Cura 2.1 open beta has been released!

[nilrog 103]

Found a new bug on OS X...if you quit Cura when it is slicing it will hang...depending on how far it has sliced. I filed some more details over at GitHub.

[docdawning 0]

I've used Cura 15.04 with my custom Reprap machines (a cartesian & a delta) and I'm very fond of it. Cura 2.1.0 doesn't seem to let me tweak printer profiles. I guess editing a json file isn't that rough. Will a machine profile editor be included eventually?

My 2M poly medical scan models take short lifetimes to slice and since I like to make many adjustments before saving the gcode, it gets painful. A manual slice button would be awesome, but it won't matter if I can't get it to generate for my machine either.

So far, a skull that took ~5mins to slice with Cura 15.04 looks to be ~2% sliced after 5mins on Cura 2.1.0.

Regardless, keep up the nice work gang! I've generally found Cura to be the best match for most of my requirements.

Host specs: OS X 10.11.2, 8x 2.8GHz Xeon cores, 26GB RAM, 1GB Radeon 5770 & 2GB GeForce GT 720. Dual stripe-RAIDed SSDs.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Guest
Improved readability

[kenjo 3]

It does not install on ubuntu 16.04

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of cura:

cura depends on python3 (<< 3.5.0); however:

Version of python3 on system is 3.5.1-3.

-----------

[ultiarjan 1,223]

I'm getting some trust issues with cura 2.1.

Looks like there's some sort of disconnect between the gui and the engine, but I can't reproduce. Had a few issues.

When I changed from brim to skirt (and I had some detail brim setings turned on) the item still kept the brim, even though I changed a few other settings to force a reslice....

Other thing, I turned of the cooling fan, but the G-code produced still had cooling... pretty annoying when printing ABS.

And I also had a few times that cura just wont slice, the gui stays responsive, but slicing never starts, left it for some time but had to restart cura eventually.

[kenjo 3]

A few observations.

the layer view no longer have single layer option since this was the only mode I really used this is a deal breaker. Is this planned to be added later ?

I no longer have any way to create gcode files that is usable with octoprint http://octoprint.org/. It used to be possible to change the gcode flavor. In fact its no longer possible to change any machine parameters. Are we supposed to create machine settings by hand now ?

when saving gcode files the directory is not remembered I always get my home directory and have to navigate to where I store the gcode files every time. really really annoying. It works fine for opening files that one remembers where I was last time but not the save to file.

There is an issue with the GUI on linux with intel 3d drivers (mesa) there is no way to activate anti aliasing (msaa) I tried to force it on with INTEL_FORCE_MSAA=1 but it did not have any effect. would be nice if this was an option that could be turned on as it makes the rendering much nicer to look at. Its also slower so this needs to be optional not everybody will want it on.

[StephanK 30]

Is there a bug-tracker wehere we could read up on already known issues or are we just supposed to post suspected bugs here as we find it? Or do we?

Anway, theres something strange going on with the Scale feature after an object got rotated.

Here's what I did, i loaded an stl file 220 * 60 * 20 mm:

i then decided to rotate it by 90° and went to scale it:

HInt: look at the % values..

Now, i simply entered 218 in the box for the X axis and once i hit enter, this happened:

I think it got a bit confused.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Agree the layer view is far from perfect, and super slow, but you can move a single layer using control + arrow up/down

Machine settings are stored in the json files, +1 for getting a proper machine settings menu.

Directory, totally agree, also for the profiles it would be good to be able to set a default path.

But my main issue is the annoying temperature per nozzle size setting since the UM2+

I think this is really a poor implementation and I hate it. Please give us the option of setting temperature in Cura, for the UM2+ (or any ultimaker).

[StephanK 30]

Printer profile for UM2+ oddity

(or end user confusion)

I reset cura as per the instructions found here: https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/20499-reset-cura-2-1, i re-added my UM2+ and heres whats confusing to me:

A number of settings show a warning:

"This setting is normally calculated but it currently has an absolute value set. Click here to reset it".

For example: Line width under Quality settings comes preset as 0,35 mm for the selected 0,40 mm nozzle (which strikes me as odd, but that's a different question for another time) and it does show this warning:

So i click here and i happily changes the setting to 0,4 mm (kinda what I had expected to see in the first place) but now it shows the following warning: "This setting has a value that is different from the profile. Click here to restore the value of the profile."

Ok, I can do that, i am pretty good at clicking things, but if 'I do, it gets set 0,35 mm and shows the first warning again.

To me, this sounds like the profile is not correct.

[CJ000 0]

The machine settings are very poor... sighs... and now I can't even setup a round platform for my delta... machine settings should contain info about the current setup including nozzle width should be there.

Good features and options but still a poor user interface and user experience...

[nilrog 103]

Is there a bug-tracker wehere we could read up on already known issues or are we just supposed to post suspected bugs here as we find it? Or do we?

Put them here, and pray that they are handled like bugs and not new features...

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues

[chrisw 70]

Post processing is handled only when you save the code. Not after every slice

 

Long delayed reply here... sorry. I had work + I had to play with Cura 2.1 for a bit. What you're describing seems to be a change from 15.x to 2.1 that I hadn't recognized. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm on the fence about that change. I'm sure it saves time while setting up a print in Cura, however now I can't view the start/stop points for a pause/restart in the Layers view (unless there are some clues I'm not seeing, if so please point them out), or see the path the nozzle will take to/from its pause position. That was handy sometimes.

[chrisw 70]

Those that struggle with the idea of auto-slicing may want to try this experimental pause button plugin:

https://github.com/fieldOfView/PauseBackendPlugin

Disclaimer: it is a hack in more than one way.

 

Thanks for providing that.  I've been working with this pause/play for auto-slicing, and I can't see much difference when it's enabled or disabled in 2.1, until I fill the plate with 30 duplicate small items.  At that point I'm unable to select an item and relocate it on the build plate if the auto-slicing is enabled.  However I can click the Pause button and rearrange those items easily, then hit Play to have them sliced.   *except for sometimes when I hit Play and I only get a "Preparing to Slice...." message that others have mentioned.

And of course the layer view takes longer when Auto-slice is disabled, but that makes sense.  I'll turn on slicing before going to layer view.

Once again Thanks for the plugin!

Edited April 25, 2016 by Guest

[nallath 1,120]

the layer view no longer have single layer option since this was the only mode I really used this is a deal breaker. Is this planned to be added later ?

 

We use it to. It's still there. Read the manual (ctrl + arrow in layer view or selecting the layer number & press up/down key)

 

I no longer have any way to create gcode files that is usable with octoprint http://octoprint.org/. It used to be possible to change the gcode flavor. In fact its no longer possible to change any machine parameters. Are we supposed to create machine settings by hand now ?

 

It is possible, but we see machine parameters as imutable. If you want something that is different, it's seen as a different machine.

 

when saving gcode files the directory is not remembered I always get my home directory and have to navigate to where I store the gcode files every time. really really annoying. It works fine for opening files that one remembers where I was last time but not the save to file.

 

I agree. But we also got a lot of feedback that remembering was annoying. In the end the axe came down to using home folder.

[nallath 1,120]

Is there a bug-tracker wehere we could read up on already known issues or are we just supposed to post suspected bugs here as we find it? Or do we?

 

We have an internal Jira bug tracker (which is way nicer than the github one), but it isn't open to the public. So the only open issue tracker that we have is github. I don't really like it either, but it is what is is.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Guest

[nallath 1,120]

The machine settings are very poor... sighs... and now I can't even setup a round platform for my delta... machine settings should contain info about the current setup including nozzle width should be there.

Good features and options but still a poor user interface and user experience...

 

The issue here is that I'm getting paid by Ultimaker. Which means that my first priority is to get UM machines working as awesome as possible. If one of the delta printer creators want Cura to work good with it, they should hire a developer to work together with me (and the rest of the Cura team). You can't expect Ultimaker to build their software.

[kenjo 3]

 

the layer view no longer have single layer option since this was the only mode I really used this is a deal breaker. Is this planned to be added later ?

 

We use it to. It's still there. Read the manual (ctrl + arrow in layer view or selecting the layer number & press up/down key)

 

Now I can't test this but I'm 99% sure that this is not working for me. I could change layer one at a time yes but the rendering was not one layer at a time and that is what I want. It rendered always every layer from 1 up to the layer number I selected. And this may look cool or whatever but its not a very useful view. For now I can use a external layer viewer but I would very much have the option to just see one layer at a time.

 

 

I no longer have any way to create gcode files that is usable with octoprint http://octoprint.org/. It used to be possible to change the gcode flavor. In fact its no longer possible to change any machine parameters. Are we supposed to create machine settings by hand now ?

 

It is possible, but we see machine parameters as imutable. If you want something that is different, it's seen as a different machine.

 

How about explaining how its possible I clearly did not figure out how to do it.

 

 

when saving gcode files the directory is not remembered I always get my home directory and have to navigate to where I store the gcode files every time. really really annoying. It works fine for opening files that one remembers where I was last time but not the save to file.

 

I agree. But we also got a lot of feedback that remembering was annoying. In the end the axe came down to using home folder.

 

So moving to a directory that we are about 100% sure is the wrong one is the selected solution. I think this is a very bad decision nobody stores gcode files in the home directory directly .

[ahoeben 1,948]

It is possible, but we see machine parameters as imutable. If you want something that is different, it's seen as a different machine.

 

Create a new file named ultimaker2_reprap.json, and store it in the "machines" folder in your profile or in the cura resources folder:

 

{   "id": "ultimaker2_reprap",   "version": 1,    "name": "Ultimaker 2 RepRap",   "manufacturer": "Ultimaker",   "author": "Ultimaker",   "icon": "icon_ultimaker2.png",   "platform": "ultimaker2_platform.obj",   "platform_texture": "Ultimaker2backplate.png",   "file_formats": "text/x-gcode",   "inherits": "ultimaker2.json",   "machine_settings": {       "machine_gcode_flavor": { "default": "RepRap" },       "machine_start_gcode" : { "default": "G28 ; Home\nG1 Z15.0 F6000 ;move the platform down 15mm\n;Prime the extruder\nG92 E0\nG1 F200 E3\nG92 E0" },       "machine_end_gcode" : { "default": "M104 S0\nM140 S0\n;Retract the filament\nG92 E1\nG1 E-1 F300\nG28 X0 Y0\nM84" }   }}

 

This creates a variation of the Ultimaker 2 that inherits all the settings from the Ultimaker 2 but (re)sets the gcode flavor and start- and end-gcodes. Edit the start- and end-gcodes to taste.

(note: I have not tested with this machine definition, since I don't have an UM2)

Edited April 25, 2016 by Guest

[nallath 1,120]

Now I can't test this but I'm 99% sure that this is not working for me. I could change layer one at a time yes but the rendering was not one layer at a time and that is what I want. It rendered always every layer from 1 up to the layer number I selected. And this may look cool or whatever but its not a very useful view. For now I can use a external layer viewer but I would very much have the option to just see one layer at a time.

 

Oh, now I understand what you mean. I don't think the old cura had that feature either.

 

How about explaining how its possible I clearly did not figure out how to do it.

 

https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/20511-change-machine-settings (Also, what FieldOfView said)

 

So moving to a directory that we are about 100% sure is the wrong one is the selected solution.  I think this is a very bad decision nobody stores gcode files in the home directory directly .

 

Like I said, I agree with you, but this wasn't my decision.

[kenjo 3]

 

Now I can't test this but I'm 99% sure that this is not working for me. I could change layer one at a time yes but the rendering was not one layer at a time and that is what I want. It rendered always every layer from 1 up to the layer number I selected. And this may look cool or whatever but its not a very useful view. For now I can use a external layer viewer but I would very much have the option to just see one layer at a time.

 

Oh, now I understand what you mean. I don't think the old cura had that feature either.

 

I think it does!

 

[dbrgn 11]

I upgraded my UM2 to an UM2+ yesterday and upgraded the firmware using the current beta.

Now it appears that when changing materials, the heat bed is also heated. That extends the time it takes to change filament by several minutes.

Is that really the case? If yes, why?

Also, the progressbar does not seem to work properly in the "change material" dialog.

[karabas 1]

Both versions of CURA (2.1  and 15.04) crash or hang on big models on 6Gig RAM PC

Tried on delta with D400mm.

Download  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:862724 , scale up to max fit to 400mm bed.

The same model smaller size sliced succesfully.

BTW highly needed option that all perimeters must be only clockwise or ccw

Edited April 29, 2016 by Guest

[claus 1]

Just filed this on GitHub:

[2.1 beta] Layer processing & displaying much slower than 15.04.05 #728

Layer Processing speed of 2.1.beta is much much slower than in 15.04.05.

In 15.04.05 during layer processing the portion of the object which has already been processed gets displayed. In 2.1.beta the platform stays empty until processing was finished by100%.

After processing was finished stepping through the layers with Ctrl+Arrow-Keys happens nearly instantuous and seamless in 15.04.05. But in 2.1. beta there is an extreme delay every time you are stepping from one layer to the next one (rolling arrow bisede the layer scrollbar & layer number indicator)

Layer display is really essential for me.

Although I like many of the new features of 2.1.beta for me this extreme degaradation in layer processing/displaying performace really is a no go.

This makes working absolutly impossible.

So I returned to 15.04.05.

Info:

Ultimaker 2+

Intel i5-4210U

GeForce 840M

[mastory 44]

Layer previewing is important to me as well. I concur on the other comments about the 2.1 layer view generation being slow. That said, I really like all the many ways I can tweak the slicing in the new software as well as the new tools; tapered support, support roof, and my favorite alternate rotation of top and bottom layers. The benefits outweigh the problems in my opinion.

What I would like to see improved in layer view is that on solid layers, it is often difficult to see the travel direction for the top and bottom skin lines. I will generally rotate my model on the build platform to optimize for bridges, but with the layer graphics as they are currently, I can't tell which way the lines are going on a specific layer without a tedious effort scrolling up and down thru the layers of concern.

[Searider 0]

With 2.1 there is a new section called Print Job that contails a materials drop down.\

I use NinjaFlex a lot. How can I change the default material settings to include custom materials?

I found a directory (Windows) at c:\program files\cura 2.1\resources\profiles\materials that contains a CFG file for each type listed in the current dropdown. I copied one of the files and added a CFG file for Ninjaflex but it still does not show up in the drop down. Any ideas?

[drayson 75]

You can find the files with the material-specific settings in your (C:\Program Files\Cura 2.1\resources\profiles\materials)-folder - if you have Win7 64 :-)

Just make a copy of the ABS file, rename it and change the name and the settings inside... That´s all...

@ UM: For usability, a "generate material setting" button e.g. would be great....