Wow

[lewis-levin 0]

Just downloaded Cura 13.10 last week and started printing. Wow, it's so amazing. The slicing speed (what slicing?) is fantastic.

I hadn't printed anything for a while and only needed to make a test print before refining the object. So, I said what the heck I'll just use the quick printing normal quality option.

Well, it was better than most of my tweaks of the advanced settings using 13.04. It's not a complicated object, but it has gaps to move across and one overhang of about an inch and a half. The overhang had a single strand that sagged and across the opening were a few strings which I pulled off with my fingers.

I've attached a photo of the object--an iPhone case which I downloaded from Thingiverse and modified in Bonzai3d. Unfortunately, you can't see the hole with overhang as it is on the long side not shown in the photo.

Bonzai3d is awesome. I have now given up on Sketchup. Despite an accessible UI, the underlying Sketchup engine is so poor and it's capabilities so limited that it is not worth the frustration.

But, on to the question. How can I inspect the underlying settings made by the quick print UI choices in Cura? I would like these to be the departure for any future experimentation since they represent such good defaults.

If I switch to advanced mode, do I see the settings used for the immediately prior print (using quick print)? Or do I see the previous choices (or defaults if no previous print) for the advanced parameters?

I would love to see the default settings for the 3 quick print modes. Someone smart made those work really well.

 

[illuminarti 18]

No, you don't see the settings that came from quickprint when you turn it off, unfortunately.

However, the full set of settings gets saved into the file (so long as it's sliced for a UM1 - UM2 gcode doesn't do this), so after you slice something in quickprint mode, you can just change into normal mode, and then use the 'load profile from gcode' menu item to load those settings back into Cura as your starting point.

 

[illuminarti 18]

BTW, there's no a Cura 13.11 out that fixes a few things, and adds back the 'Spiralize/Joris' setting for making vases that has been missing for a few months.

It also generates lithopanes, if you load up a jpeg instead of an STL. :-)

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

It also generates lithopanes, if you load up a jpeg instead of an STL. :smile:

 

Didn't know that. Very nice feature! :cool:

Next step: merge the lithopane with another object/geometry...?

 

[xperiment 0]

Bonzai costs around 500 Bucks! Holy, compared to Sketchup it´s a mess!

 

[lewis-levin 0]

Well, everyone will have different preferences and one should use what gets the job done. For me, several things made the difference:

object doctor can almost always find "holes" and seal them

clipping plane (non-destructive) and section can put a plane through just about anything and seal the cut ends

far more reliable stl import and export (or DAE, which seems more reliable)

real 3d: very few model errors

curves and curved surfaces that hold up as 3d

I used Sketchup free and pro (as expensive as Bonzai) for a year and just got tired of the poor quality surface models that required hours of fixing. Netfabb could almost always fix the stl, but then you still have a bad skb.

The good thing about Sketchup is the ecosystem from the old days of free: plugins, tutorials, tips, textures, etc.

The bad thing about Bonzai is the learning curve: there are many subtle command parameters that have major side effects if not set properly.

And AutoDesSys has the best support I have ever experienced of any software or hardware product. Fast, responsible, knowledgeable, and truthful.

So, Xperiment--lots in favor of both but Bonzai is certainly not a mess.

 

[lewis-levin 0]

Illuminarti, so as long as I save the gecode (I am using UM1) I can pick up the settings?

I'll give that a try--sort of self-documenting.

Thanks.

 

[xperiment 0]

Lewis, you´re right. a mess is not the best description. How´s compared to Blender? At now I´m working with Sketchup, but will try Blender in a few weeks. It´s really difficult I think....more complicated than Bonzai?

 

[illuminarti 18]

Lewis: yes, you can load back the detailed settings from any UM1 gcode saved out of Cura.