Could Cura have a Measuring Tool ?

[ian 32]

I have scaled a few building models in cinema4d and exported as an STL.

dropped that into the latest Cura and it looks a little big.

Would it be possible in a later version of Cura.. to have a measurment tool... so i can drop a model into Cura... then use measure and be able to click two polygon points and get a measurment in mm..

Ian :-)

 

[Daid 306]

In theory, yes. But, is that something that should be in Cura? I'm not yet sure.

 

[jonnybischof 60]

It sure would be convenient, but as long as the already provided "outer-box" dimensions are accurate, you can always calculate the rest if you have the source files.

Sometimes I noticed that downloaded STL files have a very strange 100% size, and typically I don't have the source files for these, or I don't have them in a file format that I can use (I'm a total CAD-software noob using only Sketchup 8).

So imho, yes, I'd like that feature, too. But I guess it's not a very high priority.

Also, for that feature to be really useful, it needs to be quite mighty (measure radius and measure from center of a circle to a line or stuff like that). I've seen that on ProE / Creo and it doesn't seem to be a trivial thing. Also, Creo is a nightmare to use! Better to keep Cura simple

 

[aaronalai 2]

I've been wanting something like this as well. Currently I am using the checker pattern on the simulated build platform to estimate the size of of the object. If I need to make more fine measurements I try to load the stl file into SolidWorks and make measurements there, but even in SW I have limited interaction capabilities with imported stl files and have to make adjustments to the model to make any measurements.

This is like extra icing on a very delicious cake though, I understand there are a number of minor bugs that need to get squashed in the firmware. Perhaps something extra for the future, when you can breath a sigh of relief that the firmware/software side of things is running like a well oiled machine. Not that things are not going well already :smile:

 

[ian 32]

i was just thinking something very simple... from plan or section. picking 2 points and the little line says distance... 26.88mm

something like that as a little check.. or what would be simpler... is there a way to hack Cura so I can add a really detailed dimension image to the print bed in Cura.. instead of the normal pattern... a very useful dimensioned worksurface ?

That might just be a question of swapping out a graphic maybe ?... not sure how the pattern is generated on the bed ?

Ian :-)

 

 

[drayson 75]

A measurement detailed (mm/cm) pattern on the bed is a good (and mybe simple to add) idea to get a rough feeling of the thing or (if having only partial blue tape) assist in positioning of the thing on the bed.

Regarding measurement functionality, good idea but from my point of view maybe a bit overshooting the aim of a slicer...?

 

[ian 32]

in all honesty... i have no idea is that 2 minutes programming work or 2 months ?

But if this was a simple thing ??... then why not... I kow a lot of people that would be very happy to be able to quickly measure an item on the Cura print bed ! :-)

Ian :-)

 

[znib 2]

A measurement detailed (mm/cm) pattern on the bed is a good (and mybe simple to add) idea to get a rough feeling of the thing or (if having only partial blue tape) assist in positioning of the thing on the bed.

 

You could try editing checkerboard.png, on my Windows 7 machine it is in

C:\Program Files (x86)\Cura_14.01\Cura\resources\images\checkerboard.png

 

[ian 32]

it actually works great !!. thank you :smile:

http://ultimaker2.blogspot.de/2014/01/simply-way-to-add-basic-measurment.html

 

[aaronalai 2]

That was fast, Ian could you host the file? The design looks nice and I actually don't know how to easily make this, I started writing code in Matlab then I was like what am I doing.

 

[aviphysics 9]

I like the idea of a measurement tool, but from my experience using solid works and other software, it seems like a good measurement tool is non trivial. Basically, the software has to be pretty smart about knowing what you are trying to measure. As an example, if I want to measure the distance between two surfaces, the program has to identify whether they are parallel or curved, and find the minimal distance between them. If they aren't parallel or curved, then it has to decide exactly where you want to measure in between or it might not even be able to give a measurement. This is further complicated by the problem that STL files are point clouds, which aren't perfectly precise, so it might not be obvious to the software weather or not it should consider a region as representing a curve or a series of flat facets and problems like that.

One thing that I think would be helpful, is a grid that increased in resolution as the user zoomed in, so that you could zoom in on a gap and compare it to the grid by eye to estimate the distance.

 

[ian 32]

would the option to pick a distance from one NODE to another be enough ?

I think most times that would be enough :-)

Im going to post the graphic file tonight on my ultimaker2 blog !

Ian :-)

ps. just needed the measurment function and worked great... just looked down at my house model and saw the main door was exactly two boxes wide.. so i knew that was 4mm (2 small 2mm boxes long).. which is what i need :-)

 

[aaronalai 2]

Thanks, I'll be on the look out.

 

[drayson 75]

Tried to do the same by modifying the pattern but as the original is 32x32 pixels for 20x20mm I just broke it down with the original color to 5mmx5mm...

If anybody is interested in this pattern too, here it is...

 

[ian 32]

nice work !!

simple but helpful upgrade for Cura :-)

Ian :-)

 

[drayson 75]

youre welcome :-)

 

[aaronalai 2]

Tried to do the same by modifying the pattern but as the original is 36x36 pixels for 20x20mm I just broke it down with the original color to 5mmx5mm...

If anybody is interested in this pattern too, here it is...

 

Yeah, thanks!

 

[gr5 2,189]

1) I think the original is 32X32 pixels.

2) So you are saying the existing pattern is 10mm on a side and you changed it to 5mm on a side?

3) You all know that you can click on your part, click scale and it tells you the max dimensions in x,y,z, right?

 

[drayson 75]

@ 1.)

Thanks gr5 - sure - it´s 32x32 - changed it in my previouse post!

Think it was a typo cause I had worked on 16x16 for 10mmx10mm to figure out the pattern.

@ 2.)

Yes - side lenght of each colored section of my pattern is 5mm (in original png = 10mm).

I also made a few tests with a 20x20 block and the scaling feature to ensure this. The original 32x32px pattern is streched by Cura to fit to 20x20mm, each light or dark blue block is equal to 10x10. I changed it to fit to 5x5mm. Unfortunately, because of the pixels, a 1x1mm pattern is not possible :sad:

Change the size of the .png to real 20x20mm (38x38px) is also not working as Cura not acccepts this bigger image...

@ 3.)

I know this feature but as Ian posted, it is also a nice to have rough check. Also, if you have a part with some overhangs, it tells only the dimenson of the whole block...

 

[Daid 306]

The 32x32 pixel size for that image is not fixed, you can use any scale image and it will put on a 20x20mm raster

(I do recommend using a power of 2 size, 32,64,128,256,512)

 

[ian 32]

thanks for the info David :-)

Ian :-)

 

[drayson 75]

Thank you for this info Daid !!!

I tried with 38x38 but got only a wite, blank build surface therefore I thought only 32x32 works...