Cura 2.4 beta is here!

[bagel-orb 61]

It's christmas time and our present to you is ... Cura 2.4 beta!

https://ultimaker.com/en/products/cura-software

It's got a ton of new features and countless bug fixes.

Here's a nice user-friendly changelog if you want to view it before installing: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here'>https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here'>https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here'>https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here

My personal favorite new features are:

* Project saving & opening

* Setting search

* Hollow prime tower

* Cubic subdivision infill

Please complain about any bug you find; we will try to fix it before the final release, but after the holidays

EDIT:

See https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here

(Google couldn't find that for me)

Edited December 24, 2016 by Guest

[gadgetfreak 7]

Very good descriptions and explanations in the changelog!

The could be a really awesome Christmas present if it works as described

Looking forward to hear feedback from users. Perhaps even from myself, too bad the UM3s are at the office and it's Christmas....

[Tomhe 21]

My new favorite new features are the initial and final print temperature .

But in total I think it's a huge update and I think people will enjoy playing with this during the holidays, even if their printer is at the office and they can't reach it. I know that I'm going to enjoy saving my prints as projects so I can iterate easier with the same model, orientation and profile.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Impressive list, sounds very good, let's give it a try <3

[IRobertI 520]

Now THAT'S what I call an update :)Looking forward to seeing the changes and what kind of impact they will have on quality and reliability of dual extrusion prints.

First thing to try is the Support Mesh feature (!)

edit: Hmm... layer view seems broken. The slider is "locked" at layer 1 and I can only see the ghost view of the model. edit2: Switching to a different printer seems to have fixed it. Weird.

Edited December 23, 2016 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,223]

first reaction after a quick try;

After installation it looks like all printers are gone, i add an UM3, then find out I have 2x an UM3, and my UM2+ is also still there, but my custom printer (Mark2)  is gone.`

Tried the "save project"  (in my top3 of wanted features...) but it seems to safe ONLY the model on the buildplate, It seems to NOT save any info on nozzle size, profile, profile changes ..... this can't be right I hope ???

Cura seems very slow in the GUI reaction, much slower than 2.3 (maybe specifically after an object is multiplied...?)

Cura takes over keyboard focus, my sceencapture program does not work (seems reintroduction of an old issue)

The gui communication is still incoherent on profile changing, change fron one profile to another and it's  telling me "do you want to transfer your 14 changed settings bla bla ..."  but I did not change 14 settings.... just changing from one profile to another.

Looks like there's no option added to set brim on the Wipe tower, but not on the Item  :(   or am i missing something ?

Edited December 23, 2016 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Though I think the open tower might be a good idea, I'm suspecting it will increase failure without a brim, so if setting a separate brim for tower only is not available, you're basically forced to always use a brim when doing dual extrusion....

Edited December 23, 2016 by Guest

[bagel-orb 61]

Oh dear I missed the official blog post here: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/35482-cura-24-beta-is-here

Perhaps you are loading your project file the wrong way. A project file can be loaded as mesh as well, if you only wish to obtain the mesh data from it. Be sure to do it from [ File ] > [ Open project... ]

The profile bug you still experience is one that I have never experienced - not while developing Cura on Ubuntu 16 - nor on the install on my Windows 7 computer at home. Please file a detailed bug report at https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues

A brim on the prime tower is quite problematic since the model might be right next to the prime tower. You don't want the brim to intersect with the model and you don't want the skirt to intersect with the brim. If many people find this an issue I might prioritize it to be implemented in Cura 2.5

Edited December 24, 2016 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Perhaps you are loading your project file the wrong way. A project file can be loaded as mesh as well, if you only wish to obtain the mesh data from it. Be sure to do it from [ File ] > [ Open project... ]

 

Cool, that did the trick!

[ultiarjan 1,223]

A brim on the prime tower is quite problematic since the model might be right next to the prime tower. You don't want the brim to intersect with the model and you don't want the skirt to intersect with the brim. If many people find this an issue I might prioritize it to be implemented in Cura 2.5

 

For me it's the nr1 request regarding dual extrusion... would it be possible just to add the red indicator if the brim is overlapping with the model?

[bagel-orb 61]

Hmm wait - we could just increase the size of the prime tower disallowed area of course!

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Is it possible to have a productive 2.3.1 installation and a separated 2.4 beta version in parallel or do they use the same user directories and files as 2.1.3 and 2.3?

[ahoeben 1,948]

Same user directory.

PSA: if you are worried about leaving your stable installation, make a backup of the configuration folder before opening Cura 2.4. You can find the configuration folder by opening Cura 2.3 and going to Help -> Show Configuration Folder.

[tinkergnome 927]

Is it possible to have a productive 2.3.1 installation and a separated 2.4 beta version in parallel or do they use the same user directories and files as 2.1.3 and 2.3?

 

At least on Win64 both version are sharing the same user directory.

 

PSA: if you are worried about leaving your stable installation, make a backup of the configuration folder before opening Cura 2.4.

 

...but with this approach you have to be very careful - e.g. do not start both versions at the same time...

Edited December 24, 2016 by Guest

[zerspaner_gerd 382]

Beautiful Christmas gift

When is Cura 2 error-free dual printing with UltiGCode (UM2) work.

I still have faulty nozzles change!

Or is there already a solution!

Edited December 25, 2016 by Guest

[bagel-orb 61]

Beautiful Christmas gift

When is Cura 2 error-free dual printing with UltiGCode (UM2) work.

I still have faulty nozzles change!

Or is there already a solution!

 

The UM2 was never officially released with dual extrusion, so it was never on our agenda to get it to work. If you report all bugs on the github page we will solve them in due time.

One way to get it to work is to load a UM original dual extrusion machine and work your way from there. You will probably have to live with skipping a warning message every time you print something, but you should be able to get it to work.

[IRobertI 520]

Same user directory.

 

Please, please, PLEASE, make it possible to run several versions in parallel. Separate the settings into unique folders for each build and ask the user if they want to copy over their old settings when installing a new version.

Why? Well, for starters we've already had cases where a new version is completely broken without removing the old settings directory. And secondly, for those of us working with support, it's super valuable to be able to match the version the customer is using.

[DaHai8 74]

 

Same user directory.

 

Please, please, PLEASE, make it possible to run several versions in parallel. Separate the settings into unique folders for each build and ask the user if they want to copy over their old settings when installing a new version.

Why? Well, for starters we've already had cases where a new version is completely broken without removing the old settings directory. And secondly, for those of us working with support, it's super valuable to be able to match the version the customer is using.

 

Not to mention that after spending a good deal of time tweaking all the settings to get them just the way I want it, from printer / material / profile / Settings, I have to start over again with a new release.

Is there a migration tool?

I'd love to be able to test this beta, it sounds like it got some really nice features rivaling those in S3D, but short of writing some hack to switch back/forth between beta and stable, I'm not wanting to risk it at the moment.

IMHO, the easiest/quickest short-term solution is to change Cura to name the AppData 'cura' folder the same as its Program Files folder:

C:\Program Files\Cura 2.3.1 -> C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Cura 2.3.1

C:\Program Files\Cura 2.4 -> C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Cura 2.4

Then you could then at least have both version co-existing on the same computer and be able to fall back to a stable release while still testing a beta...all while migrating your settings over (sans having a migration tool).

(I think I suggested this before...)

Edited December 26, 2016 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,223]

So after being away for 2 days I just start 2.3 to find out all my (custom)machines and profiles are gone, it starts like a first boot ...... needless to say the hole shared folder structure is making me a tiny bit unhappy now.

When I look into C:\Users\Awin7\AppData\Local\cura I do see some references to my machines like in "machine instances"

Any tips on how to restore my machines and profiles if possible at all ???

[tinkergnome 927]

Any tips on how to restore my machines and profiles if possible at all ???

 

...it would be easy if you have made something like this:

 

PSA: if you are worried about leaving your stable installation, make a backup of the configuration folder before opening Cura 2.4.

 

I see some subfolders with names like "old" or "2.3.1" - this looks promising, but you have to dig a bit...

[ultiarjan 1,223]

It was Friday evening, I wasn't thinking straight... I made a copy of the "progam files" folder, but not the "users" folder...

[tinkergnome 927]

For me it's the nr1 request regarding dual extrusion... would it be possible just to add the red indicator if the brim is overlapping with the model?

 

@UltiArjan

I have another nr1 request:

With version 2.4 all the dual extrusion "temperature magic" is omitted for UltiGCode. This is a huge step back for us... or should i say: a KO criteria?

@bagel-orb

A Cura without proper dual extrusion support for UltiGCode will lead to a lot of sad users... It's not that unimportant.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

With version 2.4 all the dual extrusion "temperature magic" is omitted for UltiGCode. This is a huge step back for us... or should i say: a KO criteria?

 

Basically making CURA useless for the Mark2? Let's just hope this is by accident... any easy way to repair it?

[tinkergnome 927]

Basically making CURA useless for the Mark2?   Let's just hope this is by accident... any easy way to repair it?

 

Not useless, it just does not include these clever nozzle cool-down and pre-heating stuff anymore... unless we switch over to the RepRap gcode flavor. Not the seamless integration that we expect from our Ultimakers - so to speak...

It was not by accident - actually it is a "fix" - here is the commit:

https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/commit/2a21e6c34870236f0d32ff019e02af252454b62b#diff-023d354b12b61c267cf78a465c76f3fc

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Actually changing to RepRap gcode could be a good thing for the mark2 IMHO, I like to have an experience close to the UM3, so including setting temp in Cura, and ignoring material profiles on the machine.

I think getting the benefits of the temp control is anyhow worth it to move to RepRap (unless there are more disadvantages I don't see atm)

Edited December 26, 2016 by Guest