Welcome to Ultimaker Cura 3.2 | Stable

[SandervG 1,521]

Thanks to everyone who participated the last 2 weeks with beta testing Cura. Without the feedback we continuously receive, we would not be able to develop Cura as we know it today. When this is the first time you read about Ultimaker Cura 3.2, or if you're just curious about what made it through the beta testing period, let me go over some of the most interesting features. 

 

Adaptive layers.

The days of a fixed layer size for your entire print are behind us. Adaptive layers offers an alternative where Ultimaker Cura will slice your model with thicker layers where there are straight walls and thinner layers on sloped surfaces. It is up to you to configure within what range of layers Cura can operate. For example, thin layers are maximum 0.06mm and the thicker layers are maximum 0.15mm. This is a great way to maintain a quality good looking print and save time where it is possible. Because the feature is pretty new, it is listed under 'Experimental' but feel free to give it a shot! 

 

The 'Layer thickness' color scheme which can be found in 'Layer view' mode. A color map ranging from yellow (thickest) to blue (narrowest) represents the relative thickness of each layer.

 

Tree support. 

Tree support is an experimental support structure which shares some resemblance with the shape and roots of a tree. It seems to grow organically and multiple ‘branches’ grow towards your model and offer the necessary support.

The benefits of this is that you use less support material, costs less time, and because there are fewer contact points it is easier to remove and gives better surface quality. You are able to use tree support in conjunction with other types of support material.

 

Multiple buildplates.

By enabling multi-build plate in your preferences a new UI element is added to your workspace. It lets you manage separate build plates with a shared setting in a single session. Using Cura Connect, you can send all build plates straight to your print queue to get it printed. Do note, when you save your buildplate as a project, it only saves the selected buildplate. 

 

 

Faster startup.

It may be good to mention that printer definitions are now loaded when you add a printer. Instead of loading all available printers on startup. It enables Ultimaker Cura to have a reduced startup time compared to previous versions. 

 

Meshes in per model settings.

In custom mode you can now assign different slice settings to different sections of your print by using meshes and per model settings. A mesh can have a few different functions, like:

- Normal mode; print mesh as normal

- Print as support; mesh will be printed as support material

- Don't overlap support with other models; support material will not be generated where the mesh is

- Modify settings for overlap with other models; the mesh will be printed where it overlaps with the model

- Modify settings for infill of other models; the mesh will be printed as infill in sections that overlap with the model

 

An example:

 

This carabiner is sliced with a cuboid mesh and 'Modify settings for infill of other models' selected. In this example, it had denser infill settings, making a specific part of your print stronger/more rigid than others. 

 

Start/end gcode script per extruder. 

Variables from both extruders in the start and end gcode snippets can now be accessed and edited, creating uniformity between profiles in different slicing environments.

 

View optimization.

Quick camera controls have now been revised compared to Ultimaker Cura 3.1. 

 

Besides these pretty amazing features, there are quite a few more that you can also find in our blog .

We have also fixed many bugs. Thanks again for everyone who helped us test the beta version, and special thanks to @ahoeben

for his contributions. 

 

Edit:

One of our Cura experts made an explanatory video about some of the new features in Ultimaker Cura 3.2. It was originally meant for the Beta, but I still found it very interesting, so I wanted to share it with you anyway. Discussed topics still relate to the stable 3.2.

Most likely, we will make a similar video for the next release too. Let us know if this is helpful. 

 

 

We got you curious? Download the new Ultimaker Cura 3.2 and give it a try.

If you do, make sure to let us know what you think below

 

Thank you and have a great day! 

 

[ChrisRiddell 13]

The website still has 3.1 as the stable

[ahoeben 1,981]

And the blog post is not public yet either (the link @SandervG posted contains a special access key).

Edited February 6, 2018 by ahoeben
patience

[SandervG 1,521]

whoops, I guess I am too fast. Well, SURPRISE people! We will launch Cura 3.2 today!  (estimated around 3pm CET) 

[ChrisRiddell 13]

Just now, SandervG said:

whoops, I guess I am too fast. Well, SURPRISE people! We will launch Cura 3.2 today!  (estimated around 3pm) 

 

But its 9:07pm (Sorry could not help my self with a timezone joke)

[nilrog 103]

23 minutes ago, SandervG said:

Do note, when you save your buildplate as a project, it only saves the selected buildplate. 

What is the rationale behind this? That kind of makes the whole feature almost useless imo.

[SandervG 1,521]

1 minute ago, ChrisRiddell said:

 

But its 9:07pm (Sorry could not help my self with a timezone joke)

I mean the type of 3pm which is in 3,5 hours   good point though, I'll add the time zone to it.

[ahoeben 1,981]

2 minutes ago, nilrog said:

What is the rationale behind this?

 

I am guessing it is an oversight in the initial implementation of the feature. The multiple buildplates also don't play all that well with Post Processing scripts, or with printing to anything other than Cura connect (only the active buildplate is postprocessed / printed). This is likely to get better with future versions.

[SandervG 1,521]

2 minutes ago, nilrog said:

What is the rationale behind this? That kind of makes the whole feature almost useless imo.

I'm not entirely sure, I can imagine we want to introduce a new feature and first see what the response and feedback is and when it's used and popular we elaborate and expand it. It is likely it will grow in future versions when we continue to receive useful feedback about it. 

[nilrog 103]

16 minutes ago, ahoeben said:

 

I am guessing it is an oversight in the initial implementation of the feature. The multiple buildplates also don't play all that well with Post Processing scripts, or with printing to anything other than Cura connect (only the active buildplate is postprocessed / printed). This is likely to get better with future versions.

I can understand that there are issues with scripts etc. that needs to be worked out. Perhaps in the open...depending on what kind of feature it is...but to some extent a feature should not be made available if it is not ready for prime time.

And multiple buildplates...in the current state...is kind of useless since you can't really play with this feature if nothing of what you do is saved...imo...

[ghostkeeper 105]

20 minutes ago, nilrog said:

What is the rationale behind this? That kind of makes the whole feature almost useless imo.

I think the reason is that it's something new we'd need to implement in 3MF.

[nilrog 103]

You do realise that you have now introduced lossy save in Cura?

It's a super handy feature...but in practice...it's useless.

In the current state I would not even mention it as a feature...perhaps not even expose it...but that is me 

[ctbeke 133]

2 hours ago, nilrog said:

.perhaps not even expose it

 

It is not exposed by default, you have to explicitly enable it in preferences, where it is listed as experimental.

[SandervG 1,521]

Fair point @ctbeke ! And, I guess now we are really live! Check out Ultimaker Cura 3.2 if you have not already!

[Brulti 177]

Just downloaded it and gave it a look. Some comments and first impressions.

 

While installing, Windows security popped up a warning about CURA requesting to install drivers from Arduino and another company whose name I forgot. While I know what Arduino is, thanks to browsing this forum and some other places online that deal with 3D printing, I'm quite sure that there are lots of people who have no idea what it is and will panic and think that the file is corrupt or such. Perhaps you could put up a quick 'how to install' thing or add something to the blog post or instructions or whatever to tell everyone that it is safe to install those drivers and they are needed for CURA.

 

AVAST still flagged it as a virus and I had to create an exception. It does that every time, on every computer I try it on. The signed digital binaries apparently mean nothing to Avast...

 

The new options, like the support tree, did not appear at first, even though I had previously checked the 'Check all' box in the 'Settings Visibility' menu to make every setting visible. I had to uncheck and recheck the 'Check all' box to make all the new settings appear. Perhaps you could have future versions on CURA take that into account when installing over an old version (I upgraded from 3.1 to 3.2) and make sure that all the settings, including the new ones, show up right on start?

 

The 'Update profile with current settings/overrides' is not greyed out for the basic settings included with CURA. When you click it, CURA closes. It works well with my custom settings that I created for non UM materials.

 

All of the profiles, including the standard ones, are listed as 'Custom profiles' in the 'Preferences -> Profiles' menu.

 

When I select one of my custom materials in the 'Material' drop menu, the menu window goes orange and I get the warning 'Check Compatibility' with the link to the UM website. Which is completely useless since those are not UM materials. And I still cannot use all of my custom profiles with my custom materials.

 

It takes an awfully long time to load up the settings when I switch between materials in the 'Material' drop down menu.

 

The 3D view is way faster and better, movements is smooth, and slicing seems to be quite faster. Switching to layer view is also much faster.

 

The various preset view angles are very nice. I would suggest to add one more view which would be from the front, a bit above the bed plate and looking down at it.

 

The name of my printer was lost in the upgrade and it reverted to 'Ultimaker 3 Extended'.

 

That's all for now, I'll post more once I've had a chance to experiment with all the new stuff.

[nilrog 103]

1 hour ago, ctbeke said:

 

It is not exposed by default, you have to explicitly enable it in preferences, where it is listed as experimental.

Ok, it was not listed as experimental in the post.

Still, if all is lost when saving, the feature is not so usable...not even as experimental ?

[kmanstudios 1,120]

10 minutes ago, Brulti said:

AVAST still flagged it as a virus and I had to create an exception. It does that every time, on every computer I try it on. The signed digital binaries apparently mean nothing to Avast...

Oddly all my Avast installation did was to run a scan for malware, report it was safe and then say "It was a rare file and will be sent to HQ for further testing" and then let me install with no issues. The last time I installed with Avast I did get a pop up saying that the file was fine and added to Avast's clean list. Or, whatever they called it. But I did not have to create any exceptions.

 

Edit, oh yeah, also, nothing popped up regarding arduino or anything else.

Edited February 6, 2018 by kmanstudios

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I did get to see the popup from Avast saying it was added to their database of safe programs.

 

On the flipside, the odd thing or two that I noticed in the beta has been resolved. The viewport has sped back up when in layer view as the flyouts are populated when in UM Dark UI. cool.....

[ctbeke 133]

The first few installs always give these virus scanner issues because it's not in their databases yet. After a few hours it usually is not a problem anymore (as is now?). Quirks of being an early adopter I guess

[BrightBerry 0]

Also had to set my antivirus and firewall to allow the program to run etc. (Commodo Internet Security), but that is not a big problem.

 

One real problem I'm having is that I'm able to add the Prusa Mk2 when I start Cura 3.2 but when I want to add the Monoprice Select Mini or Monoprice Select Mini V2 (E3D) the program closes (crashes I think) just after the Machine Settings window, tried to click the "Finish" button real quick, but didn't help, also uninstalled it normaly and when that didn't work, used Revo Uninstaller to make sure nothing is left of the program when uninstalling it, reinstalled it and still, same problem. 

 

Tried a couple of other printers (Tevo Black Widow and Creality CR-10) and it worked fine to add these printers, seems that the problem only is there with the Monoprice Select Mini or Monoprice Select Mini V2 (E3D) printers.

[BrightBerry 0]

41 minutes ago, BrightBerry said:

Also had to set my antivirus and firewall to allow the program to run etc. (Commodo Internet Security), but that is not a big problem.

 

One real problem I'm having is that I'm able to add the Prusa Mk2 when I start Cura 3.2 but when I want to add the Monoprice Select Mini or Monoprice Select Mini V2 (E3D) the program closes (crashes I think) just after the Machine Settings window, tried to click the "Finish" button real quick, but didn't help, also uninstalled it normaly and when that didn't work, used Revo Uninstaller to make sure nothing is left of the program when uninstalling it, reinstalled it and still, same problem. 

 

Tried a couple of other printers (Tevo Black Widow and Creality CR-10) and it worked fine to add these printers, seems that the problem only is there with the Monoprice Select Mini or Monoprice Select Mini V2 (E3D) printers.

 

Solution found for this bug/problem:

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by BrightBerry

[StorageAddict 0]

Downloaded 3.2 last week and so far it's seemed like a nice improvement. Almost too many options and nerd knobs to turn. Almost afraid to tweak anything in fear that I'll throw-off 5x other things. haha

 

If I can make a serious request for the next revision. All the updates to 10x different infill types (grid, zig-zag, cones, etc etc..) All these thing's are cute at best. What I could REALLY use is for Cura to scan or review the imported .STL file and AUTO suggest an orientation for the most successful print, utilizing the LEAST amount of supports etc. Example, maybe printing a file upside down and tilted to a 30* angle or something like this). 

 

Also, "suggest" auto-slicing. If I import a helmet into Cura with a bed ratio of 200x200x180 and want to make it 150%, then Cura could take the image and auto-slice into 6-8 pieces to make sure all ratios are correct moving forward, and a manual slicing won't lead to gaps in the prints and wasted materials. Instead today, if the image is too large for the bed, Cura just refusing to do anything with the file until you shrink it to fit the bed. 

 

Now, I'm no Cura Power-User by any means.. If any of these features are already included and I just haven't found them, please point me in the right direction. 

 

Thanks!

 

  

[LePaul 331]

I keep on saying, over and over again, about Cura releases and Anti-Virus programs.  Only Cura does this to mine.  

 

And just to repeat myself one more time....I really wish Ultimaker would fix this annoying issue   

 

BTW, looked at the Adaptive Layers...I guess I need to read up on this a good deal more.  It sure adds a lot of print time to the test prints I was going to try it on!

 

[Msuurmond 28]

4 hours ago, StorageAddict said:

 

If I can make a serious request for the next revision. All the updates to 10x different infill types (grid, zig-zag, cones, etc etc..) All these thing's are cute at best. What I could REALLY use is for Cura to scan or review the imported .STL file and AUTO suggest an orientation for the most successful print, utilizing the LEAST amount of supports etc. Example, maybe printing a file upside down and tilted to a 30* angle or something like this).   

 

If you go to the Plugin Browser and download the Auto-orientation plugin, you will get this functionality

[osmunda 0]

Hi,

 Octoprint plugin does not work