Upgraded Nesting for Auto Arrange of parts

[CoreyMac 0]

Dear Wonderful Developers and Support Folks,

 

I am fairly new to Cura though it seems to be a great product overall just as it is and I want to thank you for all the hard work.  For the hobbyist it is wonderful tool and is very appreciated.  As we work with our kids to embrace this new way of manufacturing now and in the future, having the ability to show them and let them explore the possibilities seems like a great path forward.

 

After reading through the forums and working with it for a couple of months, I was wondering if the arrangement for parts feature might be improved.  It would seem that there is now a good bit of open-source software for nesting that might go a long way toward making it an easier improvement to accomplish without as much time commitment as a from scratch development.  The nesting would seem to be useful for parts placement as well as when working out how to generate and place supports while updating things like the new tree support algorithm in the upcoming 5.x releases. 

 

If I was using Cura for some sort of production work, it would be a huge help so I would think the commercial aspect would have even more of an impact.  This would be of extra benefit when multiple copies of the same pieces are being created as well I would think.  For the hobbyist, placement is probably less important and things like the tree support improvements are of greater importantnce.

Some code examples using a genetic algorithm are here:

 

the web version 

https://github.com/Jack000/SVGnest 

and the desktop version

https://github.com/Jack000/Deepnest

 

This one is less complete, but takes a graphical approach that while less complex and thorough, would likely be sufficient for 3D printer nesting requirements and has the advantage of using OpenGL GPU for the calculations.

 

https://github.com/sasam2/nesting

 

 

Regardless of any changes, thank you again to all of the support and developers.  🙂

 

-Corey

 

 

[nallath 1,124]

The library that we use is already based on the work done in svgnest.

Any improvement in the nesting won't have any influence on the tree support (or the generation thereof).

[CoreyMac 0]

Thank you for the details 🙂. 

 

It seemed like it struggles to place multiple objects if there is much conflict unlike DeepNest which it now sounds like is based on the same library.  I am not saying DeepNest is a standard to meet, I was using it for a laser cutter layout and noticed it took a different approach and ended up with a different layout that did not need to be manually completed.

 

Thank you again for the great tool.  We all appreciate all of your hard work. 

[Cuq 205]

The nesting algorythm is one point , but the reference shape  used to calculate the arrangement is the key for the result. These algorythms use a 2d shape and Cura as well as Prusa I think use the convex2dshape of the model (you can see it  it's the grey shape draw on the build plate) as this geometry is a one boundary model, without hole or concav geometry, it's not possible to get some part "inside" an other  one. So it's not only a question of nesting calculation   but mainly of boundary representation of the part. Find how to calculate a fast exact , external 2d boundary of a 3d model and you will be close to the result.

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by Cuq