marketplace Making Post Processing script available via Cura Plugin Marketplace

[ansonl 20]

Hi,

 

Does the Cura Plugin Marketplace support distribution of Post Processing scripts as plugins? I signed up on contributor.ultimaker.com and it has an option to upload a plugin archive but it doesn't provide much more info. 

 

Right now users need to manually move any nondefault Post Processing scripts between Cura version directories and I was wondering if there is a method for users to discover and install post processing scripts similar to Plugins right now. 

[Slashee_the_Cow 409]

Nope. Only plugins. Though you're hardly the first person to ask (and it'd be a great idea).

[Cuq 205]

4 hours ago, ansonl said:

Right now users need to manually move any nondefault Post Processing scripts between Cura version directories

Not exactly right. If your scripts are located in the app roaming User script folder , then when you install a new release they are automaticaly copied in the new user configuration folder. No need to manually move them.

[ahoeben 1,981]

It is possible to create a very simple ("stub") plugin that registers a postprocessing 'scripts' folder inside its package. Then you can distribute that plugin via the Marketplace. I don't know if the Ultimaker team would accept such plugins though. @Cuq's method is certainly more straightforward.

[Cuq 205]

I had the same thought as @fieldOfView about the possibility of a pseudo-plugin that would simply make one or more scripts available (my Calibration Shape plugin already does this). But I'm not sure the Ultimaker team would agree. In addition, there are three other drawbacks:
- One, if the script stays in the plugin's Script folder, it's harder to know where it comes from in the event of a debugging request.

- Two, many users already confuse Script with Plugin. They call a plugin a post-processing script or a script a plugin. Bringing them all together in the marketplace could only generate even more confusion.

 

- And finally Three, as a heavy script user myself, I realize that this solution isn't very beneficial in the end. Scripts (but the same goes for plugins) are often, for the most popular ones, nothing more than temporary patches to fill a lack  in the software. As the plugin or script more or less fulfills the function requested, they become standard functions without meeting the need 100%. In other slicers, if I look at all my scripts and practically all my plugins, the function exists natively in the software, and often much more efficiently. 

In the final analysis, scripting and plug-ins are Cura's strong point, but they become its weakness over time.

Edited January 5 by Cuq

[Slashee_the_Cow 409]

3 minutes ago, Cuq said:

Scripts (but the same goes for plugins) are often, for the most popular ones, nothing more than temporary patches to fill a lack  in the software. As the plugin or script more or less fulfills the function requested, they become standard functions without meeting the need 100%

Problem with Cura is that sometimes they become "standard functions" by just including the script in the release and people don't even know it's there.

 

But as someone who has made several single purpose scripts to fit a particular need I had at the time, I completely agree.

[Amandariffic 0]

 It would be nice - I currently run 7 scripts just to get thumbnails working for my setup. 

• Small Thumb (for device)
• Large Thumb (for device)
• Small find and replace "thumb" with "png"
• Large find and replace "thumb" with "png"
• End find and replace "thumb" with "png"
• Small Thumb (for fluidd)
• Large Thumb (for fluidd)

It'd be great to combine those consistently consistently settings into a single script/addon

[Slashee_the_Cow 409]

29 minutes ago, Amandariffic said:

 It would be nice - I currently run 7 scripts just to get thumbnails working for my setup. 

At least you can get thumbnails working. But don't worry, it's already been submitted as a feature request. Probably several times.