I would like to vote for David Hasselhoff..
If you were to introduce a voice assistant to Cura, how would it sound? More like Morgan Freeman or Optimus Prime?
Hmm. Tough question. I'm going for the cop out answer of; Make it a settable preference.
But yeah, if i really, really had to choose; Morgan Freeman.
2
If I wanted to learn how to create and develop cura for things I am interested in where would I go to learn how to do this and what is the best starting point?
1
Did you have in mind to add manual supports? I think will be a great feauture in particular will bring back a lot of users from S3D to use again and more Cura, and the Multiple Processes would be another interesting feature to add.
Like @nallath said Manual Support is something that is difficult to create UX wise. Apart from that I don't think people want to do manual support. They have to do it because automatic support isn't up to par (and we still can't print in mid-air).
I want us to have auto-support that is better than manual support. That might be very difficult to achieve, but I think that if we take small steps that constantly improve our auto support (like the gradual infill in 2.7), we will get there.
2
A bit more of a technical question; As far as @Tinkergnome can see, Cura is the only software out there that uses python and the Qt-bindings for a (3D-related) user interface. What were the main reasons for this decision? What are the benefits for the Cura development in particular, @Nallath?
As weird as it may sound; Speed. But we're not talking about speed of the software in itself, but speed of development. Python won't result in the fastest software (far from it, we've had to pull a lot of tricks to get it faster), but it's so much faster to build stuff in it.
We're getting a lot of remarks regarding the almost punishing speed by which we can push out new releases and it's mostly caused by using python. That enables us develop that fast.
Another big advantage is that python is much easier to learn. Now that we are (finally) focusing more on getting third party plugins, i think that will help us get more of them.
Originally i'm a c++ software egineer (with some jumps to Java) and coding in python also feels like a breeze. It's way more fun to be actually achieving things.
2
Cura is the only software out there that uses python and the Qt-bindings for a (3D-related) user interface. (...) What are the benefits for the Cura development in particular
For one thing, it keeps Cura "hackable". I for one would probably not have started modifying the Cura UI if it had all been compiled code. I have learned a lot while poking my way around the code, but I don't know if I had come this far if the barrier for entry had been higher.
Edited by Guest
1
If I wanted to learn how to create and develop cura for things I am interested in where would I go to learn how to do this and what is the best starting point?
We are working on some more resources for that. It's up to @msuurmond to give us some more time for that 
But if people have questions, i'm always open to answer questions. I'd recommend looking at our current plugins and work from there.
Did you have in mind to add manual supports? I think will be a great feauture in particular will bring back a lot of users from S3D to use again and more Cura, and the Multiple Processes would be another interesting feature to add.
Like @nallath said Manual Support is something that is difficult to create UX wise. Apart from that I don't think people want to do manual support. They have to do it because automatic support isn't up to par (and we still can't print in mid-air).
I want us to have auto-support that is better than manual support. That might be very difficult to achieve, but I think that if we take small steps that constantly improve our auto support (like the gradual infill in 2.7), we will get there.
with manual supports I found that I used it more for getting rid of unnecessary supports. this being supports that appear in a 3mm x 10mm screw hole. I tried to get rid of them in cura but I couldn't seem to find the setting that had any influence on it. I did try a lot of settings lol
2
First, kudos on Cura, it is a powerful slicer and improves with every release. However, if I had one wish for an improvement it would be without a doubt the management of profiles. Perhaps I do not fully understand the intended way or workflow to use with profiles, but they seem to leave a lot of room for improvement. I supposed before the UM3 this was less of an issue, but with multi-material printers you have to have a different profile for every permutation of materials. For example, you have to have one profile for a material in extruder 1 and another if that same material is in extruder 2. The settings for the exact same material are now in 2 places. Now multiply that by every material and permutation and things get out of hand. If you need to tweak a parameter, you have to make sure you change it across all those profiles. I'd rather see the profiles updated to something similar to an object-oriented design practice where the materials stand on their own and are independent of the profile. Then in a profile, the material is assigned to an extruder slot (1/2). (Print cores and global parameters like build plate temp would also be separate and then assigned to an extruder slot (1/2) in the same way). In this way, profiles would be nothing but a top level container of the classes/groups. And if you changed a material property, it would be updated across all profiles because the profiles all reference the same thing.
@Nallath, it is not uncommon that in past requests for features users could influence the process with sweet contraband like cookies. I certainly have seen many different cookies lying around on different desks and therefore I was wondering; What is the correlation between the type of cookies sent and the speed of implementation of a request/feature? And where does the quantity of cookies sent stand in this equation?
If i'd know that I would have sent the 1000 jaffa cake box lol
1
What is your vision of Cura in 5 years? What can it do (leaving out the secret features of course)?
I think we are then the place to go to if do anything with 3D printing. You can choose your 3D printer you just bought from within Cura, add some material profiles that another user uploaded, repair your 3D scanned models with a plugin that you just installed and got some great feedback from other users.
Each novice user can than print as an expert and experts can easily contribute to the 3D printing world to share their knowledge.
@Nallath, it is not uncommon that in past requests for features users could influence the process with sweet contraband like cookies. I certainly have seen many different cookies lying around on different desks and therefore I was wondering; What is the correlation between the type of cookies sent and the speed of implementation of a request/feature? And where does the quantity of cookies sent stand in this equation?
I've made a rough graph. The left axis can also be used for speed of development. The horizontal axis can be used for either quantity or quality of cookies
Edited by Guest
4
How often does such a research sprint happen, and does that happen every so often?
Is this top 50 list something we can share with our users MSuurmond or Nallath' date=' so people kinda know where things are going?[/quote']In many cases we could, but in some cases it's preparation for new Ultimaker products which are still kept secret.
What I can tell is that we are working on Ultimaker Cura 3.1 at this moment. A big speedup improvement will be in. We will stop loading all possible machines and profiles, but just load the ones that you use.
After this we will have the UM3 support better single extrusion mode and we will start with 'Multiple Quality Profiles Per Model (aka variable layer height)'.
What I'm mostly looking forward to is the research sprint. That is two weeks where everybody can work on the thing he/she wants and where it is less important that it works at the end (Ironing was a result of the last research sprint).
How free are programmers in this sprint, i.e., how likely is it that we'll have Morgan Freeman telling us to load the filament in feeder 2 in a few weeks?
If I wanted to learn how to create and develop cura for things I am interested in where would I go to learn how to do this and what is the best starting point?
We are working on some more resources for that. It's up to @msuurmond to give us some more time for that
But if people have questions, i'm always open to answer questions. I'd recommend looking at our current plugins and work from there.
sorry what I meant was; it was mentioned that people can develop their own plugin or mess around with the software to help achieve features the are looking for in the slicer. And I was wondering how I could learn this. I am assuming that understanding Python would be one thing, but I would like to be able to do some creative work to see if I can achieve what I want.
Did you have in mind to add manual supports? I think will be a great feauture in particular will bring back a lot of users from S3D to use again and more Cura, and the Multiple Processes would be another interesting feature to add.
Like @nallath said Manual Support is something that is difficult to create UX wise. Apart from that I don't think people want to do manual support. They have to do it because automatic support isn't up to par (and we still can't print in mid-air).
I want us to have auto-support that is better than manual support. That might be very difficult to achieve, but I think that if we take small steps that constantly improve our auto support (like the gradual infill in 2.7), we will get there.
with manual supports I found that I used it more for getting rid of unnecessary supports. this being supports that appear in a 3mm x 10mm screw hole. I tried to get rid of them in cura but I couldn't seem to find the setting that had any influence on it. I did try a lot of settings lol
This would be a great improvement (and hopefully easier to do that full manual supports?). "Just" deleting supports where they aren't really required would be ideal for me (I have no desire to tediously generate manual supports). The concept of a perfect autogenerating support algorithm is great, but very difficult since everyone's idea of "perfect supports" will vary.
Is this top 50 list something we can share with our users MSuurmond or Nallath' date=' so people kinda know where things are going?[/quote']In many cases we could, but in some cases it's preparation for new Ultimaker products which are still kept secret.
What I can tell is that we are working on Ultimaker Cura 3.1 at this moment. A big speedup improvement will be in. We will stop loading all possible machines and profiles, but just load the ones that you use.
After this we will have the UM3 support better single extrusion mode and we will start with 'Multiple Quality Profiles Per Model (aka variable layer height)'.
What I'm mostly looking forward to is the research sprint. That is two weeks where everybody can work on the thing he/she wants and where it is less important that it works at the end (Ironing was a result of the last research sprint).
How often does such a research sprint happen, and does that happen every so often?
How free are programmers in this sprint, i.e., how likely is it that we'll have Morgan Freeman telling us to load the filament in feeder 2 in a few weeks?
At the moment we do it every 4 months, so every 8 sprints there is 1 research sprint. It is a little bit like the Ship-it days from Atlassian, the only requirement is that you present what you have done at the end of those two weeks.
How often does such a research sprint happen, and does that happen every so often?
How free are programmers in this sprint, i.e., how likely is it that we'll have Morgan Freeman telling us to load the filament in feeder 2 in a few weeks?
Not as often as i'd like But it's pretty open; as long as it might result in some improvement for Ultimaker. I've worked on model subdivision (cutting up objects automatically so they can be printed) and fan cap detection (see if a fan cap is open or closed by using the camera on the UM3). But it can also be a lot different than stuff you'd normally do: some people have also worked on making a tablet based system for our meeting rooms to show if they are available.
This is also where cookies come in, you can always try to convince a developer to put his two weeks of research project into a certain subject Suggestions are always welcome!
We received another question, following the voice assistant. Audible equipment is usually used to help the disabled, in this case people with bad or no eye sight. 3D printing is no stranger to humanitarian aid, through organisations like e-nable and printing objects with braille. Which disability do you think could profit significantly with the help of 3D printing?
1
How many easter eggs are there in the Ultimaker (3)? Can you give a slight clue on how/where to find it?
sorry what I meant was; it was mentioned that people can develop their own plugin or mess around with the software to help achieve features the are looking for in the slicer. And I was wondering how I could learn this. I am assuming that understanding Python would be one thing, but I would like to be able to do some creative work to see if I can achieve what I want.
If you actually want to code, you need to understand python. If you only want to change how the UI and UX looks like, you should have a look at the .qml files that are shipped with cura (and the theme.json file). Those describe how the UI looks.
But we do need more resources on how to get started with developing for Cura. I'd love to have more people outside of Ultimaker to work with. Diversity will lead to a better overall product (both for Ultimaker and for those with other printers).
1
@Rebekah_Harper, I think this is your cue
How often does such a research sprint happen, and does that happen every so often?
How free are programmers in this sprint, i.e., how likely is it that we'll have Morgan Freeman telling us to load the filament in feeder 2 in a few weeks?
This is also where cookies come in, you can always try to convince a developer to put his two weeks of research project into a certain subject ;)Suggestions are always welcome!
How many easter eggs are there in the Ultimaker (3)? Can you give a slight clue on how/where to find it?
None!! Especially not on talk like a pirate day
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Hmm. Tough question. I'm going for the cop out answer of; Make it a settable preference.
But yeah, if i really, really had to choose; Morgan Freeman.
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A bit more of a technical question; As far as @Tinkergnome can see, Cura is the only software out there that uses python and the Qt-bindings for a (3D-related) user interface. What were the main reasons for this decision? What are the benefits for the Cura development in particular, @Nallath?
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