CuraEngine.exe from the command line - slicing - UM3

[jeromechrist 0]

Hey,

I'm trying to get a GCODE from a STL via invoking CuraEngine.exe.

From cura.log i can see that it's sending a whole bunch of parameters to a socket instead of the command line and returns all the settings value.

I could copy/paste all these parameters but it's way too long for Windows and hit the limit of args for a process.

I also see that it's using fdmprinter.def.json instead of ultimaker3.def.json.

I've tried doing this :

CuraEngine.exe slice -v -j "C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 3.0\resources\definitions\ultimaker3.def.json" -s material_bed_temperature_layer_0="80" -s material_print_temperature_layer_0="235" -s layer_height="0.1" -s layer_height_0="0.27" -s material_diameter="2.85" -e0 -l "C:\Users\***\Desktop\cura\screw.stl" -o "C:\Users\****\Desktop\cura\test.gcode"

But the generated GCODE is pretty different from the one generated by CURA (the UI) ~20k more lines in the one generated by CURA.

Is there a simple way to generate a GCODE equivalent as CURA for the ultimaker 3 for a preset like ABS - Fine - no support - generate build plate adhesion - using CuraEngine.exe ?

Thank you.

Edited November 21, 2017 by Guest

[jeromechrist 0]

Another way to phrase my question is : how do i know what extra parameters i need to send apart from the ones inherited from ultimaker.def.json ?

[ahoeben 1,968]

I could copy/paste all these parameters but it's way too long for Windows and hit the limit of args for a process.

That's pretty much why Cura does not use the command line, and instead uses that socket.

What you could do is create a .def.json file that contains all the values you see being sent to CuraEngine as default_value (in addition to what's in ultimaker3.def.json).

[jeromechrist 0]

 

I could copy/paste all these parameters but it's way too long for Windows and hit the limit of args for a process.

That's pretty much why Cura does not use the command line, and instead uses that socket.

What you could do is create a .def.json file that contains all the values you see being sent to CuraEngine as default_value (in addition to what's in ultimaker3.def.json).

 

I guess that could work if i can create a definition that inherits ultimaker3.def.json with the extra values.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Guest

[jeromechrist 0]

How do you handle per extruder settings though ? the ones with -e0 -e1 ?

[ahoeben 1,968]

The json file references per-extruder json files. Create your own per-extruder json files, based on the UM3 extruder files, and add your settings.

NB: I never run curaengine from the command line myself, so I don't know if this will work.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Guest

[jeromechrist 0]

Almost there.

The gcode produced has invalid headers :

;START_OF_HEADER
;HEADER_VERSION:0.1
;FLAVOR:Griffin
;GENERATOR.NAME:Cura_SteamEngine
;GENERATOR.VERSION:3.0.4
;GENERATOR.BUILD_DATE:2017-10-31
;TARGET_MACHINE.NAME:Ultimaker 3
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:235
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.DIAMETER:0.4
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.NAME:AA 0.4
;BUILD_PLATE.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:80
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.X:2.14748e+006
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Y:2.14748e+006
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Z:2.14748e+006
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.X:-2.14748e+006
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Y:-2.14748e+006
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Z:-2.14748e+006
;END_OF_HEADER

this is from the file with -o, what is weird is the output from the console has the correct values :

;START_OF_HEADER
;HEADER_VERSION:0.1
;FLAVOR:Griffin
;GENERATOR.NAME:Cura_SteamEngine
;GENERATOR.VERSION:3.0.4
;GENERATOR.BUILD_DATE:2017-10-31
;TARGET_MACHINE.NAME:Ultimaker 3
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:235
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.MATERIAL.VOLUME_USED:813
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.MATERIAL.GUID:60636bb4-518f-42e7-8237-fe77b194ebe0
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.DIAMETER:0.4
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.NAME:AA 0.4
;BUILD_PLATE.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:80
;PRINT.TIME:999
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.X:9
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Y:6
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Z:0.27
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.X:130.787
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Y:121.784
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Z:5.97
;END_OF_HEADER

How do i get the correct headers in the file ?

[robinmdh 100]

The Cura front end fixes the headers for normal prints (not the engine), so this might be a situation of the command line never being used so that part might be broken without anybody noticing...

[jeromechrist 0]

The Cura front end fixes the headers for normal prints (not the engine), so this might be a situation of the command line never being used so that part might be broken without anybody noticing...

Well I noticed I've added an issue in the github repo : https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine/issues/660

Anyway, i'm now able to generate a gcode for differents settings, thanks for the guidance on this.

Hopefully this gets fixed so we can fully automate the slicing for UM3 with the command line.

[ThomasR 0]

Anyway, i'm now able to generate a gcode for differents settings, thanks for the guidance on this.

Hello, Did you created it manually with tons of parameters to set, or did you find a trick to generate if from Cura ?

[Nicolinux 288]

One more bit of info. If you invoke CuraEngine with the "-v" parameter, you'll get a valid header *after* slicing. I had the same issue and wrote a script to process the gcode after slicing to cut the header off and insert the new one.

[Devang 0]

If I try capturing the output from the command-line with -v parameter, the valid header *after* slicing is not caught. Although the valid header is displayed on the screen, the captured output contains output only till the "END of Gcode". How could I get the valid header details after running the command.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Devang

[robinmdh 100]

never mind....

It seems silly that I can't delete a post, but I was incorrect.

Edited September 20, 2018 by robinmdh

[Nicolinux 288]

@Devang You could capture stdout and parse the header and cut it out. That‘s what I did back then. 

[Devang 0]

Thanks @Nikolinux ,it seems the final header is coming in the stderr instead of the stdout, and I was trying to capture it through the stdout.