Material Settings plugin

[ahoeben 1,846]

I'm working on a new plugin, lets the user add settings to the Print Settings tab for materials on the Materials pane of the preferences. At its simplest, it adds the "Flow" parameter to the list of print settings for materials. The plugin also adds Extensions -> Material Settings -> Configure Material Settings. This will open a dialog that lets you configure what settings will be available, so you can add arbitrary settings such as Z Offset and Linear Advance Factor (both requiring an additional plugin already available in the Marketplace). It may not yet work with all settings, let me know.

 

 

Note that a value set in the sidebar or in a profile still overrides what is set in the material. This plugin does not intend to change that.

 

A testing version of the plugin can be downloaded here:

For Cura 4.0 and 4.1: http://files.fieldofview.com/cura/MaterialSettingsPlugin-v6.0.0-2019-06-14T14_49_58Z.curapackage

For Cura 3.5 and 3.6 (untested): http://files.fieldofview.com/cura/MaterialSettingsPlugin-v5.0.0-2019-06-14T14_49_58Z.curapackage

 

After downloading, just drop the file into a running Cura window, and restart Cura when requested.

Edited July 12, 2019 by ahoeben

[ahoeben 1,846]

The plugin is now available in the Marketplace.

 

Quite a bit more work needed to be put in this plugin, to get the Print settings in the Material preferences to accept valid values for additional settings. In fact, the plugin now replaces the whole Materials pane of the preferences with a "fixed" version. There is a cosmetic sideeffect to this: the print settings tab now uses the Cura theme, ie if you use a dark theme for Cura, that part of the preferences will now also display using dark theming.

 

I hope you find this plugin useful.

[alexjx 8]

Thanks. This is very helpful. Especially for those who print different high temperature materials, like PC.

BTW, how does it work with the existing z-offset plugin?

 

I see, it gives the option to include what option, not providing options directly.

Edited July 17, 2019 by alexjx

[ahoeben 1,846]

In a future update I will see if I can add a button to the Print settings tab to open the dialog to select which settings are shown.

[Segjin 0]

Is there a way to get it to override sidebar/profile setting? If I save one of the settings once, then I can never get back the material specific toggle.

 

This is probably a more general question of:

How do I, in the UI unset a value? In this case, the undo/round arrow isn't there. I guess I can go edit the profile by hand. I was trying to avoid that.

[ahoeben 1,846]

2 hours ago, Segjin said:

Is there a way to get it to override sidebar/profile setting?

 

No, there is not.

 

2 hours ago, Segjin said:

How do I, in the UI unset a value?

 

That is something that is still missing in Cura. Perhaps I'll one day make a plugin that lets you do this. For now, editing the profile in a text editor is the only way.

[Segjin 0]

Before I take a look, is there a way to mod your sidebar plugin to add an option to the right click context menu of a setting?

 

I might hack away at that. I am pretty new to the UI framework cura uses.

 

[ahoeben 1,846]

Anything is possible in theory. But no, not easily.

 

Also, I would not start hacking away at that plugin to get to know Cura; it does some pretty aweful tricks.

[gdelaune 0]

Hello,

 

I have installed the last version of Cura (4.4.0). I do not have access to the extra material parameters anymore. In addition, the plugin is grey scaled in the market window.

Does it have a compatibility issue with Cura 4.4.0 ?

 

[chjohans 0]

Same issue here, I just installed Cura 4.4 and the "Material Settings" plugin no longer works.

 

Any chance you can fix this @ahoeben?

[pblawler 0]

I have a dual extruder machine and have the linear advance code in the machine settings for each extruder's start code to enter "M900 Tx K(value from material settings)".  That works and correctly adds the m900 line ( no comment added by plug-in) at the start of each extruder.  How ever with cura 4.4.0 there is a "type" comment at each section of gcode and the plug-in adds two m900 lines at each of these.  Those m900 lines have the comment "added by linear advance plug-in".  There seems to be an issue with that.  I have a K value > 0 for E0 and 0 for E1 but since cura 4.4.0 using those K values I get no LA on E0.

Edited December 5, 2019 by pblawler
Corrected typos

[ahoeben 1,846]

Github user @sharkovich had already done the work here: #4

 

I had to make sure that the plugin also works for Cura 3.5-4.3; I can only publish a single version of the plugin that should be compatible with all versions, or the plugin will become unavailable for all older versions of Cura.

 

A version that is compatible with Cura 4.4 is now awaiting approval for the Marketplace.

[ahoeben 1,846]

@pblawler I don't understand. Are you saying this is caused by the Material Settings plugin, or are you reporting an issue for the Linear Advance Setting plugin here?

[chjohans 0]

Excellent news, I am addicted to the Material Settings plugin. My workflow is totally dependent on it. Thank you for making and maintaining this plugin!

[pblawler 0]

Yes sorry I was referring to the LA plug-in.  

[ahoeben 1,846]

If you would be so kind to open a new topic for that Linear Advance issue, that would be great.

[chjohans 0]

@ahoeben Any idea why your updated Cura 4.4 compatible plugin is still not available?

[ahoeben 1,846]

It can take a little while before a plugin update is reviewed by the Cura team.

[chjohans 0]

OK thanks. Your work on all your plugins is much appreciated!

[ahoeben 1,846]

While the plugin is awaiting approval, you can try downloading this file, and dropping it into the Cura application window.

 

[chjohans 0]

Thank you. Much appreciated! 🙂

[ahoeben 1,846]

The plugin update is now available from the Marketplace.

[mastercartman 0]

Hi ahoeben,

I realy love your plugin and set it up for all my materials. I print with lots of different materials, so it is very helpful. But I'm missing some settings: I can't add "enable draft shield" and "generate supports" settings. The supports may not be as important, but I do like the draft shield for ABS and similar materials. Would you add this setting please?

[ahoeben 1,846]

20 minutes ago, mastercartman said:

Would you add this setting please?

 

I would if I could. This is a limitation of Cura.

 

The problem is that these settings are "global" settings in Cura; they are not settable per extruder. Say you have a dual-extrusion printer with two different materials loaded. One of the materials says to print a draft shield, the other says not to print a draft shield. What should Cura do? There are other "global" settings where there is a formula to "resolve" the conflict between what the the different materials tell Cura to do, such as eg the bed temperature; Cura takes the maximum value of different configured bed temperatures. This "resolve function" is set in the printer definition.

 

So what about single extrusion printers then? Well, those are hampered by the same rules as what is possible with multi-extrusion printers. A "global" setting without a "resolve function" can not be set per material.

[gjtaylor72 2]

Given that you can't override the profile/sidebar settings, is there any way to identify those items in the material profile settings tab and identify/mark them somehow?   

 

I would really like to have the material profiles set the temperature/bed/flow rates rather than have them stuck/controlled by the profile.