you think of the release in the comments below!
  3. The beta release of UltiMaker Cura 5.6 has arrived and it brings prime tower improvements and support for Method series printers! Also, since the last update, the Cura team has released a new plugin that makes use of the engine plugin capabilities unlocked in Cura 5.5. Read on to find out more! You can now slice files for Method series printers in Cura! A year after the merger of Ultimaker and MakerBot, we have unlocked the ability for users of our Method series printers to slice files using UltiMaker Cura. As of this release, users can find profiles for our Method and Method XL printers, as well as material profiles for ABS-R, ABS-CF, and RapidRinse. Meaning it’s now possible to use either Cura or the existing cloud-slicing software CloudPrint when printing with these printers or materials. Why did this take so long? Cura allows users to slice files for hundreds of 3rd party printers, so why did it take so long for Method series printers to be supported, which as of the merger, are made by UltiMaker? There are several reasons, but the most relevant is that Method series printers use a different file type than the majority of printers, including S series printers. Most use .gcode files whereas the Method series uses .makerbot files. Enabling Cura to generate .makerbot files was a difficult and lengthy process that took months of dedicated work by the Cura team. Another reason was that we wanted the print profiles for our Method printers to be as well-tuned and as well-tested as the profiles inside of CloudPrint. Since the slicing engine and available settings are different between Cura and CloudPrint, this required a lot of test prints and validation before we got our profiles to where we wanted them. Why use Cura instead of CloudPrint? If CloudPrint meets your requirements, then there is nothing stopping you from continuing to use it. However, there are some distinct advantages to using Cura instead. Local slicing For companies with strict security policies in place, locally installed software that does not require internet access to operate is sometimes preferred over cloud-based software. In cases where CloudPrint is not an option, Cura can now provide a secure local alternative. Extensive settings selection Cura has always provided users with access to a large number of settings and this release extends those options to Method series printers. In CloudPrint, the setting selection was limited to provide a controlled and repeatable printing experience, with the Labs extruder unlocking additional settings for users who wanted to experiment. Cura, on the other hand, gives users unlimited access to over 600 settings for complete 3D printing flexibility. New features and regular updates Throughout its history, Cura has always been on the cutting edge of 3D printing technology with regular updates introducing new industry-leading features like tree supports, the Arachne slicing engine, and much more. All of which came to Cura first before later being adopted by the wider industry. By incorporating Cura into their workflow, users get access to all of these features, as well as the many future features that will turn up in upcoming releases. How do I slice files for a Method series printer in Cura? You can add a Method series printer by choosing the ‘Add printer’ option within Cura. You can then choose ‘UltiMaker printer’ and then ‘Add local printer’ Unfortunately, it’s not possible in this release to use Method series printers with Digital Factory. That functionality will be coming in a later release, however. Once your Method series printer has been added, you can slice with it as you would with any UltiMaker printer. The same ‘Balanced’ and ‘Solid’ profiles that can be found in CloudPrint are available and can be selected based on your requirements. After that, you can manipulate your model on the virtual build plate, select the materials you wish to use, and even modify custom settings or use a plugin from the Marketplace if needed. Finally, you can slice and preview your model before saving the final project file. You will then need to transfer the resulting .makerbot file to the printer using a USB device in order to start your print. Will there be more Cura updates for the Method series in the future? This is just the first step in a series of updates that will improve the compatibility of the Method series with Cura. In future releases, we intend to introduce additional material profiles, enable compatibility with the UltiMaker Digital Factory, and more. Prime tower improvements New settings have been released that let you modify the base of your prime tower. The new settings are: Prime Tower Base Size Prime Tower Base Height Prime Tower Base Slope Prime Tower Raft Line Spacing You can modify these settings to help improve the reliability of your prime towers. You can also use them to calibrate how well your prime tower adheres to the build plate for increased print success, or to avoid over-adhesion that may damage your build plate. New engine plugin A new plugin has been created by the Cura team that makes use of the improved engine plugin capabilities introduced in Cura 5.5. The plugin is called CuraEngine Tiled Infill Generation and it allows users to select from an expanded list of infill patterns, as well as allowing users to add their own infill pattern by uploading a *.wtk file. The plugin can be downloaded now through the UltiMaker Marketplace. This plugin is just a taste of what is now possible when creating Cura plugins. We look forward to seeing what the Cura community creates next! Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.6 beta release: Start and end gcode now accepts variables and math that includes variables Spanish translations related to lightning infill have been updated (contributed by @Pelochus) Additional bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Let us know what you think of the beta in the comments below!
  4. Experience improved model arrangement on the virtual build plate, powerful new engine plugins, and remarkable productivity improvements for UltiMaker S series printers in the newest version of Cura! Ultimaker S series printers can now print at up to twice the speed At UltiMaker, we're always on a mission to refine our printers. This includes not only our latest machines but also those already in the hands of our users. This Cura release contains one of the best examples of our dedication to continuous improvement with up to double the 3D printing productivity for everyone using our S series printers together with UltiMaker materials. While the raw speed of our S series printers has increased, we like to emphasize that, ultimately, it is the overall productivity of our printers that has been improved. That’s because we have been able to realize this speed increase without reducing print quality or increasing failure rates. This is a huge achievement! Whether you’re using an S7 you bought today or an S5 you bought years ago, you can now print parts in up to half the time, without any reduction in reliability or quality. For instance, in the previous Cura 5.4 release, printing a part in PETG on an S5 with an AA 0.4 mm print core would have taken 2 days and 35 minutes: But in Cura 5.5 it will take just 1 day 7 hours and 19 minutes using the same material, extruder, and printer: Historically, when we've achieved such advancements, it’s been the outcome of rigorous testing and fine-tuning of our print profiles. We've done the same here, but we've also introduced new features that harness the full potential of our printers. A few prominent additions include: Optimized print speeds for different line types Outer walls, inner walls, and supports are all printed at different speeds. We have optimized the print speed for these and other line types, while also adjusting the acceleration and deceleration behavior when moving between line types. As a result, we are now able to print internal structures faster without reducing the visual quality or mechanical properties of your part. Smooth internal wall pathing Previously the inside of walls was printed using a diagonal pattern that resulted in the print head performing a jittery zig-zag motion during printing. This has been changed so that the inside of walls now print using long smooth lines which enables the print head to reach higher speeds. Prevent infill crossing close to walls Tweaks have been made so that infill no longer overlaps near to external walls. Overlapping infill near walls can cause artifacts on the surface of your print, this change prevents those artifacts and also reduces print head travel, increasing print speeds. For a comprehensive list of all the changes that were made in this release, view our release notes on GitHub. Performance improvements will differ based on materials, nozzle dimensions, and model specifics. The biggest improvements can be seen when printing large models and when printing multiple models at the same time. Intent profiles, higher speeds, and quality improvements come to AA 0.8 mm print cores The AA 0.8 mm print profiles for UltiMaker PLA and Tough PLA have been optimized for both speed and print quality, as well as gaining access to recommended intent profiles. One of the easiest ways to print more parts in less time on an UltiMaker printer has always been to use a larger nozzle size. 0.4 mm nozzles have become somewhat of an industry standard and as a result, our 0.4 mm print cores have long been our most popular. However, we also offer 0.8 mm print cores, and for many users, these are often a better choice. As mentioned, moving to a larger nozzle size means much faster print speeds, with the tradeoff that your parts will have more prominent layer lines and, therefore, may not look as nice. However, all the way back at the release of Cura 5.0, a new slicing engine was released that enabled variable line width. This resulted in improved print quality when printing thin walls and fine details. What many people may not have realized, is that it’s also now possible to print using a 0.8 mm print core while still getting great print quality. If you're looking for the absolute best print quality then a 0.4 mm print core is still your best choice but if speed is a priority then a 0.8 mm print core is the better tool. Our new 0.8 mm print profiles will make this easier than ever, allowing you to select the profile that matches your requirements (Visual, Engineering, or Draft) and then print with the confidence that you are using reliable print profiles that have been professionally tuned for your needs. Better yet, with the combined effect of moving from a 0.4 mm to a 0.8 mm print core and the other speed improvements in this release, you will find that it’s possible to print huge parts in less than half the time! Finally, we have also updated the Default intent profile to be called Balanced to better reflect that it is a middle point between the Visual, Engineering, and Draft profiles. Introducing Cura engine plugins This release sees a huge new addition to Cura which will fuel improvements for years to come: engine plugins with powerful new capabilities! Since 2015, Cura has allowed members of the community to create plugins that add new functionality to Cura or augment existing functionality. Over the years, we improved our plugin system to make it easier to create and share plugins. Today you can find and download dozens of plugins through the UltiMaker Marketplace and many people have, with some of our most popular plugins being downloaded millions of times! Examples of popular plugins include the Settings Guide plugin which adds additional context to the over 600 settings in Cura, and the OctoPrint Connection plugin which lets you use the popular OctoPrint web interface for remote printing and monitoring. Regular users will know that the functionality of plugins, up until now, has been limited to tweaking to UI and manipulating your parts before slicing. Everything that happens after you start slicing your part could not be modified. In other words, if Cura was a car, plugins would allow users to modify the paint scheme, change the rims on the tires, and maybe even swap out the seats for something more fancy. But everything under the hood was off-limits. You could make the car look better, even feel better, but it would still drive the same. With the new plugin capabilities in this release, that has all changed. It is now possible to fundamentally modify how Cura works by interfacing with the slicing engine at the heart of Cura. This allows plugins to add new settings, modify existing settings, and change how Cura behaves when slicing a model. The result is more powerful plugins with a much wider range of capabilities. Some examples of the kind of functionality that users could add with these new plugins include: Paint on supports: By combining the new and existing plugin capabilities, it would be possible to create a plugin that allows you to tag areas as requiring supports manually. Version number in print: It’s possible to create a plugin that modifies the skin area on layer 0 to have a version number or any other custom text that will appear on the bottom of the model when printed Texture: You can use a plugin to give your model a custom texture embossed on the surface. These are just some of the countless possibilities that are unlocked with engine plugins. As has always been the case, plugins still need to be approved before they are added to the Marketplace so it is unlikely that a plugin will be dangerous but it is important to be mindful that the expected behavior of Cura may change drastically when installing engine plugins. Streamlined model duplication and arrangement Two new improvements have been added that make it easier than ever to fill up your build plate with models and organize them effectively. The first is that you can now duplicate your models using the same copy-and-paste shortcuts you would when duplicating text. Just select the model you want to copy and press Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V (Command+C and Command+V on Mac) as many times as you want to spawn additional copies of your model. Each additional instance of your model will be placed on your build plate as if it were a new model being loaded into Cura with the added benefit that any changes made to your original part, such as it being resized, will also be reflected in all duplicate models. Right-clicking your part will also bring up the copy/paste shortcuts in the context menu. The second change is that you can now organize multiple models on the build plate using a grid formation. When multiplying your part or when using the new copy/paste function, parts will now be placed in a grid pattern. There is also a new option in the context menu (or when pressing Ctrl+Shift+R) that will arrange all instances of your model into a grid pattern. These two features combined make it much easier to fill your build plate with prints and keep them organized when doing so! Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.5 stable release: A donation button was added for users to help fund Cura’s open-source development A new Apple Mac build of Cura is now available for users with ARM processors Numerous bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Comment below to give us your feedback!
  5. With the latest release of UltiMaker Cura, users can look forward to easier organization of models on the virtual build plate, exciting new plugin capabilities, and huge speed improvements for UltiMaker S series printers! Double your 3D printing productivity on UltiMaker S series printers At UltiMaker, we are constantly trying to improve the machines we make. Not just our latest printers, but also the ones already in the hands of our users. This Cura release has enabled us to double the 3D printing productivity for everyone using our S series printers. with UltiMaker materials. Why do we say productivity instead of speed? The reason is that saying our printers are now faster is selling short what this update achieves. Printing parts faster is relatively easy, but doing so without reducing print quality or increasing failure rates is much harder. With this update, we have managed to do just that. Prints can now be completed in up to half the time, without any reduction in reliability or quality. As an example, in Cura version 5.4, this part printed in PETG on an S5 using an AA 0.4 mm print core would have taken 2 days and 35 minutes to print: But in Cura 5.5 it will take just 1 day 7 hours and 19 minutes using the same material, extruder, and printer: In the past, when we have made improvements like this, it’s often been because we have tested and tweaked our print profiles over and over again to find the absolute best combination of settings. We have done that here too, but we have also introduced new features that help push our printers to their limit. Some of the more notable ones are: Optimized print speeds for different line types Outer walls, inner walls, and supports are all printed at different speeds. We have optimized the print speed for these and other line types, while also adjusting the acceleration and deceleration behavior when moving between line types. As a result, we are now able to print internal structures faster without reducing the visual quality or mechanical properties of your part. Smooth internal wall pathing Previously the inside of walls was printed using a diagonal pattern that resulted in the print head performing a jittery zig-zag motion during printing. This has been changed so that the inside of walls now print using long smooth lines which enables the print head to reach higher speeds. Prevent infill crossing close to walls Tweaks have been made so that infill no longer overlaps near to external walls. Overlapping infill near walls can cause artifacts on the surface of your print, this change prevents those artifacts and also reduces print head travel, increasing print speeds. These are just some of the improvements that were made to speed up our printers in this release. For the full list, check out the release notes on GitHub. Speed gains will vary significantly depending on which material, nozzle size, or model you are using. The biggest improvements can be seen when printing large models and when printing multiple models at the same time. AA 0.8 mm print cores get intent profiles as well as speed and quality improvements The AA 0.8 mm print profiles for UltiMaker PLA and Tough PLA have been optimized for both speed and print quality, as well as gaining access to recommended intent profiles. One of the easiest ways to print more parts in less time on an UltiMaker printer has always been to use a larger nozzle size. 0.4 mm nozzles have become somewhat of an industry standard and as a result, our 0.4 mm print cores have long been our most popular. However, we also offer 0.8 mm print cores, and for many users, these would be a better choice. As mentioned, moving to a larger nozzle size means much faster print speeds, with the tradeoff that your parts will have more prominent layer lines and, therefore, may not look as nice. However, all the way back at the release of Cura 5.0, a new slicing engine was released that enabled variable line width. This resulted in improved print quality when printing thin walls and fine details. What many people may not have realized, is that it’s also now possible to print using a 0.8 mm print core while still getting great print quality. If you're looking for the absolute best print quality then a 0.4 mm print core is still your best choice but if speed is a priority then a 0.8 mm print core is the better tool. Our new 0.8 mm print profiles will make this easier than ever, allowing you to select the profile that matches your requirements (Visual, Engineering, or Draft) and then print with the confidence that you are using reliable print profiles that have been professionally tuned for your needs. Better yet, with the combined effect of moving from a 0.4 mm to a 0.8 mm print core and the other speed improvements in this release, you will find that it’s possible to print huge parts in less than half the time! Powerful new engine plugins This release sees a huge new addition to Cura which will fuel improvements for years to come: engine plugins with powerful new capabilities! Since 2015, Cura has allowed members of the community to create plugins that add new functionality to Cura or augment existing functionality. Over the years we improved our plugin system to make it easier to create and share plugins. Today you can find and download dozens of plugins through the UltiMaker Marketplace and many people have, with some of our most popular plugins being downloaded millions of times! Examples of popular plugins include the Settings Guide plugin which adds additional context to the over 600 settings in Cura, and the OctoPrint Connection plugin which lets you use the popular OctoPrint web interface for remote printing and monitoring. Up until now, the functionality of plugins has been limited to manipulating your parts before slicing and UI tweaks. Everything that happens after you start slicing your part could not be modified. In other words, if Cura was a car, plugins would allow users to modify the paint scheme, change the rims on the tires, and maybe even swap out the seats for something more fancy. But everything under the hood was off-limits. You could make the car look better, even feel better, but it would still drive the same. With the new plugin capabilities in this release, that has all changed. It is now possible to fundamentally modify how Cura works by interfacing with the slicing engine at the heart of Cura. This allows plugins to add new settings, modify existing settings, and change how Cura behaves when slicing a model. The result is more powerful plugins with a much wider range of capabilities. Some examples of the kind of functionality that users could add with these new plugins include: Paint on supports: By combining the new and existing plugin capabilities, it would be possible to create a plugin that allows you to manually tag areas as requiring supports Version number in print: It’s possible to create a plugin that modifies the skin area on layer 0 to have a version number or any other custom text that will appear on the bottom of the model when printed Texture: You can use a plugin to give your model a custom texture embossed on the surface These are just some of the countless possibilities that are unlocked with engine plugins. As has always been the case, plugins still need to be approved before they are added to the Marketplace so it is unlikely that a plugin will be dangerous but it is important to be mindful that the expected behavior of Cura may change drastically when installing engine plugins. Duplicate and organize models on your build plate more easily Two new improvements have been added that make it easier than ever to fill up your build plate with models and organize them effectively. The first is that you can now duplicate your models using the same copy-and-paste shortcuts you would when duplicating text. Just select the model you want to copy and press Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V (Command+C and Command+V on Mac) as many times as you want to spawn additional copies of your model. Each additional instance of your model will be placed on your build plate as if it were a new model being loaded into Cura with the added benefit that any changes made to your original part, such as it being resized, will also be reflected in all duplicate models. Right-clicking your part will also bring up the copy/paste shortcuts in the context menu. The second change is that you can now organize multiple models on the build plate using a grid formation. When multiplying your part or when using the new copy/paste function, parts will now be placed in a grid pattern. There is also a new option in the context menu (or when pressing Ctrl+Shift+R) that will arrange all instances of your model into a grid pattern. These two features combined make it much easier to fill your build plate with prints and keep them organized when doing so! Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.5 beta release: A donation button was added for users to help fund Cura’s open-source development A new Apple Mac build of Cura is now available for users with ARM processors Numerous bug fixes Download now and give us your feedback Download this latest release from GitHub to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Material interlocking is a cutting-edge new feature and we would love to find out how you’re using it. Leave us a comment below to give us your feedback.
  6. The full stable release of UltiMaker Cura 5.4 is here and it makes it easier than ever to remove brims and supports from your finished prints. UltiMaker S series users can also look forward to print profiles for our newest UltiMaker PET CF composite material! All of that is on top of the many many tweaks and changes that you’ve come to expect from every Cura release! New and improved tree supports make printing complex parts easier than ever! When we first released tree supports, the aim was to help users to use less material, reduce print times, and end up with cleaner prints. For many many people, tree supports were successful in doing that. However, for one user, they did not go far enough. Rather than complain, Thomas Rahm began figuring out how to make them better and in June of 2020, he created a fork of Cura to do just that. Now, multiple years and many lines of code later, his idea has finally made it into an official Cura release for everyone to use. These new supports use more and smaller branches rather than fewer larger ones that previously tended to merge together. As a result, tree supports will now use even less filament and therefore take even less time to print. They should also be significantly easier to remove and are also less likely to leave behind scarring on the surface of your completed print. And better yet, you won’t just experience faster print times, but also faster slicing times. Slicing is now done on multiple cores meaning you won't have to wait very long for your tree supports to grow! In order to help get the most out of these new tree supports, you will be able to modify several new settings,they are: Maximum Branch Angle Trunk Diameter Branch Diameter Branch Diameter Angle Preferred Branch Angle Diameter Increase to Model Minimum Height to Model Initial Layer Diameter Branch Density Tip Diameter Limit Branch Reach Optimal Branch Range Rest Preference We also released the dragon pencil cup model shown in the image above alongside the 5.4 beta release. If you go to the Thingiverse page for that model, you can find pictures and comments of people who have printed it using these new tree supports. Why not download the model yourself and share your results? Effortless brim removal The order in which brims are printed has been tweaked so that they are now easier to remove. Brims have been a long-standing solution to adhesion issues. They increase the surface area of your part on the print bed so that it is less likely to come loose during printing. They can be an invaluable tool when printing small or thin parts, or parts that are top-heavy. However, despite their utility, many people have spent countless hours tweaking and tuning their printers so that brims are unnecessary. All sorts of fancy glues, build surfaces, and more have been employed to avoid using them. Why? Because they can be a pain to remove. Often leaving behind excess material that needs to be cut or sanded away to get a clean final print. In this release, we came up with a new solution. The new Smart Brim setting will change how brims are printed so that they are significantly easier to remove. If you enable it in your Cura print settings, you should find your brims peel off easily as shown in the GIF above, and that they leave behind less (or no) excess material. As with the dragon model, the printed Cura logo shown above is also available to download on Thingiverse. And better yet, it’s part of a Cura Cookie Cutter designed by Johan Gude from the UltiMaker team! If you do print it, please send us pictures of your delicious Cura cookies before you eat them! UltiMaker PET CF intent profiles now available Following the release of the new UltiMaker PET CF high-performance composite material, you can now use intent profiles when printing on UltiMaker S series printers. As with all of our professionally tuned material profiles, you can select from visual, engineering, and draft profiles depending on your needs. However, PET CF can also be annealed to increase the strength, stiffness, and thermal resistance of your part. To make this as easy as possible, PET CF has an annealing profile that will automatically scale your part to compensate for changes that occur during the annealing process! To find out more about PET CF and its many potential applications, check out the product page for more details. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.4 stable release: PyQT Library has been updated resulting in speed and pop-up improvements Added Skirt Height setting to make a skirt easier to remove Improved printing order of the prime tower to include a dual brim, primed every layer, and primed before and after the extruder switch Introduced Hole Horizontal Expansion Max Diameter setting so you can tune the expansion of only the smaller holes while leaving larger holes untouched Added or updated profiles for 20+ 3rd party printers Numerous bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. And please, comment below to give us your feedback.
  7. This new Cura 5.4 beta is all about cleaner prints and easier material removal. In this beta release, we have two major improvements that will make your prints easier to get off the build plate and have them looking great with minimal effort. As well as a whole bunch of other tweaks and changes, of course. Click here to go to the download page for the 5.4 Beta. Updated tree supports use less material and print faster In this release, tree supports have been improved so that they now print faster and use less material, while also being easier to remove after printing. If you downloaded our previous Xmas tree support alpha, then Xmas has come again thanks to you and everyone else who helped us test and refine these supports. Also, a big shout out to community member Thomas Rahm who originally created a fork of Cura in June of 2020 where he started making improvements to Tree Support because they did “not meet his expectations”. Many changed lines of code later, his idea has finally made it into an official Cura release for everyone to use. These new supports use more and smaller branches rather than fewer larger ones that previously had a tendency to merge together. As a result, tree supports will now use less filament and therefore take less time to print. They should also be significantly easier to remove and are also less likely to leave behind scarring on the surface of your completed print. And better yet, it’s not just print times that are faster, but also slicing times. Slicing is now done on multiple cores meaning you won't have to wait very long for your tree supports to grow! In order to help get the most out of these new tree supports, you will be able to modify a number of new settings, including: support blocker, per model settings, and support horizontal expansion. And as an extra treat, if you want to try out these new tree supports using the awesome dragon pencil cup model shown as an example above, you can download it from UltiMaker Thingiverse and use it yourself! New brims are easier to remove The order in which brims are printed has been tweaked so that they are now easier to remove. Brims are an incredibly useful tool that can help improve the adhesion of your print to the build plate. Particularly when printing small or thin parts, or parts that are top-heavy, a brim can often be the difference between a failed print and a successful one. However, many people don’t like using them because they can be difficult to remove and often leave behind a rim or excess material at the bottom of your print which needs to be cut or sanded away if you want a completely clean print. The new smart brim setting in this release will reduce this issue significantly. If you enable it in your Cura print settings, you should find your brims are much easier to remove and that they leave behind less (or no) excess material. Also, since we’re in the habit of giving away cool models, here’s another one! The Cura symbol in the example above is not just a Cura logo, but part of a Cura Cookie Cutter, designed by Johan Gude from the UltiMaker team. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.4 beta release: PyQT Library has been updated resulting in speed and pop-up improvements Added Skirt Height setting to make a skirt easier to remove Improved printing order of the prime tower to include a dual brim, primed every layer, and primed before and after the extruder switch Introduced Hole Horizontal Expansion Max Diameter setting so you can tune the expansion of only the smaller holes while leaving larger holes untouched Added or updated profiles for 20+ 3rd party printers Numerous bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Click here to go to the download page for the 5.4 Beta. If you have any feedback please comment below so we can make the stable release even better!
  8. Anyone who has downloaded or heard about the recent Cura 5.3 beta release should be extremely excited! In this stable release, Cura 5.3 achieves yet another huge leap forward in 3D printing thanks to material interlocking! As well as introducing an expanded recommended print settings menu and lots of print quality improvements. Not to mention, a whole bunch of new printer profiles for non-UltiMaker printers! Material interlocking enables truly unrestricted multi-material printing Material interlocking is a new feature in this release with the power to unlock a huge number of exciting applications. To find out how, let's take a look at a printed part: This adorable clip was designed by our very own Mariska Maas to show off the potential of material interlocking and can be found on Thingiverse. At first glance, it may not seem all that exciting, but there's a lot more going on than meets the eye. Firstly, it’s functional. This print can be used as a working clip. When squeezed at the bottom, the teeth will open and when released they will spring shut. The reason is that the print was made using two different materials. Specifically, CPE and TPU95A. CPE is a rigid material and it was used for the green prongs of the clip. TPU is flexible and it was used to print the black hinge (and the less functional but still cute eyes). The second exciting thing about this clip is that it was printed all together as a single part without any assembly required. It’s around now that anyone experienced with multi-material printing might be getting excited. That’s because CPE and TPU are incompatible materials. Meaning that if you tried printing a part like the one above using a dual-extrusion printer, the parts would not bond together properly and would fall apart either immediately, or after light use. This clip, however, can be used as much as you want without breaking (trust me, I have one on my desk as I write this and I’ve been playing with it for days without any issues). This is possible because of the new material interlocking feature. To see exactly what's going on here, let's take a look inside the print: That interesting pattern around the hinge and eye was not designed into this part. Instead, it was automatically generated by enabling the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting added to this version of Cura. Note: this setting is only available when using advanced and expert setting presets. Or if enabled via the preferences menu. This alternating overlapping pattern physically ‘locks’ the two materials together so that the strength of the bond between them is no longer dependent on how compatible they are, but is instead only limited by the strength of the weakest of the two materials. The implications of this are huge. Up until now, when printing multi-material prints on, for example, an UltiMaker printer capable of dual extrusion like the new UltiMaker S7 (although any multi-material printer will do), you would have had to consult a material compatibility chart like this one to tell if the materials you plan to use would work together. Many materials need to be printed at different temperatures and others are chemically incompatible. Using material interlocking, any material is fair game. You also don’t have to worry about using workarounds such as designing parts that use joints, clips, or fancy print-in-place tricks. You no longer need to print a part in multiple pieces and assemble them using adhesives or fasteners. Instead, just load any part designed for multiple material printing into Cura and slice it with the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting enabled. To check that the setting has been properly applied, you can go to the preview tab in Cura, and use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to scrub to a part of the print where the two materials meet. The interlocking pattern will show in the sliced part like so: We look forward to seeing what our users do with this incredible new feature and we hope everyone enjoys testing it out! We also want to give a special shout-out to our former colleague Tim Kuiper. Tim was not only responsible for this innovative feature but also the variable line width engine which was the flagship feature of last year's Cura 5.0 release! Anyone who wants to know more about how this new feature works can read Tim’s PhD paper on the subject. Enhanced print quality, supports, brims, and more This release is jam-packed with tweaks and touch-ups that will help make your prints look better. The first change is that concentric ordering has been improved for initial layers. Now, when selecting the ‘Concentric ‘ option under the ‘Bottom Pattern Initial Layer’ setting, your first layer will print sequentially from the outside in, rather than printing out of order. As you can see from the following GIF, the new behavior is smoother and makes much more sense: Next, the Z seam should now be aligned more consistently when using the ‘Sharpest Corner’ Z seam alignment setting and then selecting ‘None’ under the ‘Seam Corner Preference’ dropdown. Printing speeds and minimum layer time behavior have also been tuned to improve the quality of small layers. The result is that small spikes, cones, and pointy details will now print better. Supports have also been improved. When printing with ‘Normal’ supports, fewer useless support structures will be generated and supports will be more reliable overall. Particularly when printing parts with small complex details. There is also less chance of unneeded supports being generated on top of your model. Finally, printing with brims has also been improved. Brims will now print faster and should be easier to remove. Brims can also now be printed with two materials in a single model resulting in better adhesion and cleaner print post-processing. Note: this release does not include our improved Xmas tree supports but you can still download the alpha we release at the end of last year to try them out and to help us test them! Improved printer setup and an extended recommended settings menu New printer setup has been streamlined. When configuring a new printer in Cura, you are now asked if you want to add an UltiMaker printer or a non-UltiMaker printer: When selecting an UltiMaker printer, you are then guided through the process of connecting the printer to the UltiMaker Digital Factory for remote monitoring. The recommended print settings menu has been extended to include additional settings such as the option to choose an infill pattern, support placement, and more. It is also now possible to save changes to the recommended settings for future prints. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in UltiMaker Cura 5.3: Added over 75 new 3rd party printer profiles UltiMaker branding updated throughout Cura Numerous bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Material interlocking is a cutting-edge new feature and we would love to find out how you’re using it. Comment below to give us your feedback.
  9. We have another incredible UltiMaker Cura beta release ready for you! Cura users can look forward to improved print quality, an expanded and improved recommended print settings menu, and our biggest new feature since the Cura 5.0 release, multi-material interlocking! Also, as a cherry on top, this release includes a huge amount of new printer profiles for some of the most popular non-UltiMaker printers. Combine previously incompatible materials with material interlocking Every now and again, something comes along that makes you rethink the fundamental rules of 3D printing. When that happens, incredible new possibilities are created. This release is one of those moments. With the introduction of material interlocking, it’s now possible to combine two completely incompatible materials and have them be fully bonded without any adhesives or fasteners required. This feature exists thanks to our beloved former colleague Tim Kuijper, who also introduced the Arachne variable line width engine! This great improvement for multi-material prints is based on research that resulted in him earning his PhD. This can be done on any printer capable of printing with two or more materials at once. It is achieved by generating an alternating overlapping pattern at the interface of two materials that physically ‘locks’ them together. Inside of Cura, it looks like this: The result is that a completed print that uses material interlocking will have a bond between the two materials that can withstand mechanical pressures which are only limited by the strength of the weakest of the two materials, and not the compatibility of those materials. To understand how exciting this is, we need to talk about material compatibility in multi-material prints. In an ideal world, it would be possible to combine any two materials when printing a multi-material print and have them bond together just like two layers of the same material would. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. In reality, some materials require extremely different printing temperatures and others are just chemically incompatible. The result is that when printing with two incompatible materials like PLA and TPU, the completed print would be extremely fragile at the interface layer, causing them to break away from each other easily. And that’s if the incompatibility does not result in a failed print before it was finished. You can find a full chart of which materials are compatible with each other here. Traditional solutions to this problem included novel print-in-place designs and parts that include a joint similar to one that would be used in woodworking. Or, more traditional solutions like adhesives, fasteners, and clips. One particularly handy solution is heat set inserts which you can read all about in a previous post we published on the subject. Thankfully, many of these solutions are no longer necessary when using material interlocking! Instead, all you need to do is enable the ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting under the ‘Experimental’ heading. Experimental settings are only visible when enabled via the ‘Setting Visibility’ section of the ‘Preferences’ menu. Then, after slicing your multi-material part, you can view the new interlocking structure by going to the preview tab in Cura, and using the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to scrub to a part of the print where the two materials meet: One of our early experiments with this new feature was to create a functioning clip with a flexible TPU hinge and rigid PLA teeth which works perfectly despite being printed with incompatible materials: You can find the part here on Thingiverse if you want to try printing it yourself. We hope you enjoy testing out this fascinating new feature and we look forward to seeing what you can do with it. Improved print quality and better brims As always, we continue in this release to make small (and not-so-small) changes to improve overall print quality. Firstly, the Z seam should now be aligned more consistently when using the ‘Sharpest Corner’ Z seam alignment setting and then selecting ‘None’ under the ‘Seam Corner Preference’ dropdown. Printing with brims has also been improved. Brims will now print faster and should be easier to remove. Brims can also now be printed with two materials in a single model resulting in better adhesion and cleaner print post-processing. Next, concentric ordering has been improved for initial layers. Now, when selecting the ‘Concentric ‘ option under the ‘Bottom Pattern Initial Layer’ setting, your first layer will print sequentially from the outside in, rather than printing out of order. Supports have also been improved. When printing with ‘Normal’ supports, fewer unnecessary support structures will be generated and supports will be more reliable overall. Particularly when printing parts with small complex details. There is also less chance of useless supports being generated on top of your model. Finally, printing speeds and minimum layer time behavior has been tuned to improve the quality of small layers. The result is that small spikes, cones, and pointy details will now print better. For anyone paying attention to our previous releases, our improved Xmas tree supports did not make it into this release. You can still go and download the alpha release to try them out right now, though. Better recommended setting menu and improved printer setup The recommended print settings menu has been updated to include many of the most commonly changed settings such as the option to choose an infill pattern, support placement, and more. It is also now possible to save changes to the recommended settings for future prints. Printer setup has also been streamlined. When configuring a new printer in Cura, you are now asked if you want to add an UltiMaker printer or a non-UltiMaker printer. When selecting an UltiMaker printer, you are then guided through the process of connecting the printer to UltiMakerDigital Factory for remote monitoring. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the UltiMaker Cura 5.3 beta: Added over 75 new 3rd party printer profiles UltiMaker branding updated throughout Cura Numerous bug fixes Give us your feedback Download this latest beta release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Material interlocking is a cutting-edge new feature and we would love to find out how you’re using it. Let us know in the comments below!
  10. The latest release of Ultimaker Cura is here and Ultimaker owners who download version 5.1 will now be able to enjoy simple and affordable metal FFF printing, new and improved support structures, and better surface quality. A new streamlined workflow for metal FFF printing The following new features have been added which are specific to metal FFF printing: Automatic shrinkage plate feature. A shrinkage plate will now automatically be created when using a compatible Ultrafuse® metal material profile that prevents your part from deforming during the debinding and sintering process DD print core support*. The new DD 0.4 print core is now supported which has been especially designed for use with the new Ultrafuse® Support Layer material Automatic support interface feature. When using the new Ultrafuse® Support Layer material and a compatible Ultrafuse® metal material, an interface layer will automatically be created between the model and the metal supports as well as between the model and the automatic shrinkage plate. This layer makes it easier to remove supports after sintering These features are enabled by the newly announced Metal Expansion Kit which contains the new DD 0.4 print core and Ultrafuse® Support Layer materials. Currently the only metal print profiles compatible with these new features are the Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH, Ultrafuse® 316L, and Ultrafuse® Support Layer* materials by BASF Forward AM. *Currently only available in Europe. The Ultimaker Metal Expansion Kit is sold without the BASF Forward AM Ultrafuse® Support Layer and Ultimaker Print Core DD 0.4 at a lower MSRP in other territories (including North America). These new metal FFF features mean that a simple and affordable new metal FFF workflow is now available which not only includes the printing of parts, but also the debinding and sintering process that is made possible through BASF’s network of debinding and sintering services. However, the foundation for this workflow was started in Ultimaker Cura version 5.0 with the following changes to the Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH and Ultrafuse® 316L print profiles: Automatic scaling. Metal parts are automatically scaled to compensate for shrinkage that takes place during the debinding and sintering process Alternate wall directions. The direction of walls is alternated to prevent distortions during the debinding and sintering process New slicing engine. The new slicing engine reduces internal gaps in your part that can lead to line delamination and cracks during debinding and sintering, as well as allowing for the printing of thinner walls and finer details than was previously possible when printing with metal materials Higher segment resolution results in a improved surface quality In our never-ending quest to help you get the best-looking prints possible, we have massively increased the segment resolution of your prints when using Ultimaker S-line printers with the latest firmware. Models with smooth curves like spheres, cones, and cylinders, well as more complex models made up of many organic shapes, will display improved surface quality as they will print with up to twice as many individual segments. This was achieved by implementing a new resolution algorithm, as well as the removal of unnecessary jerk and acceleration from travel commands within gcode. The removal of these redundant commands resulted in reduced printer vibrations, as well as gcode files that are up to 20% smaller. The biggest differences in surface quality will be seen when comparing against Ultimaker Cura 4.13. This is because the foundation of these improvements was made in both Ultimaker Cura 5.0 and S-line firmware version 7.0.3. The previous Cura update contained various print profile tweaks and the firmware release included changes that reduced buffer underrun. Note: This feature requires you to be using firmware version 7.0.3 or above on your Ultimaker printer. Download the latest firmware version to make sure your printer is fully compatible. Faster and more reliable supports when printing with support materials When printing supports using either Ultimaker PVA or Ultimaker Breakaway support materials, you can now expect faster print times and more reliable support structures. As well as improves surface quality on the part of your print that is being supported. These improvements have come from a variety of tweaks but the most significant are that when printing supports with these materials, a new zig-zag pattern will be used, instead of the previous triangle pattern. The outer wall around the supports has also been removed and the density of supports has been increased. Print times can be as much as 20% faster and as an added bonus, PVA supports will now dissolve much faster, allowing for much speedier removal of supports, especially when using the PVA Removal Station. A more intuitive slicing process After extensive user testing, we have tweaked the slicing process to make it more intuitive when printing with materials that use intent profiles. The result is that we have separated the decision of which intent profile and layer height you want to use into two distinct and easy-to-understand choices. We have also updated the tooltip which notifies you when settings have been changes from the default intent profile settings. You can then identify which settings have been changed by going into custom mode where each modified setting will be in italics and will be accompanied by an arrow symbol which will revert any changes when clicked. Easier collaboration when using 3MF project files Collaborating while using any of the 250+ materials available in the Ultimaker Marketplace is now easier than ever. When loading up a 3MF project file that uses a material profile that you do not currently have installed, you will now be prompted to download and install any missing profiles. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Ultimaker Cura 5.1 beta: Material profiles for new upcoming Tough PLA colors (blue, yellow, and gray) Numerous bugfixes including security fixes and an issue with monotonic ordering that prevented it applying to the topmost surface layer of prints. A full list of bugfixes can be found here Give us your feedback Download this latest release to start using all of these fun new features today. And please, comment below with your feedback!
  11. The Ultimaker Cura 5.1 beta has arrived, and it builds upon the changes made in 5.0 to bring exciting improvements to owners of Ultimaker printers, like simplified metal FFF printing and increased surface quality. As well as brand new advancements like faster prints when using support materials as well as a streamlined slicing experience. New metal FFF features enable metal printing Alongside the launch of the Metal Expansion Kit, Ultimaker Cura 5.1 has enabled new metal printing capabilities. The following slicing features can be used alongside the Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH, Ultrafuse® 316L, and Ultrafuse® Support Layer* materials by BASF Forward AM: DD print core support*. Support for the new DD 0.4 print core, a new print core made for handling the Ultrafuse® Support Layer material. Automatic shrinkage plate feature. When using a compatible Ultrafuse® metal material profile, a shrinkage plate will automatically be created that prevents your part from deforming during the debinding and sintering process. Automatic support interface feature. When using the Ultrafuse® Support Layer material, an interface layer will automatically be created between the object and the metal supports as well as between the model and the automatic shrinkage plate. This slicing strategy is specific for metal printing and ensures that the part will be well-supported and that the supports can be easily removed after sintering. *Currently only available in Europe. The Ultimaker Metal Expansion Kit is sold without the BASF Forward AM Ultrafuse® Support Layer and Ultimaker Print Core DD 0.4 at a lower MSRP in other territories (including North America) Along with these improvements, metal printing is also aided by the following improvements to the Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH and Ultrafuse® 316L print profiles that were previously released in Ultimaker Cura version 5.0: Automatic scaling. Your part is automatically scaled to compensate for shrinkage that takes place during the debinding and sintering process. Users Alternate wall directions. The direction of walls is alternated to prevent distortions during the debinding and sintering process. New slicing engine. The new slicing engine reduces internal gaps in your part that can lead to line delamination and cracks during debinding and sintering, as well as allowing for the printing of thinner walls and finer details than was previously possible when printing with metal materials. Combined, these allow for a complete metal FFF solution that’s more reliable and simpler than ever. Enabling affordable and effective printing of stainless steel parts. If you want to find out more about these new features, as well as the Metal Expansion Kit, watch our recent metal FFF roundtable webinar. You can also watch our Ultimaker Academy course on metal FFF printing. Better surface quality with increased segment resolution In our never-ending quest to help you get the best-looking prints possible, we have massively increased the segment resolution of your prints when using Ultimaker S-line printers. Meaning that when printing models with smooth curves like spheres, cones, and cylinders. As well as more complex models made up of many organic shapes, up to twice as many individual segments will be printed. The result is noticeably improved surface quality. This was achieved by implementing a new resolution algorithm, as well as the removal of unnecessary jerk and acceleration from travel commands within gcode. The removal of these redundant commands resulted in reduced printer vibrations, as well as gcode files that are up to 20% smaller. When judging surface quality improvements, the biggest differences can be seen when comparing against Ultimaker Cura 4.13. This is because the foundation of these improvements was made in both Ultimaker Cura 5.0 and S-line firmware version 7.0.3, with print profile tweaks and changes that were made to reduce buffer underrun, respectively. Note: This feature requires you to be using firmware version 7.0.3 or above on your Ultimaker printer. Download the latest firmware version to make sure your printer is fully compatible. Faster printing when using support materials We have improved both the speed and quality of supports printed with the Ultimaker PVA and Ultimaker Breakaway support materials. Resulting in faster prints, more reliable support structures, and improved surface quality on the part of your print that is being supported. Support structures printed with the Ultimaker PVA support material will also dissolve more quickly, reducing the time it takes to remove supports after printing. Print times when using these new support structures can be as much as 20% faster. These improvements have come from a variety of tweaks but the most significant are that when printing with these profiles, supports will now be printed using a zig-zag pattern instead of the previous triangle pattern. The outer wall around the supports has also been removed and the density of supports has been increased. Streamlined slicing process Following extensive user testing, we have modified the slicing process for materials that use intent profiles to make it as intuitive and straightforward as possible. We have now separated out the decision of which intent profile and layer height you want to use into two separate and easy to understand choices. In addition, a tooltip has been added that will notify you when settings have been adjusted. The settings which have been adjusted can then be identified by going to custom mode where they will be highlighted in yellow. Included in the available intent profile options is a new custom profile, which allows you to create and save an easy-to-access profile that is tailored to your requirements. This not only increases the control you have over your print settings, but it also allows users and organizations that share printers to offer recommended and approved profiles. Material profiles are now included in 3MF project files 3MF project files now contain material profiles, making it easier for you to collaborate with other users while using any of 250+ materials available in the Ultimaker Marketplace. When loading up a 3MF file containing one of these material profiles, you will be prompted to download and install any missing profiles. Additional improvements The following improvements have also been implemented in the Ultimaker Cura 5.1 beta: Material profiles for new upcoming Tough PLA colors (blue, yellow, and gray). Numerous bugfixes including security fixes and an issue with monotonic ordering that prevented it applying to the topmost surface layer of prints. A full list of bugfixes can be found here. Download the Ultimaker Cura 5.1 beta now Let us know what you think of this new engine and show us your results here in the comments below, you can report your bugs on GitHub!
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