Ultimaker Cura Prefix

[SandervG 1,156]

Hi!

The Cura team is working on improvements and was curious about your opinion regarding the following:

 

You know that Ultimaker Cura by default puts an acronym in front of the files that it saves. When you're loading a cube it'll give the file name "UM3_Cube" instead of just "Cube" when you slice for an Ultimaker 3.  We're re-evaluating what would be most useful as a prefix: The name of the printer or the type of printer. On the one hand you may be organising your g-code files for specific printers or printers that are loaded with specific materials. On the other hand you can use the same g-code file for all of your printers of the same type as long as you switch out the material and print cores.

 

For clarity, with "An acronym based on my selected printer's name" we mean that if you call your printer "Ghostkeeper's Printer" then the acronym would become "GP".

We'd like to ask you which you prefer. We're interested to hear how you organize your g-code files (if at all). Thanks! 

[mastory 36]

Model name and incremented (slice) version number.  A version number may not be feasible, so instead maybe a time and date code.

[ghostkeeper 75]

We could have an incremented slice version number but that would reset if you restart Cura then or rename the file you're slicing.

 

For clarity, with "An acronym based on my selected printer's name" we mean that if you call your printer "Ghostkeeper's Printer" then the acronym would become "GP".

[Dim3nsioneer 451]

I would prefer a suffix rather than a prefix. Especially on the UM2+ with limited screen size. If it would be switchable everybody would be pleased... ?

[UbuntuBirdy 25]

Absolutely not needed! I like to have files with the same name from CAD, STL, GCODE. We have the extensions, wo have different icons and we have time and date of creation of the files.

For me this is a absolute useless feature - but that's only my opinion.

[ghostkeeper 75]

26 minutes ago, UbuntuBirdy said:

Absolutely not needed! I like to have files with the same name from CAD, STL, GCODE. We have the extensions, wo have different icons and we have time and date of creation of the files.

For me this is a absolute useless feature - but that's only my opinion.

There is already a preference to disable it: "Add machine prefix to job name"

[AbeFM 29]

The important thing is to keep it short and still uniquely identifying.

 

I keep making my own printers and the prefix naming is pretty annoying.

 

Being able to just pick the name I'd like would work - why can't we type in an identifier? 

 

Thanks! 

Edited May 31, 2018 by AbeFM

[gr5 1,140]

For my UM2/UM3 series printers I prefer a suffix as you don't get much of the filename visible.  The most important thing in the file name is the printer type (not the printer name) followed by nozzle size (when I go to print an older file I need to know what nozzle to install).

 

Prefix would be great if we could get this down to two characters:

s5=s5  (okay to have long prefixes for s5)

3=um3

3e=um3ext

2=um2

g=um2go

o=original

2e=um2ext

 

Followed by "N" for nozzle and first digit of nozzle size:

n1=0.15 or 0.1 nozzle

n2=0.25

n4=0.4

n6=0.6

n8=0.8

n1=1.0 or 1.5 nozzle (yes this is a repeat of the 0.1 - most people will not use both in their lifetime and if they do they probably remember which print will use the small and which will use the large

 

[gr5 1,140]

53 minutes ago, AbeFM said:

why can't we type in an identifier? 

It would be great if this was in the machine settings then I could add my own abbreviations to each machine type.

[ahoeben 630]

Something user-settable per machine, preferably with the possibility to use {replacement patterns} like gcode snippets use.

 

Add a field on the Printers pane of the preferences to set the prefix. Below the machine actions.

 

I would create a pullrequest, but the Cura 3.4 beta seems to be around the corner so it won't make it for Cura 3.4

[UbuntuBirdy 25]

5 hours ago, ghostkeeper said:

There is already a preference to disable it: "Add machine prefix to job name"

Yes, i know that, and i love this possibility!

[kmanstudios 961]

3 hours ago, gr5 said:

It would be great if this was in the machine settings then I could add my own abbreviations to each machine type.

+1

 

[SteveCox3D 67]

I don't want anything, so disable this feature. But, I agree with other comments here that a suffix is better than a prefix as a prefix makes it harder to spot the file name that you're looking for on the small screen on the UM2+ and UM3

[nallath 631]

I"m only looking at this from a Connect perspective; In that case it doesn't matter what you use as it already has access to all metadata about the jobs (what printer is it for, what does it need, etc).

So the main reason for it to be here is if you have multiple printers and use SD / USB to move the file about. Having super advanced stuff like setting with what nozzle it's done seems a bit overkill (and how do you handle multiple nozzles?). Having a way to "override" the default prefix / suffix would have my preference, but using the type of the machine makes more sense to me than the name.

[KickahaOta 12]

That's a really good point. Of course, if "manually moving the file to the machine" is the intended use case for the prefix, that leads to another possible solution: add the machine/printer prefix to the name when saving Gcode to disk, but don't add it when you're sending directly to the printer over the network.

[phantom 15]

I wish it would make a folder on the SD card with the same folder structure as on the source you open it from.

So if the folder you open the file from is for example C:/3dprints/movies/example.stl that it would then save to the SD card which have the same folder structure but then G:/3dprints/movies/example.gcode

As we used to have with old cura.

Now each time you save a file you have to save to sd card, open the folder and cut and paste the file to the desired folder time and time again. Never understood why that useful function was taken out, at least it should remember the last folder you where in the last save.

Edited June 2, 2018 by phantom

[MarkF 2]

Wow...

 

We have time to fool with a file prefix but we CAN'T be bothered to change the view controls when using a laptop touchpad to have them be more user friendly.  What a pity.

 

 

[kmanstudios 961]

28 minutes ago, MarkF said:

Wow...

 

We have time to fool with a file prefix but we CAN'T be bothered to change the view controls when using a laptop touchpad to have them be more user friendly.  What a pity.

 

 

Did you ever put in a suggestion for this or seen a suggestion?

 

[MarkF 2]

6 hours ago, kmanstudios said:

Did you ever put in a suggestion for this or seen a suggestion?

 

No.  You gave me the impression that it was futile to even bring up the subject.  That I would be lucky to even get the documentation corrected to reflect the current operation.

[kmanstudios 961]

36 minutes ago, MarkF said:

No.  You gave me the impression that it was futile to even bring up the subject.  That I would be lucky to even get the documentation corrected to reflect the current operation.

When did I give you that impression. I have never seen your name before nor have we corresponded.

 

So, if you do nothing, then you have nothing to complain about. But trying to blame me for this is just this side of foolishness.

[MarkF 2]

35 minutes ago, kmanstudios said:

When did I give you that impression. I have never seen your name before nor have we corresponded.

 

So, if you do nothing, then you have nothing to complain about. But trying to blame me for this is just this side of foolishness.

READ the linked thread!

Wasn't that you?

 

If not, I'm sorry.

Edited June 3, 2018 by MarkF

[kmanstudios 961]

Nope, that was me alright, but, I did not realize that was a linked thread to you comment. Also, you are wrong in that you did not make a request. That was a request. So, good for you :)

 

Although how you construed that to it would do not good, I am not sure. I do know that if you do not make a strong argument for something, it cannot happen. What I stated was an opinion. Nothing more. Do not let me sway you to any position unless I manage to pass on something positive to you.

 

I am still da Clumsy Noob.....I just gotta get caught up on a couple of projects that are driving me nuts before I can pass on noobish observations.

 

But, never let me sway you to NOT do anything.....your opinion is just as valid as mine is.

[MarkF 2]

This forum is a little confusing to me.  Maybe I didn't put my thread in the proper place.  I just thought it should be with the Cura software and not the general feedback area.

 

It's very annoying to swap hands on the touchpad to switch between pan and rotate.  I thought FreeCAD was a better implementation and the ALT key was not being used by Cura.  Plus a left cllick ends up selecting the model half the time instead of panning.  Just holding the SHIFT or ALT key with a mouse move would avoid it.

 

SORRY SandervG.  I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Edited June 3, 2018 by MarkF

[kmanstudios 961]

4 hours ago, MarkF said:

This forum is a little confusing to me.  Maybe I didn't put my thread in the proper place.  I just thought it should be with the Cura software and not the general feedback area.

 

It's very annoying to swap hands on the touchpad to switch between pan and rotate.  I thought FreeCAD was a better implementation and the ALT key was not being used by Cura.  Plus a left cllick ends up selecting the model half the time instead of panning.  Just holding the SHIFT or ALT key with a mouse move would avoid it.

 

SORRY SandervG.  I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

I am thinking that it would be worthy of its own thread. You can put in the subject line of your choice, and get more attention that way. Also, add a tag of, I think, suggestion so that it stand out and gets attention.

 

Well reasoned arguments such as this quote deserve proper attention as well as not getting buried in the hubbub of another thread where intention can be misread.

 

And do not worry, you are not alone. All new things and places are confusing. Stay around and I do look forward to your contributions and insights :) everything helps!

[SandervG 1,156]

On 6/3/2018 at 5:25 AM, MarkF said:

This forum is a little confusing to me.  Maybe I didn't put my thread in the proper place.  I just thought it should be with the Cura software and not the general feedback area.

 

It's very annoying to swap hands on the touchpad to switch between pan and rotate.  I thought FreeCAD was a better implementation and the ALT key was not being used by Cura.  Plus a left cllick ends up selecting the model half the time instead of panning.  Just holding the SHIFT or ALT key with a mouse move would avoid it.

 

SORRY SandervG.  I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

No problem, but if you want to continue this conversation please move it to your thread ? If you want to provide feedback or make suggestions to the Cura team, both our community (Cura thread) and Github are good places. Sometimes you may be asked to also share your feedback on Github.