Introducing Ultimaker Cura 3.5 | Beta

[SandervG 1,520]

Ultimaker Cura 3.5 | Beta is about to be released and we can't wait for you to try it out and let us know what you think. We've worked hard to pack it with new features, stability improvements and fixes. So, what is it you can expect from us? 

 

Before we dive into this, an important note:

We’ve thoroughly tested this beta version, which offers great functionality and improved features. However, it’s still in the beta stage, which means we can’t guarantee the same print reliability as our stable versions. If you’re working on an important project, we strongly recommend that you use the latest stable version of Ultimaker Cura.

 

Slicing enhancements.

 

- Prime tower. The prime tower has been improved for reliability. Instead of altering layers of two different materials, Prime towers are now printed inside each other rather than alternating per layer, and the outer walls will function like a purge bin for the inner shell. 

 

- Support infill line direction.  It's now possible to change the direction of infill support lines. In the settings you can change the degree and the infill will change accordingly. This should reduce the amount of artifacts you may see on your model and increase its capability as support. 

 

- Initial layer support line. You can now increase (or reduce if you would want to), the density of the first support layer, generating better adhesion to the build plate and overall strength. 

 

 

User experience.

 

- The File menu received some modifications and you probably will experience some changes. 'Save' now saves as a project automatically, and 'Expert' saves other file types. .Curaproject extensions are no longer used. From this beta version on, these will be replaced by 3MF extensions. No worries, it can still read old .curaprojects you may still use. 

 

- Material favorites. It's now possible to mark certain materials as your favorite. This means they are more accessible and easier to use, enhancing your user experience. 

 

- Cura Connect monitor page. By optimizing this menu you should have to toggle less between the interfaces.

 

 

Bug fixes.

 

We’ve fixed a lot of issues in this release, including better temperature stability by removing excess M109 commands in GCODE, bugs with modifier meshes, removing unnecessary travel moves, and a consistent order for batch-printed models.

 

As always we have received incredibly valuable input from @smartavionics , @bagel-orb , @ahoeben and MarmaladeForMeat. 

 

Gotten curious? Go ahead and download Ultimaker Cura 3.5 | Beta via this link.

Care to read our blog first? Check it out here!  

[ahoeben 1,895]

Note that due to some changes in the background, all plugins needed to be updated. Not all plugins are available yet.

Once they are available, you can update them through the Toolbox.

[ghostkeeper 105]

A more complete list of features is in the great blog post, written up by my friend Matt: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/52715-whats-new-in-ultimaker-cura-35-beta

 

An even more complete list (that includes the most significant bug fixes as well) is in Cura itself. You can read that list from Cura's source code here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/blob/master/plugins/ChangeLogPlugin/ChangeLog.txt

Edited September 18, 2018 by ghostkeeper
Turn links into links.

[burtoogle 510]

That blog is really useful but here's a little clarification. The blog says:

 

Fan speed override. New setting to modify the fan speed of bridged areas. This setting can be found in Support settings > Fan Speed Override when support is enabled.

 

But the use of the word 'bridged' is misleading because this feature has nothing to do with bridging. The blog should have said 'supported', i.e. skin areas that are above support. The idea here is that it is useful to be able to override the fan speed for the skin that is above support. So when I print PETG, I set this to use 100% fan and the support is much easier to remove. YMMV.

 

And Kudos to @Keventurist for suggesting this feature in the first place!

[Guest maht]

57 minutes ago, smartavionics said:

That blog is really useful but here's a little clarification. The blog says:

 

Fan speed override. New setting to modify the fan speed of bridged areas. This setting can be found in Support settings > Fan Speed Override when support is enabled.

 

But the use of the word 'bridged' is misleading because this feature has nothing to do with bridging. The blog should have said 'supported', i.e. skin areas that are above support. The idea here is that it is useful to be able to override the fan speed for the skin that is above support. So when I print PETG, I set this to use 100% fan and the support is much easier to remove. YMMV.

 

And Kudos to @Keventurist for suggesting this feature in the first place!

Fixed ?

[AirBronto 8]

Oh man, it looks like this is release with CuraEngine PR 721 (wall_min_flow) in it!  I am so excited, this was the last big issue I had with Cura.  Thanks again to @smartavionics for creating the feature, and thanks to the Cura team for all your awesome work!

[burtoogle 510]

Hi @AirBronto, hope that feature lives up to your expectations. If not, please create a new issue to discuss your woes/needs!

[zerspaner_gerd 379]

Have found some strange behavior:

 

1. Infill seems to be incomplete, "gcode" controlled it follows a G0
   
   The thick lines, I find strange
    
2. For me, the assignment of visibility setting does not work
   
   
   It always jumps to the top of the list

Edited September 18, 2018 by zerspaner_gerd
Removed unwanted pictures

[AirBronto 8]

@smartavionics I just tested it out.  It's perfect!  It's exactly what I wanted, I was able to print a 3-wall thick print without any tiny-flow segments.  It sped up the print, saved me material and the quality was exactly what I wanted.

 

I have one question:  on the tooltip for Minimum Flow, it says that "...you must print the outer wall before the inner walls."  When I read that I was sad because I print inner walls first so the outer walls look nicer.  Just to see what would happen, I unchecked "Outer walls before inner walls" and the model sliced exactly how I wanted it to.  The model in Cura had the inner wall printed first, the second phantom inner wall was turned into travel moves, and then the two outer walls printed around it.  I then sent it to my printer and everything seemed perfect, it printed the single inner wall, then the two outer walls without problems.  Is there a reason that the outer walls have to be printed before the inner walls with this setting?  Will this cause issues with other prints that I may not be seing in the test prints I did?

[burtoogle 510]

8 hours ago, zerspaner_gerd said:

Have found some strange behavior:

 

1. Infill seems to be incomplete, "gcode" controlled it follows a G0
   
   The thick lines, I find strange
    
2. For me, the assignment of visibility setting does not work
   
   
   It always jumps to the top of the list

 

The weird fat infill lines look like the issue I reported in https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/4314 .

I have also noticed how the setting visibility dialog always jumps to the top when I expect it to go to the selected category.

[burtoogle 510]

4 hours ago, AirBronto said:

@smartavionics I just tested it out.  It's perfect!  It's exactly what I wanted, I was able to print a 3-wall thick print without any tiny-flow segments.  It sped up the print, saved me material and the quality was exactly what I wanted.

 

I have one question:  on the tooltip for Minimum Flow, it says that "...you must print the outer wall before the inner walls."  When I read that I was sad because I print inner walls first so the outer walls look nicer.  Just to see what would happen, I unchecked "Outer walls before inner walls" and the model sliced exactly how I wanted it to.  The model in Cura had the inner wall printed first, the second phantom inner wall was turned into travel moves, and then the two outer walls printed around it.  I then sent it to my printer and everything seemed perfect, it printed the single inner wall, then the two outer walls without problems.  Is there a reason that the outer walls have to be printed before the inner walls with this setting?  Will this cause issues with other prints that I may not be seing in the test prints I did?

 

Great, I'm glad it's working well for you.

 

As for the requirement of printing the outer walls first, rather embarrassingly, I cant right now remember why I thought that was required. It may be a mistake or there may be some subtle reason why it should be done. The overlap compensation that reduces the wall thickness is carried out independently for the outer wall and the inner walls so it should not make any difference the order in which the outer and inner walls are printed.

 

EDIT - OK, I have remembered why it is better to print the outer wall first. When that option is selected it will print the outer wall of the part before it prints any holes within the part. If a hole is so close to the edge of the part that the walls overlap, it produces (generally) nicer result if the outer wall is printed before the hole wall because then the hole wall will be thinned down by the compensation rather than the outer wall being thinned down. You have to understand that the way the overlap compensation works is that when two walls try and occupy the same space, the first wall that is printed will have it's normal thickness and the second wall gets thinned.

 

Here's an example that shows the difference. This first image  shows the result when the outer wall is not printed first. So the hole red wall is printed complete and the outer red wall gets thinned down. This will tend to produce a rougher finish on the outer wall.

 

 

This next image shows the result when the outer wall is printed first. The outer red wall is complete and the red wall for the hole is thinned down and so the roughness that it will create is, hopefully, less visible because it's inside the hole.

 

 

So, it's not really a requirement, just a suggestion to maximise the surface quality when holes are close to the part outer wall.

 

Hope this makes sense!

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by burtoogle

[drayson 75]

17 hours ago, ahoeben said:

Note that due to some changes in the background, all plugins needed to be updated. Not all plugins are available yet.

Once they are available, you can update them through the Toolbox.

 

Is a huge rework or just a minor mod required to make them work again? Just as a hint how long it might take to have them available again... ?

[ghostkeeper 105]

31 minutes ago, drayson said:

 

Is a huge rework or just a minor mod required to make them work again? Just as a hint how long it might take to have them available again... ?

We expect that 1 or 2 lines of code need to change for most plug-ins. It's not much, but the developer needs to figure out the stuff that is broken, test it, package it and re-submit it which could be an hour or two of work. Also, some people have loads of plug-ins up there which could be quite a significant amount of work to do for all.

[ahoeben 1,895]

1 hour ago, ghostkeeper said:

the developer needs to figure out the stuff that is broken, test it, package it and re-submit it which could be an hour or two of work

 

Note that after submitting, the plugin goes through a testing process to make sure it does not crash Cura in any obvious way and to make sure it doesn't do anything malicious, which takes additional time. I currently have 4 plugins waiting for be approved, and I'm sure the plugin-testers are swamped with reviews.

Edited September 19, 2018 by ahoeben

[AirBronto 8]

@smartavionics got it, thanks for going over that.  I'll probably keep printing with interior walls first for now, but if things get bad I'll switch it back.  Once more, thank you so much for adding this feature!

[zerspaner_gerd 379]

Am I blind?
Where is the filament diameter, I overlook what?

 

[Dkdaigle 0]

While I do love that if fixed one issue I was having with Tree supports, in the latest stable version (they would randomly change size on large prints and just start printing out in thin air) I have a new issue with tree supports (yea I know its all experimental) If I change 3 of the settings in speed it sets it all up fine, if I change 4 it ignores that 1/3 of the model needs support. 

[gr5 2,099]

@Dkdaigle could you explain in more detail please?  Show exactly where it works and doesn't?

[ahoeben 1,895]

15 hours ago, zerspaner_gerd said:

Where is the filament diameter, I overlook what?

 

 

It was moved to the same category as the Nozzle Diameter, so it is no longer available in the sidebar. At least not unless you install the Printer Settings plugin from the Toolbox.

[zerspaner_gerd 379]

25 minutes ago, ahoeben said:

 

It was moved to the same category as the Nozzle Diameter, so it is no longer available in the sidebar. At least not unless you install the Printer Settings plugin from the Toolbox.

 

I do not understand

Where should I now enter my measured filament diameter?

[burtoogle 510]

[Tmirante 1]

must i continue to edit m117 command of gcode by hand to have printing file ion the display  or there is a way it shows automatically ?     

[ahoeben 1,895]

29 minutes ago, zerspaner_gerd said:

Where should I now enter my measured filament diameter?

 

On the Materials pane of the preferences. Or, if you want to have a setting in the sidebar, you need to install the Printer Settings plugin from the Toolbox, restart Cura, and look for the material diameter setting under the new "Printer Settings" category (which also has a nozzle size setting, wohoo!)

 

As @smartavionics points out there is also a material diameter in the Machine Settings dialog, but what is set there is overridden by the selected material.

 

Machine Settings < Material < Profile < Sidebar (with Printer Settings)

[qwerty8224 16]

thanks to everyone who took part in the development ...
my prints have become even better))) you make me happy)))))))

[Dkdaigle 0]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 8:04 AM, gr5 said:

@Dkdaigle could you explain in more detail please?  Show exactly where it works and doesn't?

Basically just that this is what happens when I play with the settings.