UltiMaker Cura 5.3 stable released

[ArunC 31]

Anyone who has downloaded or heard about the recent Cura 5.3 beta release should be extremely excited! In this stable release, Cura 5.3 achieves yet another huge leap forward in 3D printing thanks to material interlocking! As well as introducing an expanded recommended print settings menu and lots of print quality improvements. Not to mention, a whole bunch of new printer profiles for non-UltiMaker printers!

 

Material interlocking enables truly unrestricted multi-material printing

 

Material interlocking is a new feature in this release with the power to unlock a huge number of exciting applications. To find out how, let's take a look at a printed part:

 

 

This adorable clip was designed by our very own Mariska Maas to show off the potential of material interlocking and can be found on Thingiverse. At first glance, it may not seem all that exciting, but there's a lot more going on than meets the eye. 

 

Firstly, it’s functional. This print can be used as a working clip. When squeezed at the bottom, the teeth will open and when released they will spring shut. The reason is that the print was made using two different materials. Specifically, CPE and TPU95A. CPE is a rigid material and it was used for the green prongs of the clip. TPU is flexible and it was used to print the black hinge (and the less functional but still cute eyes).

 

The second exciting thing about this clip is that it was printed all together as a single part without any assembly required. It’s around now that anyone experienced with multi-material printing might be getting excited. That’s because CPE and TPU are incompatible materials. Meaning that if you tried printing a part like the one above using a dual-extrusion printer, the parts would not bond together properly and would fall apart either immediately, or after light use.

 

This clip, however, can be used as much as you want without breaking (trust me, I have one on my desk as I write this and I’ve been playing with it for days without any issues). This is possible because of the new material interlocking feature. To see exactly what's going on here, let's take a look inside the print:

 

 

 

That interesting pattern around the hinge and eye was not designed into this part. Instead, it was automatically generated by enabling the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting added to this version of Cura. Note: this setting is only available when using advanced and expert setting presets. Or if enabled via the preferences menu. 

 

This alternating overlapping pattern physically ‘locks’ the two materials together so that the strength of the bond between them is no longer dependent on how compatible they are, but is instead only limited by the strength of the weakest of the two materials.

 

The implications of this are huge. Up until now, when printing multi-material prints on, for example, an UltiMaker printer capable of dual extrusion like the new UltiMaker S7 (although any multi-material printer will do), you would have had to consult a material compatibility chart like this one to tell if the materials you plan to use would work together. Many materials need to be printed at different temperatures and others are chemically incompatible. Using material interlocking, any material is fair game.

 

You also don’t have to worry about using workarounds such as designing parts that use joints, clips, or fancy print-in-place tricks. You no longer need to print a part in multiple pieces and assemble them using adhesives or fasteners. Instead, just load any part designed for multiple material printing into Cura and slice it with the new ‘Generate Interlocking Structure’ setting enabled.

 

To check that the setting has been properly applied, you can go to the preview tab in Cura, and use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to scrub to a part of the print where the two materials meet. The interlocking pattern will show in the sliced part like so:

 

 

 

We look forward to seeing what our users do with this incredible new feature and we hope everyone enjoys testing it out! We also want to give a special shout-out to our former colleague Tim Kuiper. Tim was not only responsible for this innovative feature but also the variable line width engine which was the flagship feature of last year's Cura 5.0 release! Anyone who wants to know more about how this new feature works can read Tim’s PhD paper on the subject.

 

Enhanced print quality, supports, brims, and more 

 

This release is jam-packed with tweaks and touch-ups that will help make your prints look better.

 

The first change is that concentric ordering has been improved for initial layers. Now, when selecting the ‘Concentric ‘ option under the ‘Bottom Pattern Initial Layer’ setting, your first layer will print sequentially from the outside in, rather than printing out of order. As you can see from the following GIF, the new behavior is smoother and makes much more sense:

 

 

 

Next, the Z seam should now be aligned more consistently when using the ‘Sharpest Corner’ Z seam alignment setting and then selecting ‘None’ under the ‘Seam Corner Preference’ dropdown.

 

Printing speeds and minimum layer time behavior have also been tuned to improve the quality of small layers. The result is that small spikes, cones, and pointy details will now print better. 

 

Supports have also been improved. When printing with ‘Normal’ supports, fewer useless support structures will be generated and supports will be more reliable overall. Particularly when printing parts with small complex details. There is also less chance of unneeded supports being generated on top of your model.

 

Finally, printing with brims has also been improved. Brims will now print faster and should be easier to remove. Brims can also now be printed with two materials in a single model resulting in better adhesion and cleaner print post-processing.

 

Note: this release does not include our improved Xmas tree supports but you can still download the alpha we release at the end of last year to try them out and to help us test them!

Improved printer setup and an extended recommended settings menu

 

New printer setup has been streamlined. When configuring a new printer in Cura, you are now asked if you want to add an UltiMaker printer or a non-UltiMaker printer:

 

 

 

When selecting an UltiMaker printer, you are then guided through the process of connecting the printer to the UltiMaker Digital Factory for remote monitoring. 

 

The recommended print settings menu has been extended to include additional settings such as the option to choose an infill pattern, support placement, and more. It is also now possible to save changes to the recommended settings for future prints. 

 

 

Additional improvements

 

The following improvements have also been implemented in UltiMaker Cura 5.3:

• Added over 75 new 3rd party printer profiles

• UltiMaker branding updated throughout Cura

• Numerous bug fixes

 

Give us your feedback

 

Download this latest release to start discovering new 3D printing possibilities right now. Material interlocking is a cutting-edge new feature and we would love to find out how you’re using it. Comment below to give us your feedback.

[Geckoas 1]

PauseAtHeight script - Layer numbering mismatch between Cura workspace and gcode

 

While using PauseAtHeight script I was faced with an issue that the layer numbering in Cura 5.3. workspace doesn't match to the produced gcode.

I used a model with 10 flat layers and 2 layers with numbers on top.

 

In the PauseAtHeight script I used layer 11 to start the pause for the filament change.

During printing, the pause started after the first layer of the numbering, which was wrong.

After this,  I checked the gcode file and found the difference.

 

Layer numbering in Cura starts at layer 1, whereas in gcode it starts with "Layer:0" 

As I selected layer 11, as displayed in Cura workspace, the PauseAtHeight script was inserted 1 layer too late.

 

Please verify.

[Dadkitess 19]

Is there a way to get Portable Version of Cura ? Not old one 😉

[MariMakes 206]

Hey @Geckoas, 

I discussed your Pause at Layerheight observation with the team. 
They confirmed that it's been like this for a while (coders like to start at 0 instead of 1) 
They plan to update the description in the tooltip to clear up some of the confusion.

 

Hey @Dadkitess,

 

Can you please elaborate, on what you mean by a Portable Version of Cura? 
We offer the following builds 

- .dmg for Mac
- .pkg for Mac
- .exe for Windows

- .msi for Windows

- linux-modern.AppImage + linux-modern.AppImage.asc for Linux 
- linux.AppImage +  linux.AppImage.asc for Linux


 

[Dadkitess 19]

Thanks for the answer, a Portable Version would be a Cura that does not need to be installed, you can launch the app right away without requiring Administration Allowance, which can be hard to have in company. PrusaSlicer 2.6 has it, for instance, you download a zip, you click on the .exe and boom, you're good to go, no installation 🙂

 

[pbdroid 0]

Anyone else having issues opening project files in this? I looked under preferences and that is correctly set to ask if I want to open as a project or just the files (I even toggled back and forth a few times to no avail).

 

Hopefully this is something simple, or this release will be useless for me (I slightly alter and print from Projects more than half the time).

[MariMakes 206]

@Dadkitess, Thanks for the explanation, I recognize the format now. I'll bring it up to the team to see if that is something we want to include in our offering. 

 

@pbdroid We've been receiving reports internally as well. It seems to be related to some code style changes in the profiles. One of our Developers took a look and seems to have resolved it here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/pull/14891 
Since we plan to release a 5.3.1 with the correct translations, we plan to include this fix as well. Apologies for the inconvenience. 

[ahoeben 2,012]

@Dadkitess, though it is not a direct replacement for a downloaded zip, you can unzip the .exe installer with any decent zip program (I use 7-zip), place its contents anywhere you like, and doubleclick the Ultimaker Cura.exe.

 

One additional feature of most "portable apps" is that they store their configuration in the portable folder, instead of in the system-specific user profile. This would require more work to implement.

[Dadkitess 19]

Ha, i've read that indeed, but infortunately i'm stuck with the stock Windows11 dezipper and I did not find anything that would help dezip the .exe 😕 I'll ask to the IT if I can install 7zip.

[ahoeben 2,012]

Perhaps you can use this "portable" version of 7-zip, which does not need to be installed:

https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable

 

Edit: never mind, that also has an installer (??)

Edited March 16, 2023 by ahoeben

[Dadkitess 19]

Haha, I actually found a portabke 7-zip that indeed helped me extracting the Cura .exe 😛

[pbdroid 0]

10 hours ago, MariMakes said:

@Dadkitess, Thanks for the explanation, I recognize the format now. I'll bring it up to the team to see if that is something we want to include in our offering. 

 

@pbdroid We've been receiving reports internally as well. It seems to be related to some code style changes in the profiles. One of our Developers took a look and seems to have resolved it here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/pull/14891 
Since we plan to release a 5.3.1 with the correct translations, we plan to include this fix as well. Apologies for the inconvenience. 

I looked at the link but I don't see the fix. It is only a coding change to a file?

[MariMakes 206]

Hey @pbdroid,

Apologies for the confusion. I shared the coding efforts done to make the fix.

You can follow along if you want. 

We'll have to wait until the next version of Cura comes out to actually use the fix. 

[jlspeeddragon 3]

Just downloaded and installed 5.3 Beta-2.

After making adjustments to my Custom print profile, I am not seeing the option to update, create, or discard current changes screen. Picture for reference.

Extra Details on OS If needed.

Quote

Edition    Windows 10 Home
Version    21H2
Installed on    ‎1/‎11/‎2022
OS build    19044.1889
Experience    Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4170.0

Second problem.. Still no option to change top and bottom layer printing speeds separately. This is an extremely useful option so that the bottom layer printing speed can be adjusted when it involves roof supports on a non planar surface and not applying the same settings to the top layer printing speed. Top layer speed can be printed at a higher speed then bottom so that the printing time is not greatly increased when printing larger models. Due to the fact that these share the same settings, when adjusting bottom layer print speeds at a slower speed to allow for better walls, layer adhesion. that slower speed is also applied to the top layers, as a result it add a significant amount of unnecessary printing time that could be avoided.

[MariMakes 206]

Hey @jlspeeddragon,

 

Welcome to the Ultimaker Community 🎉

We moved the buttons to update and discard to a place where it's easier for people to find. 
You can now click the save and reset icon to alter your profiles. 

 

Have considered working with Top Surface skin speed? 
Don't forget to increase your number of Top Surface Layers to match your actual top layers. 
That's how I achieve the speed differences. 😅

 

Hope this helps 👍 

Let us know if you run into anything else 💪

 

 

[jlspeeddragon 3]

@MariMakes Thank you for the information on the new location of the create, update and or discard settings options.. I will check it out (however to have it connected directly to the print settings is a much easier visual then having to click into a different location 🙂 ).

As far as the top surface layer idea. I did not consider that idea.. I will do some roof support tests files using your method and see if this might be a considered successful work around.. Reason for this is when printing a model like the image attached, The top/bottom print speed layers is drastically increasing the print time (currently 110 hours @ 0.2 layer height). The problem I am having is the bottom layer from the roof supports are horrid. I dont want to print this model and have the model's bottom side of the stomach area look horrid and also not have to increase the print time because of the combined top/bottom layer.

I appreciate the idea and will try it today..

[MariMakes 206]

Oh! This model lends itself quite well for the New Tree Support Alpha. 
You can also give that a go, you can read more about it here

 

I really like printing dragons and miniatures myself. 
My colleagues even convinced me to talk about it during a webinar

[jlspeeddragon 3]

@MariMakes The pic does not show the tree supports from the 5.3 alpha tree support version.. However I will be using it for that particular model.. I just did not take the pic with it included for reference..

BTW Just finished testing your workaround. setting top surface layers to match top layers. Top/bottom layer print speed seemed to overwrite the top surface skin layer print speed. Pic for reference for test print.

test roof support disc printed bottom layers at 15mm/sec as I wanted. However after it passed the parallel wall point and began to print the top layer sections, it continued to print the top layers at 15mm/sec instead of the 35mm/s as shown by the pics (red arrows)

[jlspeeddragon 3]

However The bottom surface of the disc improved with the 15mm/sec at .22 support roof setting and was not difficult to remove.. still not as clean as I would like it, but slowly getting there.. Just glad I got some waste filament to do this testing before i print the big dragon (BTW thats sitting on a 12x12 Longer LK5 Pro bed.. 110 hour print maxed out to barely fit the bed.. over 260 meters of filament so you understand why I dont want to get this dialed in before getting crappy bottom layer results...

[Geckoas 1]

Cura 5.3.0 - Maschine settings notice box at "Start G-code" & "End G-code" covers input & not scrollable  - Github Issue #14963

 

 

1.) When you hover with the mouse over the input fields of "Start G-code" & "End G-code" the notice box covers the whole window as long as you move the mouse outside.
The notice box disappears when the mouse is outside this input fields.

There's no possibility to push the notice box away to have a reference for the possible input.

Please make the notice box moveable.

 

2.) The notice box of "Start G-code" & "End G-code" are not scrollable.
They contain more information as what can be displayed in the box.
Please make them scrollable.

[jlspeeddragon 3]

I'm trying to get used to the relocated printer settings (create, update, discard current settings) option... Not digging it. 5.3 alpha and older, its nice to have it right there with the printer profiles, instead of having to click out of it and then click on another button to open another screen just to update it.. please revert it back.

Also any update with separating the top / bottom layer print speed options yet?

Tried the option presented to me further up and no joy. top/bottom layer printing speed settings take priority over top surface skin layer print settings.. it was worth a shot..

Edited March 19, 2023 by jlspeeddragon

[MariMakes 206]

Hey @Geckoas,

 

I recognize your report 👍

It's related to the Settings Guide Plug-in.
People who don't have that plug-in installed, like me, just see this as tooltip:


You can temporarily disable your plug-in in the marketplace by clicking the gear in the top right corner and then disable.

If you are done editing your gcode you can enable it again. 

 

@jlspeeddragon I believe you might get more valuable feedback about improving your top bottom printspeeds if you start a new thread in the Cura part of the forum here: https://community.ultimaker.com/forum/108-ultimaker-cura/ instead of the Cura release notes. I believe there might be more people here who can help you get the answer you are looking for. 

[Drliao 6]

YES! exactly what I have been waiting for, tomorrow I will attempt to use this to mix my tough PLA with Natural PLA to form a stronger model - Thanks!

[FX50 1]

RAFT NOT WORKING..

1. Load in your STL file.

2. select RAFT as build plate adhesion.

3. Click SLICE.

4. Click on PREVIEW.

You will see that your 3d part is still sitting at the build plate level and not automatically raised above the Raft.

They will print joined as a single object and can not be split apart after printing.

 

Thx FX50.

[FX50 1]

6 minutes ago, FX50 said:

RAFT NOT WORKING..

1. Load in your STL file.

2. select RAFT as build plate adhesion.

3. Click SLICE.

4. Click on PREVIEW.

You will see that your 3d part is still sitting at the build plate level and not automatically raised above the Raft.

They will print joined as a single object and can not be split apart after printing.

 

Thx FX50.

I may have gotten this wrong.

I see now the part has raised above the raft, however since this update my part and the raft are stuck together as one and they cant be separated. worked perfectly before. I will compensate by increasing RAFT AIR GAP from 0.3 and see what happens.

 

Thx FX50