New Versions of Cura-Plugins 'TweakAtZ' and 'RetractWhileCombing'

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

More News

RetractWhileCombing has been updated to version 14.07!

I fixed it for proper use with UM2s... it should work now without the RepRap-Code message on the UM2 followed by erratic cold print behavior...

Please report bugs and feature request https://github.com/Dim3nsioneer/Cura-Plugins/issues.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

A small teaser for the upcoming TweakAtZ 3.3...

 

[mikk36 0]

Seeing that you put in such option, maybe it would be a good thing to also make it an option to "Tweak value and keep until" {layer number or height}.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Hmmm...I was actually thinking of that as well. Unfortunately it would require another input box and there are plenty of them already...

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

As some of you may have found out the Ultimaker Wiki is currently not available. Ultimaker is working on the problem, see http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/8011-ultimaker-wiki-cura-plugins/&do=findComment&comment=74837.

Until a solution is found, I decided to provide a static copy of the Wiki pages for the two plugins I'm currently supporting:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15273556/Ultimaker/UMWiki-Pluginpages/CuraPlugin%20%20TweaktAtZ%20-%20Ultimaker%20Wiki.htm

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15273556/Ultimaker/UMWiki-Pluginpages/CuraPlugin%20%20RetractWhileCombing%20-%20Ultimaker%20Wiki.htm

 

[izo2 0]

hi i have a, issue with RetractWhileCombing on cura 14.10 rc3

when i activate it, cura can't finish to slice my model.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

@izo2 plugins are broken with that version

Download the RC6 version:

http://software.ultimaker.com/Cura_closed_beta/

 

[izo2 0]

hi, thks a lot for the tips,

is there a place when i can check the changelist of the new beta version ?

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Bad news first: There will be no TweakAtZ V3.3.

Good news: There will be a TweakAtZ V4.0 :mrgreen:

I decided to increase the main number as the plugin has seen some quite substantial changes. It would be great if it could be released with the next Cura version. However, some of you might want to test it first. I would greatly appreciate it. Any feedback is welcome, please tell me issues you have with it but also if it works fine for you.

There is a release canditate ready for download and installation in the Cura plugin folder: https://github.com/Dim3nsioneer/Cura-Plugins/raw/development/TweakAtZ.3.99-RC1.py It works with Cura versions starting from 14.10RC5 (best used with 14.11RC7).

This is the new input of the plugin:

 

About the new entries:

- 'No. of layers used for change': If you leave 1 here the plugin behaves as always. If you put in a larger number here, you get a stepwise tweaking. Example: enter '5'; tweak the print temperature from 210°C to 200°C; on the first tweaked layer, the new temperature will be 208°C, on the second tweaked layer 206°, then 204°, 202°C and finally on the fifth tweaked layer 200°C

- Tweak behavior: The first option represent the previous behavior of the plugin. The second option changes the value(s) only for a single layer. On the next layer, parameters are reset to the previous values - ALSO ON THE UM2! (well, from the point on you have the next firmware version on your machine which will be bundled with Cura; or you download the present level from Github and compile it yourself).

- New TOTAL Speed: This is the speed factor as you know it from the past. Both travel speed and print speed are affected. It corresponds to the speed factor in both UMO and UM2.

- New PRINT Speed: Only print speed is changed. New print speeds are actually calculated throughout the GCODE file (from that layer on).

 

The TweakAtZ plugin also got its own progress bar during execution, but unfortunately not on Macs as some of the Python libraries do not include a feature used there. However, this progress bar update was made within Cura and not only within the plugin code. Therefore this feature can also be used by other plugins and the code in the TweakAtZ plugin might serve as an example.

 

If you have questions, please ask...

 

[antecknar 0]

Hi!

Thanks for a great plugin. Are you planning on getting a feature to tweak the layer height at Z? I saw that Sander wrote that it has been requested and it is very high on your to-do list. So I wonder if you are still considering adding this function.

I understand if this is something which you perhaps decided to not implement. But I am very interested in this functionality. If this is something I want to start experimenting with could you point me in the correct direction where to start?

Thanks!

 

[DidierKlein 729]

There's a plugin called SwapAtZ (or SwapAtHeight) written by pm_dude that does that (among other things)

https://github.com/pmsimard/Cura/tree/SteamEngine/plugins

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I think Sander was referring to Cura directly. A plugin cannot tweak the layer height directly. However the SwapAtZ plugin lets you combine two different layer heights coming from two different gcode files.

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Has anyone tested TweakAtZ 3.99?

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Forgot to check it out i will test it as soon as possible (like the progressbar pretty cool stuff) and the temperature variation is very nice to have too

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Tested a bit, i tried setting a new temp at layer 1 and it went directly to the specified temp (i had the number of layers used for change set to 5).

Does it work with the first temperature change? (Im on a UM2)

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Tested a bit, i tried setting a new temp at layer 1 and it went directly to the specified temp (i had the number of layers used for change set to 5).

Does it work with the first temperature change? (Im on a UM2)

 

I'll have a look into this. Thanks for testing!

It just popped to my mind. Changes over multiple layers do not work on the UM2 as the plugin does not know the present setting (of the temperature in this case).

Daid and I were discussing some relative offset once. But it's not yet implemented in the UM2 firmware.

But it happens on the right height/layer no.?

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Yes it happened on the specified layer

Would it change anything if I did a first temperature change (to the set temp on the printer) and did a second tweakatz call a couple of layer later(or the next layer), i think i saw in the code that you were saving previous values somewhere?

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

It might (I have to look into the code for being sure)...

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I just checked it: No, it doesn't help as it is set to 1 layer for tweaking when UltiGCode is found.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Based on Didier's input (thanks!) and some of my own findings there is a next RC of the TweakAtZ plugin:

https://github.com/Dim3nsioneer/Cura-Plugins/raw/master/TweakAtZ_V3.99-RC2.py

Bugfixes / new features:

- deals properly with some wxPython classes that may not exist in a Cura installation (MACs...)

- deals properly with the M605/606 gcode on UM2s (save material settings into a numbered set)

- uses values from previously executed plugins to allow for multi-layer-tweaks even on UM2s...

Could some of you please test it for your own use cases? It would be nice to have the new version in Cura 15.01... thanks!

 

[pm_dude 27]

Hi Stefan,

The Retract while comping plug has an ALT layer number but doesn't support "Print one at a time" mode.

The layer number probably doesn't add the layer count of the previously printed objects since the layer number reset per object in the gcode.

Would it be possible to add support for that?

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Yes. This should be possible.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

A new version of the TweakAtZ plugin is out: V4.0

Instead of providing a lot of bla-bla here, I recommend to read the also new https://github.com/Dim3nsioneer/Cura-Plugins/blob/released/TweakAtZ_Documentation.pdf?raw=true.

 

[IRobertI 520]

Thanks for the new version. I was just playing around today with the one included in cura and it was causing weirdness (the printer started immediately without waiting for temps due to errors in the top of the file).

I haven't actually tested printing with it yet but I wanted to put this here before I forgot about it. That progress bar, that's quite annoying. Not visually, it's great to have it, but because it steals focus from the input. I start typing in "12", I'm about to hit another number and BAM, focus gets stolen and I have to wait for it to finish. Not sure if that's up to you or daid to fix though

Also, nit pick: The manual doesn't mention how to actually install the plugin, you might want to include that for the newbies.

 

[IRobertI 520]

Hmm.. The top of the file is still incorrect when using TAZ4 with cura 15.01.RC-7. This is what I'm getting which is confusing the printer:

 

;FLAVOR:UltiGCode
;TIME:<__TIME__>
;MATERIAL:<FILAMENT>
;MATERIAL2:<FILAMEN2>