Printing Order Of Mutiple Objects

[periander 0]

Hey guys,

i hope you can help me. I'm trying to print mutiple copies of the same object at once. But Cura has a very random printing order which will result in destroying my prints. (I want to print every object at ones and then go to the next, without passing over a already printed object).

Is there a option to say Cura which object to print first and which second and so on?

Thanks!

Edited July 1, 2015 by Guest

[gr5 2,170]

When printing multiple objects there are two modes for cura: "print-at-once" and "one-at-a-time". Your post is confusing me because you are mixing your definition with the cura definition (I think - or maybe not - like I said - confusing).

So I'll try to answer the question both ways:

If you do print-all-at-once it will print one layer of each object then repeat over and over and all the objects will be done at the same time. It shouldn't matter what order because the head can't hit the other objects, right? The order changes on every level change anyway for example if you print 10 things in a line it will raise the Z on the left end and then next time on the right end.

if you print one-at-a-time Cura prints one object and only when it is done does it move to the next. Cura looks at the machine values (like gantry height, head shape) and is careful to never bump any of your existing prints. If it is bumping then you need to adjust these values in machine settings.

You can force print-all-at-once mode in the menu system. You can't force the other method if objects are placed wrong or if any one part is taller than the gantry (because the x/y rods will knock over the piece when the table goes back to z=0).

[gr5 2,170]

If this answer doesn't help you please at least explain which mode you are using cura in - you can tell by layer view which will show you what it will do.

[periander 0]

sry for mixing terms up. i want to print the objects one by one.

i can see the printing order in the layer view but i'm not always satisfied with the printing order. what cura doesnt know is that i have a huge fan addon on my extruder so my machine will bump into other objects with some cura generated paths.

so it would be cool if you could deside which object to print first and so on in further updates.

[IRobertI 520]

There is no way to decide the order (besides moving things around until it "randomly" gets printed in the order you want). But you can change the size of your print head in the settings so that it correctly avoids the problem of hitting the shroud. You can find those setting on the right side in "Machine -> Machine settings".

[gr5 2,170]

That feature should be available in all recent versions of Cura.

[kumsaen 0]

I'm thinking about (in the future feature), if it is possible, to automatically knock out the previously printed piece, and leave the space available for the next one (in one-at-a-time mode).

[gr5 2,170]

Knock it out with the head? It depends how tall the object is. I tried this with bracelets but the nozzle melted the bracelet in the 3 seconds it took to knock it off so I modified the head and gave it a big plow. like a snow plow. But if the object is taller then it might work. I recommend blue tape or at least no glue because you don't want the part to stick too well that you can't knowck it off.

[yellowshark 153]

As an aside, unless it has changed in the latest versions, the print all at once has never worked properly. Say you have four objects 1234, the print order is 1234,4321,1234,4321 etc etc. So the last object in the sequence has less time to cool than the other before the next layer is printed. Not an issue if the models are reasonably large but can cause problems if the models are small. So you have to slow the speed right down which defeats the object.

[gr5 2,170]

It's done that way to save time.  Less travel.  you can always add a dummy tower at each end and throw that away later but it might be nice to have it print in the same order every time instead of moving to the closest object next.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Guest

[sibianul 0]

There still isn't any option to sort the order of the objects printed ? 

 

For example those knobs I want to be printed from left to right, or right to left, front row first, and than move to row #2 .. and so on. No option yet to do this ?

[vela0050 3]

There is a way to print in the order you want and its pretty simple in cura. All you have to do place the items closest to the "scan line" and it will print in that order. Let me explain:

 

Cura basically "scans" your bed from left to right. Whenever the "scan line" touches an object it gets recorded to be printed 1st. To print the second object just move it 0.1 mm to the right from the first object and it will get printed second no matter where on the bed it is. 

[vela0050 3]

There is a way to print in the order you want and its pretty simple in cura. All you have to do place the items closest to the "scan line" and it will print in that order. Let me explain:

 

Cura basically "scans" your bed from left to right. Whenever the "scan line" touches an object it gets recorded to be printed 1st. To print the second object just move it 0.1 mm to the right from the first object and it will get printed second no matter where on the bed it is. 

[marcottt 0]

Hi all, i have same problem with cura 4 because cura has a "feature" (for me is a big BUG but....) where the 2nd extruder is not primed in first layer... but i have a 2-in-1 configuration (2 extruder , 1 nozzle)  so i cannot work in this way because when start 2nd material on 1st layer, the nozzle is dirty from 1st material. So i check a way to print a "dummy object" with 1 layer height with material2 so i can clean nozzle.... but cura print real object before the dummy object (useless.....) .

I read this post... for me  the "scan line" did not work... maybe because i have a delta with circolar bed.... but i find a way... in my configuration the "scan line" start from center to external... so i put "dummy" objet in center and "real" objetc near.....

Is a very big problem fro me because my bed become HALF!!!!! but it seem to work.....

Edited July 10, 2019 by marcottt

[johnse 31]

My experience with order has been different. Granted, I’ve not typically had objects in a row, but I’ve done many multi-object, print-all-at-once prints with an Ultimaker 3.

 

It seems to always print each layer in the same order.

[marcottt 0]

maybe  but i have a delta with circolar bed...  maybe cura  usa a different analysis with delta printer.  Anyway i wrote about multi-object printing one at time, not understand about layer order (or you wanna wrote object and not layer?) .

marco

[johnse 31]

Hi Marcottt, I was replying to the thread in general, not your specific comment. 

 

I have separate extruders, so I’m not sure what the correct answer is in your case, but I’ve read elsewhere that Cura can handle such material changes and will create a priming tower to use up the extra material at material changes. This is assuming two materials being printed in a single part.

 

from your description, it sounds like you print a complete part in one material and then another in a second material? I don’t know how to handle that. The prime tower option would work for print all-at-once, but it seems you would need a prime tower per part if printing one at a time.

 

 

[marcottt 0]

no...  i need to print 1 real object (with 2 material) but for a BUG of Cura, i print a dummy object about 20x20x0.3 mm  with 2nd extruder because cura did not clean 2nd extruder  on fist layer....  So i need to print the dummy object before the real object.....

In my case cura seem to print first the object nearest to the center of bed.

[johnse 31]

Marcottt, these may be a silly questions, but I am a little confused:

 

• I presume you have told Cura that you are using two materials.
• have you enabled the “prime tower” feature?

The reason I ask is that you re describing needing to manually add priming objects. And you mention the extra object is only a single layer thick.

 

Also, have you enabled “prime blobs”? On my Ultimaker, on the first layer of each material, it extrudes a blob in the corner before printing the layer. Is this the part it’s not doing for you?

 

If for your printer it only prints one prime blob, then that may be something you can effect by adding start.gcode to your machine definition, to first prime the second material before it starts the print where it primes the first material.

[gr5 2,170]

In my experience it matters what order you insert objects into cura.  I was printing my own custom tower and I had to insert the tower first and it would move to the tower after each nozzle change.  Positioning left/right didn't seem to make any difference.

[marcottt 0]

Hi @johnse , yes i'm using a prime tower and not, i not enabled "prime blobs" (i'll try).

 

I found a bug (they call "feature") where if you have 2 extruder,  the 2nd estruder is not primed (on prime tower) on the 1st layer because they say nozzle is sitll clean.

 

From layer #2 everithing is ok

But if you have 2 material and 1 nozzle (like me with a y bowden splitter) when need to start 2nd material, nozzle is dirty of 1st material just printed.....

So i solved creating a dummy object made of material #2  to print BEFORE real object....   an altenative prime tower you can say....

But cura did not explain hot prin order is made...  so i make many test and found cura 4 print before object near center then the other (this on delta / circolar bed).

Other users say cura print object from left to right (maybe with square bed..)

 

 

[colinsk 1]

I was just trying to sort out how to reorder the print order of vase-mode (spiralized) objects. On the latest update the objects are printed in reverse order of when you opened the file/or duplicated them. I had to set my gantry height to 250mm and then verify the placement. I notice there is a shadow on the build plate from the print head settings. How is this calculated? Is it object size plus print head?

[Ramst3r 0]

I can confirm that the order is the reverse of that which they were added/copied into Cura. Therefore, for full control over the print order, add the first item and position it in the last position required, copy it and move the copy to the second last position and so on. 

[rachael7 73]

It sure would be nice if we could just reorder the objects in the list and Cura would print them in that order. I've got a print with one sort of octagonal object, with custom supports around the outside and on the inside. Printing in the right order, it would only be necessary to cross the part outline once on each layer; but instead, Cura prints the part, then one of the inside supports, then one or two of the outside supports, then back to an inside support, etc. It ends up crossing back and forth over the part, causing lots of unnecessary travel and Z hops to avoid the part. It seems like allowing us to specify the print order would be such a straightforward feature, I just don't understand why we still don't have it after all these years.

[h52WHA 0]

On 4/22/2019 at 7:23 AM, vela0050 said:

There is a way to print in the order you want and its pretty simple in cura. All you have to do place the items closest to the "scan line" and it will print in that order. Let me explain:

 

Cura basically "scans" your bed from left to right. Whenever the "scan line" touches an object it gets recorded to be printed 1st. To print the second object just move it 0.1 mm to the right from the first object and it will get printed second no matter where on the bed it is. 

This  ^^^  is the answer. i had the same problem with the new hexfinity project. it centered the hexagons but did them in random order until i read this and aligned them left to right. still in a honey come pattern but it now shows it going around and around. its so satisfying now to watch it. i have yet to print it as of this moment but thank you so much for this.  its for an ender 5 so i hope its easily transferable. also done on cura.

CE5_S Tile.3mf