More and more settings >>> a suggestion for the Team

[JCD 28]

As the number of settings is like the number on the thermometer in the sahara desert in the morning, it's more and more difficult to find the relevant parameters if you want to modify them to improve your prints.

 

My suggestion for the Cura Team is to use the information which is appearing in the blue window when the mouse is staying for a while over a setting.

There are 3 types of information in the blue window :

- an explanation of the setting

- Which other setting is affected if you change this setting (Affects)

- Which setting are affecting this setting if they are changed (Affected by)

 

It would be very interesting if the Team create an "enhanced search" besides the original one already in place

 

Put Three check box for each kind of the above kind of information, beside the search text box

 

If the checkboxes are set, Cura in the search would  make visible also :

-The settings for which the search word is in the 'explanation'

-The settings that are in the 'Affects' list of the settings found by the 'simple' search

-The settings that are in the 'Affected by' list of the settings found by the 'simple' search

 

Thus the 'simple' search that Cura has would become a "smart seach" very useful !!

Edited June 15, 2018 by JCD
modify the text

[nallath 1,120]

We're currently in a research sprint and someone from the Cura team is working on improving this.

[AbeFM 35]

I'm not sure how related this is, but I have a similar problem - I have a couple very different machines, and settings get confused between them.

 

I have a bowden style, multi-extruder machine, and a stock Prusa Mk3 (short path/direct drive).

 

The filament which works wonderfully at <0.6mm retract on the prusa needs 1.5-2.5 mm retract on the Creality.

 

The issue is the carefully tuned settings are following the filament instead of the printer. I believe (though folks with more than 3 printers likely know this better than I) that the bowden set up likes an additional ~1-2 mm of retract - but the settings are following the filament not the printer - and causing failures and low quality prints.

 

I'm not quite sure how this is useful, but I feel it is a discussion that could be fruitful if it gets some thought. So far the only solid solution is using a different competitor's software for each printer, just to keep settings from contaminating. Anything to prevent that would be VERY appreciated.

[Brulti 177]

You know that you can create your own profiles in CURA? So you can create a profile with retraction set at 1.5mm and name it 'Creality', for example, and you're good.

[AbeFM 35]

I have so many darned profiles I can't remember what they all do - they never make the changes I want.

 

I certainly have two main ones ("CR10 Dual Ext PVA Support" and "Mk3 PLA 215C") and am very conscious of them. But changing materials AFTER choosing the profile will overwrite the retraction settings with the material's definition. The setting you get (non-explicitly) depends on the order that you chose  your settings in. I would like it so that if I specify both the printer and the filament that the print will predictably use the same settings.

 

The real issue is that retraction is set at the filament level, but while you could argue there's an *additional* retraction needed for some materials, there's a baseline retraction associated with the printer (you might want to turn it off in some cases).

 

My Mk3 needs ~0.6mm of retraction for all materials where I use retraction.

CERTAIN materials can use a little more.

 

I would suggest the printer profile has some baseline retraction, and the materials only have a delta from that.

 

In the meantime, I've just made two of everything: CR10_Inland / CR10_Black and copy that to Mk3_Inland / Mk3_Black so I can recognize from the color name that it matches the printer, and I change the brand so I can easily pick them off the list.

[AbeFM 35]

On 6/15/2018 at 11:10 AM, JCD said:

As the number of settings is like the number on the thermometer in the sahara desert in the morning, it's more and more difficult to find the relevant parameters if you want to modify them to improve your prints.

 

Sort of along his lines, the "linked materials" tells you it shares "SOME" properties, but since you don't know what they are, you are constantly getting bit in the behind by it. I suggest the pop-up is a LOT more explicit, or the settings themselves get little chain-symbols as the main print settings do, to tell you when you're altering other materials without realizing it.

 

I couldn't GET my printer to work with PVA until I just took a PLA and changed the settings so that CURA would stop refusing it outright.

[Brulti 177]

Ok, I understand your problem now. I wish I could help, but having never used anything else than a UM printer, I have no idea what could be done. Perhaps what you suggest for non-UM printers would be good: baseline retraction for the printer and delta for the filament...

[tsirianni 0]

I'd like to see copy model function in the edit mode. It's kinda weird that you can not use windows cut and paste function to add multiple same prints.

[JCD 28]

Right clic on the model and select multiply

 

You can have a number of duplication in this operation

[gr5 2,170]

@tsirianni - right click on the model, select "multiply" and type in how many additional parts to paste in.