Cura 2.7 | Beta

[SandervG 1,521]

Cura 2.7 beta is here, and if you are interested in trying out the latest features, at the same time you can help us test it.

Before we release a beta version we do some testing ourselves as well, but not until it has been in the hands of our users we can say it is ready for a stable launch.

Therefore, if you are working on an important project, we recommend that you use the latest stable version of Cura.

Do you feel adventurous, and are you eager to check what we have in stock for you? Join us and take these new features out for a spin.

We appreciate any feedback you have for us after using Cura 2.7 beta in this thread below. Our software developers are monitoring this page so you can talk right to the source.

Here is what Cura 2.7 beta has in stock for you, and I’ll start with my personal favorites:

- Top surface skin

Sometimes we need rigid prints that will outlive everything we throw at them. But other times they just need to look pretty. In that case, with this new feature you can print fast and take your time on that last layer to make it look extra nice.

- Ironing (a.k.a. Neosanding)

Following smooth surfaces, we have also included a feature which originally was introduced by @Neotko. By allowing a heated nozzle to travel over your top layer with a reduced extrusion of 10%, you can create an extra smooth finish. Still experimental though, but very interesting!

- Extruder per feature

This feature will allow you to assign print features (like walls, infill, skin, etc) to one of your print cores (nozzle). This means you can print certain parts of your model with a specific nozzle (size). Think about combinations like a detailed outer wall and fast infill or super smooth top layers.

Even though I always like the fresh 'white' look we hold onto, we realize this may be heavy on the eyes when you have to look at your screen during long hours. Check out our new dark theme for Cura and let us know what you think!

Do you want to read more about Cura 2.7 beta before giving it a try? Here is our blog post with a more elaborated list of new functionality and improved features (and pictures!).

Ready to give it a try? Download Cura 2.7 beta here.

If you rather prefer the latest stable version, Cura 2.6 can be downloaded right here!

Please let us know what you think below, and help us improve Cura 2.7 beta and fix any bugs we may have overlooked. Thank you for your help, together we can make it even better!

Edited August 3, 2017 by maht

[LePaul 321]

Looks very interesting, especially the support and surface options

For some reason, I always have to purge my cache to get the download to work on your site. I hover over the download link and the mouse does not change to a link to download. (Or I open the page with Firefox.) Just an FYI

[drayson 75]

Looks VEEEERRRRYYY nice - at least for a few seconds.

Already placed the crash report at github. (@nallath)

Nevertheless, I love the dark theme and I´m really curiouse to test the keboard shortkeys for manipulating...

Man, can't wait... :-)

[LePaul 321]

I got a crash on exit, but I do like the Dark theme

[RetromanIE 41]

The "Ironing" option is interesting. Tested it on a cube and 60 percent of the top was very nice, but the rest had lumps where it looked like the nozzle stopped briefly and some plastic extruded. I wasn't watching it finish so not sure what happened.

But the 60 percent of the top layer that was smooth, was super nice indeed

[neotko 1,417]

The "Ironing" option is interesting. Tested it on a cube and 60 percent of the top was very nice, but the rest had lumps where it looked like the nozzle stopped briefly and some plastic extruded. I wasn't watching it finish so not sure what happened.

But the 60 percent of the top layer that was smooth, was super nice indeed

On Catohagen tests he changed manually the speed of the sanding (can't be changed from Cura atm) and he got better results.

Originally when I made the idea I suggested 100mm/s to avoid overheating too much the surface, but Cura atm uses a lower speed. Ofc it's experimental it needs more experiments.

Also check this nice idea Catohagen posted. If we where able to cut the sanding to force a design it could make top layers like the velocitypainting but.. NeovelocityIroning XD or something alike. Check this cool result

[catohagen 41]

I see in :

C:\Program Files\Cura 2.7\resources\definitions\fdmprinter.def.json

Line 2109: "speed_ironing":

Line 2111: "label": "Ironing Speed",

Line 2120: "enabled": "ironing_enabled",

Line 2465: "acceleration_ironing":

Line 2467: "label": "Ironing Acceleration",

Line 2468: "description": "The acceleration with which ironing is performed.",

Line 2476: "enabled": "resolveOrValue('acceleration_enabled') and ironing_enabled",

Line 2767: "jerk_ironing":

Line 2769: "label": "Ironing Jerk",

Line 2770: "description": "The maximum instantaneous velocity change while performing ironing.",

Line 2777: "enabled": "resolveOrValue('jerk_enabled') and ironing_enabled",

Line 5652: "ironing_enabled":

Line 5654: "label": "Enable Ironing",

Line 5661: "ironing_pattern":

Line 5663: "label": "Ironing Pattern",

Line 5664: "description": "The pattern to use for ironing top surfaces.",

Line 5672: "enabled": "ironing_enabled",

Line 5676: "ironing_line_spacing":

Line 5678: "label": "Ironing Line Spacing",

Line 5679: "description": "The distance between the lines of ironing.",

Line 5685: "enabled": "ironing_enabled",

Line 5689: "ironing_flow":

Line 5691: "label": "Ironing Flow",

Line 5692: "description": "The amount of material, relative to a normal skin line, to extrude during ironing. Keeping the nozzle filled helps filling some of the crevices of the top surface, but too much results in overextrusion and blips on the side of the surface.",

Line 5698: "enabled": "ironing_enabled",

Line 5702: "ironing_inset":

Line 5704: "label": "Ironing Inset",

Line 5705: "description": "A distance to keep from the edges of the model. Ironing all the way to the edge of the mesh may result in a jagged edge on your print.",

Line 5712: "enabled": "ironing_enabled",

so there is planned settings for ironing, but they are not showing up here atleast...

[catohagen 41]

Oh never mind, the ironing options for feed, acceleration and jerk must be also enabled in the "Speed" settings

[XYZDesignPro 70]

Tried out the Import SolidWorks files as STL. A new plugin that enables SolidWorks compatible .SLDPRT files to be imported directly into Cura, where they are automatically converted to .STL format. This plugin can be found in the plugin browser.

Every SW part I brought in failed to load regardless of the "fine" or "course" setting.

That said, it's a fantastic idea. How can I help with the further development of this plugin?

SolidWorks 2017 x64 Edition SP3.0 running on Win10 64 bit.

[XYZDesignPro 70]

Looks very interesting, especially the support and surface options

For some reason, I always have to purge my cache to get the download to work on your site.  I hover over the download link and the mouse does not change to a link to download.  (Or I open the page with Firefox.)   Just an FYI

I've experienced the same problem for several months now with Firefox. Usually end up using Chrome to download the files instead of purging the whole History and cache out of Firefox. The links just act as though they are dead . . .

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Looks very interesting, especially the support and surface options

For some reason, I always have to purge my cache to get the download to work on your site.  I hover over the download link and the mouse does not change to a link to download.  (Or I open the page with Firefox.)   Just an FYI

I've experienced the same problem for several months now with Firefox.  Usually end up using Chrome to download the files instead of purging the whole History and cache out of Firefox.  The links just act as though they are dead . . .

Count me as a firefox user that has had link issues with the Cura updates.

[LePaul 321]

I'm a Chrome user and like you guys, have to use an alternate browser (i.e. Firefox) to get download links to work on this site.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I'm a Chrome user and like you guys, have to use an alternate browser (i.e. Firefox) to get download links to work on this site.

Totally flipped from my experience. I wonder if it has something to do with cookies or whatnot. Since I primarily use Firefox and have to use Chrome to download and you are the opposite, it would seem to rule out an actual browser issue.

[SandervG 1,521]

Looks very interesting, especially the support and surface options

For some reason, I always have to purge my cache to get the download to work on your site.  I hover over the download link and the mouse does not change to a link to download.  (Or I open the page with Firefox.)   Just an FYI

Me too.. but we haven't figured out why. It looks like there is just no link. By the way, I usually just open the link incognito, which also works and is faster.

Do you have similar behavior on other parts of the site? (send me a DM with info if you want, so we don't derail this conversation about Cura)

Edited August 3, 2017 by Guest

[ghostkeeper 105]

Every SW part I brought in failed to load regardless of the "fine" or "course" setting.

That said, it's a fantastic idea.  How can I help with the further development of this plugin?

SolidWorks 2017 x64 Edition SP3.0 running on Win10 64 bit.

Development is going on here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraSolidWorksPlugin

You could help by modifying the code and making pull requests, or just by testing the plug-in in various ways (when SolidWorks is open in the background, when it's not, etc) and making bug reports when stuff breaks.

The past few days we've been fixing a lot of stuff for the SolidWorks plug-in. It's currently in the fix2 branch but I expect that we'll have an update for that plug-in soon.

[drayson 75]

is it working on 2.6.2 too? my 2.7 crashes always at startup :-(

[ahoeben 1,948]

Development is going on here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraSolidWorksPlugin

Is that repo private?

[ghostkeeper 105]

Development is going on here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraSolidWorksPlugin

Is that repo private?

Yes, good point. It must be public because we are breaking the law otherwise. However I just asked my manager and I'm not allowed to make it public, so we will apparently continue to break our license requirements and nobody is allowed to make any contributions.

[ahoeben 1,948]

we will apparently continue to break our license requirements and nobody is allowed to make any contributions.

Seppuku is the only honorable option.

[XYZDesignPro 70]

Every SW part I brought in failed to load regardless of the "fine" or "course" setting.

That said, it's a fantastic idea.  How can I help with the further development of this plugin?

SolidWorks 2017 x64 Edition SP3.0 running on Win10 64 bit.

Development is going on here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraSolidWorksPlugin

You could help by modifying the code and making pull requests, or just by testing the plug-in in various ways (when SolidWorks is open in the background, when it's not, etc) and making bug reports when stuff breaks.

The past few days we've been fixing a lot of stuff for the SolidWorks plug-in. It's currently in the fix2 branch but I expect that we'll have an update for that plug-in soon.

Gostkeeper, the link is broken . . . No matter, I know nothing about writing code. I'll continue to attempt to use the plugin, if I'm notified of updates to it and report the results back on this thread, if that will help.

[LePaul 321]

Tried out the Import SolidWorks files as STL. A new plugin that enables SolidWorks compatible .SLDPRT files to be imported directly into Cura, where they are automatically converted to .STL format. This plugin can be found in the plugin browser.

Every SW part I brought in failed to load regardless of the "fine" or "course" setting.

That said, it's a fantastic idea.  How can I help with the further development of this plugin?

SolidWorks 2017 x64 Edition SP3.0 running on Win10 64 bit.

 

I have some old Solidworks parts (I would guess 2013?) and I can't get any to open either.

Also, @SandervG ...like most Beta's I really have to battle my anti-virus software to open/execute these versions. Can they do something with the definitions (not sure what they have done in the past)? My TrendMicro is pretty aggressive!

[SandervG 1,521]

I will have to pass this question on to one of the developers; @ghostkeeper, @nallath, is there something we can do so we don't bother @lepaul's anti-virus software?

[catohagen 41]

Video of Cura 2.7 Neosanding the surface around the Cura logo, sanding feedrate is 100mm/s

 

[ghostkeeper 105]

Some virus scanners get triggered by how Cura communicates between its front-end and its back-end. This happens via a local socket and that's sort of uncommon on Windows. Changing this to some other technique would be fairly involved though...

We sign our builds, so concerned people can always check the signature to make sure the application hasn't been modified in transit (Windows and MacOS do this automatically when you open the installer/app, but for Linux we provide a separate .asc file).

In my opinion, the ideal solution on Ultimaker's part is to make sure that Cura gets whitelisted with some of the major virus scanners. There's some talk about that in the office now and then, but five minutes later everyone has forgotten about it...

Edited August 4, 2017 by Guest
Clarification about being uncommon on Windows; it's fairly common on Unix.

[eldrick 65]

2.7 crashes on exit every time on MacOS 10.12.6, while 2.6.2 did not have an issue.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Guest