Will there be a version that supports STEP files?

[AzureFalcon 3]

Will a future version of Cura support import of STEP files?

 

STEP preserves curves vs STL which converts curves to multiple line segments which can result in a surface that's not as smooth as it could be.

 

FYI:  You probably already know this but, the Bambu Slicer currently supports STEP. 

[mrender 25]

The subscription version of Cura supports STEP files amongst others.

[Gero 54]

Most slicers can now import STEP files. Cura still hides this function behind a paywall. Unfortunately, this is another aspect that makes other manufacturers look more advanced. 

[mrender 25]

It is a significant ongoing cost for fairly basic quite often essential functionality.

[Protopia 0]

Unfortunately, whilst Ultimaker is leading the slicer market in some areas, it is falling way way way behind in others, both other manufacturer's (partly open source) slicers and genuinely open source ones.

 

Arachne was pioneered by Cura - but now it is becoming a standard feature of other slicers and is NOT a differentiating factor.

 

But other slicers now have functionality which is not available with Cura, and where there is no sign of it becoming standard - such as scarf seams.

 

Every so often I get fed up with Cura and look at other free slicers (Orca/Bambu/Prusa/Slic3r for example), and I did this again recently. For now I am sticking with Cura because of the range of plugins etc., and because other slicers lag way more than Cura (for an unknown reason). But I do foresee that I might well switch away in the future. 

 

All that said, I am really unsure whether Cura would be bothered if all the free users go elsewhere - whilst we represent a powerful testing capability, we generate very little revenue, but create quite a lot of distraction and overhead in support time.

[Slashee_the_Cow 274]

10 hours ago, Protopia said:

All that said, I am really unsure whether Cura would be bothered if all the free users go elsewhere - whilst we represent a powerful testing capability, we generate very little revenue, but create quite a lot of distraction and overhead in support time.

Free users are actually a good thing - it's a much bigger audience with a much wider range of hardware that can find bugs, and if people are paying $ for it they expect no bugs. The analytics data (if you have that turned on) is also useful to know what features people are using, and either make sure they're robust or beef up the other ones to make them a more compelling choice.

 

UltiMaker don't actually offer support on the forum, so unless someone has a title on their profile saying they work at UltiMaker (and there's not many of them on the forums) everyone helping out here is a volunteer.

 

Most of the developers don't even read the forums - they deal with their stuff in the discussions on the Cura GitHub repo. And free users contribute plenty when it comes to bug reports and feature requests. Being an open source project some of the developers are actually volunteering their time.

 

10 hours ago, Protopia said:

But other slicers now have functionality which is not available with Cura, and where there is no sign of it becoming standard - such as scarf seams.

It can take a little while for things to appear in Cura, not only because CuraEngine is a fickle beast and like most software, fixing one bug usually adds two, but because UltiMaker do have the paid plans they'd rather focus on making sure what Cura has is as rock solid as possible rather than rush to introduce things to keep up with everyone else. Other slicers don't have this burden so they can, to use a Silicon Valley catch phrase (not really appropriate because UltiMaker is based in the Netherlands, but whatever) other slicers can "move fast and break things".