UltiMaker not displaying all support options nor generating supports

[Ranshii 2]

Hello, I am struggling with something here.

 

I will tell you I'm very new to this and it's the first time I try to use supports, but I can't even see the menu options that the tutorials show for a start.

 

This is what my menu displays:

 

 

What I'm trying to see is the following (screenshot taken from this same forum) and an option from a tutorial that allows to choose different infill patterns for supports (I think that's what's called, I wanna choose the triangle for stability, am I making any sense?)

 

As you see there are many more options there, as well on the tutorials that I'm following, but I cannot find them anywhere on my own Cura.

 

I also cannot see the supports after slicing, even if I set them to everywhere, after slicing they do not display at all for me.

 

I will attach the project file, if anyone is so kind to give me step by step instructions on how to enable those options, please keep in mind I've been doing this for less than a week and I'm getting paid to print this, I accepted because this is the only way to learn, by doing, so I hope I can find some answers in here.

 

TLDR: I'm not familiar with Cura's interface and navigatin, please guide me on where to find what I need.

 

Another question is, why can't I seem to make the model "float" above the bed on cura? Every time I rotate it it insists on having a point of contact with the bed no matter what. I wanted to make it float to test if supports would generate this way.

 

Where's the settings to hollow print?

 

And lastly thanks for your help and time, if I was not clear enough please ask any questions you may have.

 

Version: Cura 5.6.0

 

Ender 3.

 

No idea about nozzle or anything I'm just starting (I'll give you any info you need if you tell me where to find it)SupportProject.3mf

 

[ahoeben 1,951]

On the top of the second screenshot, you can see that that user has typed "support" in the Search... box.

You can also search directly for "Support Pattern". If there's a setting you use a lot, then you can choose to keep it in the set of visible settings when the "Search..." box is empty, by right-clicking the setting and choosing "Keep setting visible".

 

Some users will recommend you make all settings visible. I recommend you don't. Only use those settings that you often change, and use the search for the rest. You might also want to try the Tabbed Settings plugin which will show you the full list of settings per category:

 

 

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

Change Support > Support Structure from "Tree" to "Normal" if a tutorial is using that because tree and normal support have many different settings.

 

And if you want to make all the settings show up, scroll to the top, click the hamburger button (the three horizontal lines, and yes that is its actual term) and click "All".

[ahoeben 1,951]

6 minutes ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

click the hamburger button (...) and click "All".

There you have it...

 

Again, I recommend you don't (and urge people to stop recommending it!). Not only will this make the list of settings unwieldy to navigate, scrolling through literally hundreds of settings you will probably not use every time you want to change something, but it will also be a lot slower to use that very useful "search..." box.

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

2 hours ago, ahoeben said:

Not only will this make the list of settings unwieldy to navigate, scrolling through literally hundreds of settings you will probably not use every time you want to change something

That's why I use your awesome (like all your other plugins) "Tabbed Settings". Come to think of it, doesn't seem like a bad idea to suggest installing that instead of showing all settings so people can have advanced settings when they need them and just the basics when they don't. But that is slow and unnecessary if they only want to change one or two things.

 

2 hours ago, ahoeben said:

but it will also be a lot slower to use that very useful "search..." box.

Well they did ask to have it look like a screenshot which all (or at least most) settings shown. If the tutorial they're following changes many of the advanced settings it is quicker to have all the settings shown rather than to search for them individually.

 

@Ranshii sorry for a bit of back and forth in your thread. Hopefully you found what you needed. @ahoeben (or anyone else, for that matter), if you have suggestions for my writing style or actions I suggest people take, please PM me rather than hijack a thread. Constructive criticism always welcome.

Edited March 12 by Slashee_the_Cow

[ahoeben 1,951]

1 hour ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

Well they did ask to have it look like a screenshot which all (or at least most) settings shown.

The screenshot uses the "search..." box.

 

I hope I don't come across as pedantic or hijacking a thread. This is a forum, not a ticket system. If people finding this discussion get some context and learn that there are opposing opinions about making all settings visible, then I think that is a good thing.

 

People recommending making all settings visible as a first step is a pet peeve of mine, which is ironic because I implemented the first version(s) of "Show all" long ago... It has its uses, but not for people starting out.

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

@ahoeben I must ask you again to please keep discussion related to the topic at hand.

[gr5 2,177]

@Ranshii - I think the feature you haven't noticed yet is that there is a PREVIEW mode to see the support and slicing results.  This is a critical view to see if slicing is working properly.  Never print anything without looking at the preview first.

 

One way to get to it is on your 3rd screenshot there is a "preview" button.

 

All your screenshots are in "PREPARE" mode.  There are 3 "tab like" things you can click on near the top of the screen (PREPARE PREVIEW MONITOR).  That's the more common way to switch to preview mode.

[Ranshii 2]

Thanks everyone sorry to take so long to answer, I have fixed it all and sucessfully printed the piece!

I didn't enable all the settings because I also figured that some will change the behavior of the slicer and cause issues, I only needed to enable two of them which I sucessfuly found.

 

All I need now is to figure out how to make the prints hollow, but I think a tutorial should be enough and I won't need to bother anyone here for that.

My biggest enemy so far is the UI that I'm very unfamiliar with as a first timer.

 

Thanks for all your recommendations and help ♥

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

3 hours ago, Ranshii said:

All I need now is to figure out how to make the prints hollow, but I think a tutorial should be enough and I won't need to bother anyone here for that.

My biggest enemy so far is the UI that I'm very unfamiliar with as a first timer.

Feel free to bother us! As you can see, we only bite each other, not newcomers 🙂 

[Ranshii 2]

51 minutes ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

Feel free to bother us! As you can see, we only bite each other, not newcomers 🙂 

You seem all like a fun bunch, I'm just afraid to ask questions that might make me look like I did not do any research before asking.

 

I'm printing this model and the amount of PLA it is consuming is absurd but I did not find a way to make it hollow yet, and I admit I haven't had time to look into it, so I will

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

44 minutes ago, Ranshii said:

I'm printing this model and the amount of PLA it is consuming is absurd but I did not find a way to make it hollow yet, and I admit I haven't had time to look into it, so I will

If your model is a fully enclosed volume and you want it to be completely hollow, just set infill density to 0%. But this will have problems, especially doing the top, so there's an infill pattern called "lightning" which only makes enough support to make sure you can print the top of the model.

 

But to save filament I wouldn't make the inside completely hollow, if you turn the infill density down to 10% (or maybe even 5%) it'll save filament while still giving it some strength. There's also an infill pattern called "Cubic Subdivision" which will make large empty pockets where there's empty space within the model because that doesn't really need support.

Edited March 14 by Slashee_the_Cow

[Ranshii 2]

15 minutes ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

If your model is a fully enclosed volume and you want it to be completely hollow, just set infill density to 0%. But this will have problems, especially doing the top, so there's an infill pattern called "lightning" which only makes enough support to make sure you can print the top of the model.

 

But to save filament I wouldn't make the inside completely hollow, if you turn the infill density down to 10% (or maybe even 5%) it'll save filament while still giving it some strength. There's also an infill pattern called "Cubic Subdivision" which will make large empty pockets where there's empty space within the model because that doesn't really need support.

 

Awesome!! I was wondering about that!

 

I cannot go any lower than 10%, the program won't let me, in simplified view at least, is there any setting in advanced view that I can modify to lower the infill density from 10% to 5%?

[Slashee_the_Cow 276]

From the basic settings view just click the Show Custom button

Then just scroll down in the list until you get to the infill section:

 

If a box turns yellow when you enter a number, that's Cura's way of saying "this isn't recommended" but it won't stop you. If it turns red, that's Cura saying "I can't do this" and you probably won't be able to slice it.

[Ranshii 2]

34 minutes ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

From the basic settings view just click the Show Custom button

Then just scroll down in the list until you get to the infill section:

 

If a box turns yellow when you enter a number, that's Cura's way of saying "this isn't recommended" but it won't stop you. If it turns red, that's Cura saying "I can't do this" and you probably won't be able to slice it.

 

You're awesome, thank you.

 

I will be tweakign that next time I have to print something complex.