Introducing Ultimaker Cura 3.6 | Beta

[hugz 0]

i cant use the plugins retractwhilecombing and scalableprimeamont anymore. too bad

[JonD 1]

I was hoping that 3.6 would fix the cure profile  backward compatibility problem of the last few versions.  Just about every piece of decent reliable software on the planet is backward compatible to some degree with their recent versions - but not Cura it seem,  and only talking about version 2.x  from  less than two years ago - not 10 years or even 5. 

I have some 100  important profiles that Ver 3.x throws back at me as being corrupted or "does not contain any valid data"  What a joke.  All those original setting parameters (that I am aware of at least) still exist in the new Cura version. It's just they have added new features which sure, is great, and I'd like to use them. OK, so there are new setting parameters that have been added, and these have default settings so why not just  automatically update the Cura profile files when using the import command when importing a previous version and add in the default settings for the new version.  Happy to then adjust and edit these.

Very sloppy and lazy on the part of the programmers I reckon. I guess they don't  live in the real world ☹️

[Msuurmond 28]

4 minutes ago, JonD said:

I was hoping that 3.6 would fix the cure profile  backward compatibility problem of the last few versions.  Just about every piece of decent reliable software on the planet is backward compatible to some degree with their recent versions - but not Cura it seem,  and only talking about version 2.x  from  less than two years ago - not 10 years or even 5. 

I have some 100  important profiles that Ver 3.x throws back at me as being corrupted or "does not contain any valid data"  What a joke.  All those original setting parameters (that I am aware of at least) still exist in the new Cura version. It's just they have added new features which sure, is great, and I'd like to use them. OK, so there are new setting parameters that have been added, and these have default settings so why not just  automatically update the Cura profile files when using the import command when importing a previous version and add in the default settings for the new version.  Happy to then adjust and edit these.

Very sloppy and lazy on the part of the programmers I reckon. I guess they don't  live in the real world ☹️

Is it possible for you to share your settings folder with us? Than we can try to recreate your scenario on our computers and maybe fix it.

[JonD 1]

Hi Msuurmond, 

 

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Probably about 5% of the files do transfer automatically over with the 3.x Cura version install.  The others don't,  and cannot be imported.

 

I have found a folder in C:\Users\Jon\AppData\Local\cura  that seems to have all the profile files but they are all .cfg files which seems is not a compatible file format for upload. What have I done wrong?

 

I do also export every new profile to my "product folder" specific to the project I am working on at the time.  And they all seem to be .curaprofile  But they are all individual folders.

 

What do you want me to send you? 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by JonD

[ahoeben 1,948]

15 minutes ago, JonD said:

I have found a folder in C:\Users\Jon\AppData\Local\cura

 

That's the wrong folder. You need C:\Users\Jon\AppData\Roaming\cura

 

Create an "archive"/zip of that folder, and upload it here or use a service like wetransfer.com or dropbox and post a link to the zip here.

[JonD 1]

Hi ahoeben,   Thank you for your help.

 

Attached is the zipped folder I hoping you needed.

 

When I checked the files in it, it seems that 2.7 has all the profiles,  but most are missing from the later 3.x  versions. Can I just copy them over to the newer version folders, or is it not as easy as that? I am worried that the reason they do not appear in the later version folders is that there is some software incompatibility, seeing as how they will not even manually Import either.

 

Should I post some of my .curaprofile's   that V3.x doesn't want to accept?

 

Cheers,  Jon

 

cura.zip

Edited November 14, 2018 by JonD

[ahoeben 1,948]

On 10/31/2018 at 6:42 PM, ahoeben said:

What seems to be happening is that Cura exits ("crashes") before cleaning up the tray icon, without showing an error message ("silently")

 

I was wrong about this.

Cura does not crash while closing, but it does not clean up after itself properly. I made a fix for that here:
https://github.com/Ultimaker/Uranium/pull/423

I think in previous versions (before 3.5), the GUI framework cleaned up the tray icon. In 3.5 that GUI framework was updated and apparently it doesn't clean up after Cura anymore. The patch above (which would have to be included in a new version of Cura) does the cleaning up when closing Cura.

[nallath 1,120]

1 hour ago, JonD said:

Hi ahoeben,   Thank you for your help.

 

Attached is the zipped folder I hoping you needed.

 

When I checked the files in it, it seems that 2.7 has all the profiles,  but most are missing from the later 3.x  versions. Can I just copy them over to the newer version folders, or is it not as easy as that? I am worried that the reason they do not appear in the later version folders is that there is some software incompatibility, seeing as how they will not even manually Import either. 

 

Should I post some of my .curaprofile's   that V3.x doesn't want to accept?

 

Cheers,  Jon

 

cura.zip

What Cura does is that it copies the newest version it can find (say you upgrade from 3.4 to 3.5). In that case, it copies the 3.4 folder to 3.5. After that, it will try to upgrade the files to the new version.

 

The main issue is that we were forced to make some changes that are not easy to upgrade. So even though the settings might still be more or less the same, the structure to which they need to be converted is not. Unfortunately, a lot of these things are always easy to see in hindsight. Some of them are also things that we should have done right away, but for various reasons, didn't do/ see/ realize.

I've just tried to only put your 2.7/3.0/3.5 folders through the upgrade process of 3.6 and it works without a hickup (I'm not a 100% sure that it got all your profiles, but it seems that it did). So my best guess is that something went wrong along the way (and once it's gone from the upgrade tract, it won't re-do it, since it upgrades version to version)

 

So, if you want your old profiles back, delete the 3.6 folder and try again. Alternatively; Use the attached 3.6.zip (the 3.6 folder that my cura upgraded from 3.5). You could also try and delete all other folders apart from 2.7 (I do seem to get more profiles that way, but since I don't know what profiles you want / actually deleted, I can't help you with what version is the "correct" one).


 

Edited November 14, 2018 by nallath

[mastory 44]

Back a page or so I asked about upgrading to the latest version and establish a clean install without the influence of my previous version.  The answer seemed pretty simple, move or rename a folder in the previous version for a clean install.  Nallath's last post makes me wonder how far back I need to go with moving/ranaming settings folders.  I currently have several versions installed.  Does the install routine look for settings in any of "X-range" of versions before conducting the upgrade?  Do I need to do more than disturb the order of my most recent install to get an unmolested 3.6?

 

Thanks for the great work you're doing!

Edited November 15, 2018 by mastory

[AbeFM 35]

Somewhat related: I too have weird settings, and frankly, I'm not 100% attached to them except it took half an afternoon of tweaking files and experimenting. That makes me think maybe I did something wrong.

 

I don't want to clutter this thread, but any help in creating a Future-Proof printer definition would really help!

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by AbeFM

[ahoeben 1,948]

If you want to run Cura 3.6 with a “clean” configuration folder that is not upgraded from a previous version, do the following:

* run Cura 3.6

* go to Help -> Show configuration folder

* close Cura

* remove all files from the configuration folder, but leave the empty 3.6 folder in place.

* restart Cura

 

When Cura cannot find the folder with the correct version name, it will make a copy of the latest configuration and upgrade that (all the way down to legacy Cura if that is all that can be found). When it gets the empty folder though, it starts a new configuration.

[JonD 1]

22 hours ago, nallath said:

What Cura does is that it copies the newest version it can find (say you upgrade from 3.4 to 3.5). In that case, it copies the 3.4 folder to 3.5. After that, it will try to upgrade the files to the new version.

 

The main issue is that we were forced to make some changes that are not easy to upgrade. So even though the settings might still be more or less the same, the structure to which they need to be converted is not. Unfortunately, a lot of these things are always easy to see in hindsight. Some of them are also things that we should have done right away, but for various reasons, didn't do/ see/ realize.

I've just tried to only put your 2.7/3.0/3.5 folders through the upgrade process of 3.6 and it works without a hickup (I'm not a 100% sure that it got all your profiles, but it seems that it did). So my best guess is that something went wrong along the way (and once it's gone from the upgrade tract, it won't re-do it, since it upgrades version to version)

 

So, if you want your old profiles back, delete the 3.6 folder and try again. Alternatively; Use the attached 3.6.zip (the 3.6 folder that my cura upgraded from 3.5). You could also try and delete all other folders apart from 2.7 (I do seem to get more profiles that way, but since I don't know what profiles you want / actually deleted, I can't help you with what version is the "correct" one).


 

 

Sorry Nallath but that didn't work.  I un-zipped file you sent me above , 3.6,    and when I cehcked the Profile folder within there is totally empty.  Needless to say that when I ran 3.6 using this set of  files, there were no profiles there at all. Could you please check the file you sent me.  If the "upgrade process" on the files I sent you appeared to work OK for you and worked on your system,  then it couldn't have been using the set of files you sent me, unless I have missed something. 

 

Not sure if this is relevant, but when I look through all earlier versions of cura that did work OK upgrading for one version to the next, I see a folder called "old" .that contains all the previous profiles. Can't see that any more.

[Lammertus 0]

I installed V3.6 a couple of days ago, it prints ok for me

since I am still learning how to use things properly.

 

A question I'd like to put here is about material shrinkage.

Normally with production machines you can calibrate some

test parts to obtain the shrinkage factors XYZ and configure them

into either the machine/software or into the material definition.

Is there anywhere some hidden configuration in order to

"fine" tune the geometry of the parts??

 

For the rest I am pritty much impressed.

Regards,

Mert

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Lammertus

[nallath 1,120]

2 hours ago, JonD said:

 

Sorry Nallath but that didn't work.  I un-zipped file you sent me above , 3.6,    and when I cehcked the Profile folder within there is totally empty.  Needless to say that when I ran 3.6 using this set of  files, there were no profiles there at all. Could you please check the file you sent me.  If the "upgrade process" on the files I sent you appeared to work OK for you and worked on your system,  then it couldn't have been using the set of files you sent me, unless I have missed something. 

 

Not sure if this is relevant, but when I look through all earlier versions of cura that did work OK upgrading for one version to the next, I see a folder called "old" .that contains all the previous profiles. Can't see that any more.

Well, I did do the upgrade on my machine (eg; linux). So it's a tad bit different from windows, but it shouldn't be that different.

 

The profiles are in the quality_changes folder. The file I sent you has a number of those there. 

[Brulti 177]

@Lammertus There's no hidden configuration or settings as far as I'm aware. If you want to fine tune your printer and check for dimension accuracy, you can use stl test files available on Youmagine or Thingiverse, like this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865 then tweak the various settings until you're satisfied that the printer runs within your margin of tolerance. That being said, the profiles for UM-brand material are quite good and should produce very accurate prints in most cases, knowing that outside conditions like the temperature and humidity in the printing room can affect the print. I recently printed quite a lot of the cube linked above as I tested various materials outside UM-brand ones, it's very useful to make sure you've fine-tuned your profile for a specific material.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

13 minutes ago, Brulti said:

knowing that outside conditions like the temperature and humidity in the printing room can affect the print.

I am finding this to be the largest contributor to a margin of error.

 

13 minutes ago, Brulti said:

I tested various materials outside UM-brand ones, it's very useful to make sure you've fine-tuned your profile for a specific material.

And the myriad printers that are being used with Cura.

[Lammertus 0]

Yes, I am aware about the infinity of parameters that can be used, but

at the moment I am busy testing new materials and would like to know

if there are any possible adjustment apart from scaling the model of course.

 

Is there any sort of test-suite of models to print?

Thank you for your feedback!!

 

[Lammertus 0]

21 hours ago, Lammertus said:

I installed V3.6 a couple of days ago, it prints ok for me

since I am still learning how to use things properly.

 

A question I'd like to put here is about material shrinkage.

Normally with production machines you can calibrate some

test parts to obtain the shrinkage factors XYZ and configure them

into either the machine/software or into the material definition.

Is there anywhere some hidden configuration in order to

"fine" tune the geometry of the parts??

 

For the rest I am pritty much impressed.

Regards,

Mert

 

Ok, I think I fiound the solution, aparently Shrinkage factor ¨= Horizontal Expansion

either positive values or negative values.

 

Now testing some new industrial materials.

 

[danilius 118]

I have installed 3.6 but for some reason the Octoprint plugin does not show up (even though it's in the plugin folders). Any ideas how to track down the issue?

[ahoeben 1,948]

2 hours ago, danilius said:

I have installed 3.6 but for some reason the Octoprint plugin does not show up (even though it's in the plugin folders).

 

As always, the logs should have information about what is (not) happening. You probably have to install a newer version of the OctoPrint Connection plugin using the MarketPlace.

 

Because in the past old versions of the OctoPrint plugin could crash Cura (due to changes in the Cura code), I made it so that a version of the plugin only loads in versions of Cura that it has been tested with. 

[danilius 118]

Thanks, marketplace update cured the problem!