With your object enabled, select the Support Eraser tool. Now click on an area of the object which you don't want to be supported.
A cube will appear on that part of the model. Using the regular translate and scale tools you can move that cube around if it did not end up in the expected area you clicked.
1
First time I got this ominous cube on the screen now. A little bit weird behaviour, sometimes it disappears again, when I klick on it, sometime I can move it around and resize it. Seems to be an elaborate feature, especially when you work around round or spheric shapes. I'll try more, before I complain...
Still in my imagination of workflow and accuracy I can only think of working on the layers to achieve accurate results...
Edited by klaus_kraemerWith the Support Blocker tool selected, clicking a support blocker cube will remove it. With the Move tool selected, you can move it around.
Have to say Support Blocker is not very intuitive and usable. Since Cura is generating the support structures, seems as if, at the very least, cura could list all the individual structures its has generated and one could pick through the various structures as it highlights them in the model and turn them on/off. The cube thing is annoying and not very user friendly....one thing is once I create one cube for an area, I want to be able to elongate it on two other axis to block out support but can't do that with the scale function. Can't even copy that cube but have to to creating more cubes and scaling them as well...what a tedious pain!
39 minutes ago, IvoPi said:Since Cura is generating the support structures
Cura does not generate support structures, CuraEngine does. CuraEngine only returns layer data to Cura, so Cura does not know the geometric structures.
The current Support Blocker is a first version of the tool. If you do not like it, feel free not to use it for now. It will likely improve over the next versions.
Same issues with Support blocker. Do I have to make my own cube? IF not, how do I generate it? I need to make a ring to block support on the outer diameter that steps out from a smaller diameter.
Is there a slicer program out there, free or otherwise, that actually blocks support with instructions we humans can follow?
On 5/5/2018 at 9:24 PM, ahoeben said:With your object enabled, select the Support Eraser tool. Now click on an area of the object which you don't want to be supported.
A cube will appear on that part of the model. Using the regular translate and scale tools you can move that cube around if it did not end up in the expected area you clicked.
Thanks ahoeben,
I am using version 3.3.1 and all I can find is the support blocker. Could you direct me the support eraser tool. Have looked in the online help documentation and elsewhere, but no luck finding it.
Just played around with the support blocker feature and think I understand now why people may have problems using it.
Indeed the handling is not very intuitive.
Why I must
a.) first select a model to activate the blocker tool, than
b.) select the blocker tool, than
c.) click on the model where the blocker should appear?
Any chance that the (IMHO unnecessary) step a.) could be avoided?
Edited by berndjm
If I am correct, Step A is required to limit the blocker to just the model in question and not have 'mis-clicks' that put it in places you may not want.
What about another (or second) approach by defining two-dimensional areas to define support blocking at a layer in the layer view? Blocking the space up in Z direction.
Edited by klaus_kraemer
7 minutes ago, kmanstudios said:If I am correct, Step A is required to limit the blocker to just the model in question
Unfortunately, step A is required "because of how Cura is built". You will notice that all tools in the sidebar (except from the Open button, which is not actually in the toolbar) get disabled when there is no selection.
This can not be changed easily.
Edited by ahoeben
1
it would be sweet if you could drag the extent of the block from either end and drag it in that direction, instead you have to "scale" it which makes it grow or shrink on both or all planes... makes it hard to position accurately.
I was having some troubles getting support blocker to work as well (which led me to this forum). However, through some experimentation and following the directions here, I have some additional advice for those still having issues. To be as clear as possible, here are my steps to use support blocker (with bold instructions for things that I was having trouble understanding the most):
1) Click on your model to select the model for which you want to block some/all supports. (You must activate/select the model first, in order to activate tools on the sidebar.)
2) Click to select the "Support Blocker" tool on the sidebar
3) Click on the model in the area you want to block support. (You must click on the model itself, not just on the empty buildplate.)
4) With support blocker tool still selected on the sidebar, click the gray box that appears to select the "blocker object". (This will select/highlight the "blocker object" and deselect the object model.)
5) Click on the move tool on the sidebar to move the gray "blocker object" around. (This is done the same was as moving around the model, only now the blocker object is what will move).
6) Click on the scale tool on the sidebar to resize the "blocker object". (As above, this is the same process as scaling a model.) If you do not want to scale in all planes, uncheck the "Uniform Scaling" checkbox, and you can scale in only one direction.
Hopefully this is helpful to the next person to stumble across this forum looking for help using support blocker.
In Cura 3.6 (waiting for IT to install newest version), I carefully place and scale Support Blockers but they are not taken into account! It makes no difference in the build preview, there's support everywhere, through the Support Blockers as well.
Support blockers should be used to “mark” overhanging parts of a model to not receive supports underneith them. So the should ovetlap with part of the model, not with the supports.
From my experience, that section of support in the V is caused by horizontal expansion of the support on the outsides.
As I understand it, the expansion is useful to prevent the interface (top) layers, or more importantly the bottom layers being supported, from falling off the edge.
It seems that this expansion is not aware of being completely separated from the rest of the support when there is a feature needing support on one side of a wall and nothing on the other side. It seems CuraEngine expands the footprint and never looks back.
It might be possible to mark expanded support as tentative until it connects with something actually providing support. Probably would need a second pass after all layers have been sliced.
I've used the support blocker but beware sometimes it doesn't always work as expected. Recommend doing a preview or else you could waste a lot of high priced PVA. For example, I cubed around two tiny holes running horizontal through the top of the part and it turned the ENTIRE PART into ALL PVA support material even below and outside the support blocker cubes.
My other gripe is the getting the initial support cube to appear on the screen. Once its there, your "over the hump" & it behaves the same as the scale and move. Clicking enough combinations of the icon, part, or build area and you'll figure it out.
Addressing the other comments on being non-intuitive it would be handy to RC an icon and select help to either take you to a video hyperlink, tooltip, or step by step instructions.
The software is free so I'm thankful for that and can't complain too much(our company does own a 5S though).
14 hours ago, robobartz said:getting the initial support cube to appear on the screen.
For what it's worth, there is an easier way.
Generate your own set of basic shapes just like you would for any model, then import that model and change it's properties to be a mesh overlay to use in place of the generic cube.
17 hours ago, robobartz said:I've used the support blocker but beware sometimes it doesn't always work as expected. Recommend doing a preview or else you could waste a lot of high priced PVA. For example, I cubed around two tiny holes running horizontal through the top of the part and it turned the ENTIRE PART into ALL PVA support material even below and outside the support blocker cubes.
The name support blocker is a bit of a misnomer. What it actually does is mark a certain area as "Don't start generating support here".
Although this might appear to be a small semantic difference, it does matter quite a bit, especially for PVA. By default, the horizontal expansion for support is set to 3 mm. This means that all places where it starts to generate support get an extra 3 mm of support on all sides. This is done because you want a certain min amount of PVA support per layer, since it burns / breaks off really fast. By ensuring a min amount of filament per layer, you can prevent most of these issues.
A support blocker also doesn't say "don't print any support in this area". So there is that as well.
17 hours ago, robobartz said:Addressing the other comments on being non-intuitive it would be handy to RC an icon and select help to either take you to a video hyperlink, tooltip, or step by step instructions.
The software is free so I'm thankful for that and can't complain too much(our company does own a 5S though).
If you have an suggestions, feel free to leave them at our github issue tracker. Can't promise that they will be handled, but we do consider all of them.
Also, if this is your complaining, I don't mind. You're much nicer about it than a lot of people we have to deal with on a daily basis 😉
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DidierKlein 729
Hi and welcome,
Don't be embarrassed :)
I didn't try it yet in the new 3.3 cura but usually you would create a cube and place it where you don't want support to be generated (overlap the parts of the model with the anti-overhang mesh).
For it to work you of course need to activate supports for the regular model
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DidierKlein 729
I did a tutorial about this feature (as it was in older version already)
The workflow is a bit different but it should be usefull i think
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klaus_kraemer 3
Thanks for this, BUT: How do I create these blocks to use as a support blocker?
Please don't get mad at me, but I think documentation of CURA does not meet any standards as I cannot find any comprehensive manual, which is bad. Also adding new features to software simply calls for a clear description if you do not want users to think that you don't respect their lifetime they have to invest to understand the new feature without help from the manufacturer. As I am used to self learn, I have tried for some hours to find a solution - wasted hours stolen from my life and my familiy...
And as an afterthought wouldn't it be more user friendly to 'simply' enable the user to draw a support blocker layer in the layer view?
Edited by klaus_kraemerChanged mesh view to layer view
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