Cura 15.06.01 released - major update

[jimustanguitar]

ultimaker.com/en/products/cura-software

It looks very different, it's definitely a new program. I haven't dug into the settings very deep yet, maybe I'll play with that this evening. 


All-New Cura features

=====================



By now you’re no doubt wondering, what’s new? Well, to give you the best

overview there’s nothing like a good list.



A new plug-in based system

--------------------------



The Uranium framework is a new plugin-based system that gives us great

flexibility to extend Cura’s capabilities with ease.



Overhauled User Interface

-------------------------



The User Interface has been completely redesigned to create a far more

intuitive, and pleasing experience.



Time-Quality Slider

-------------------



We think users will love this feature. Instead of using 3 default profiles,

we’ve chosen to implement a “time vs quality” slider in the new Cura. This

creates more control over the balance between quality and printing time -

especially for novice users or if you just want to quickly slice something.



Under the hood of settings

--------------------------



The Advanced mode is now configurable and enjoys many extra new settings, while

being sure not overwhelm new users with too many of them. You can even create

your own view settings, choosing which ones you want to see or not. Again, this

makes it easy for new users but gives experts and tinkerers the ability to

really experiment and gain even more control.



Support for high-DPI screens

----------------------------



The beautifully refreshed UI has been designed with high-DPI screens in mind, so

on devices that have this feature, Cura looks amazing.



Optimized support structure

---------------------------



The powerful new CuraEngine features greatly improved support generation

algorithms and additional options for support structure generation. This means

both the positioning and degradability of support are improved.



Experimental feature: Wire Printing

-----------------------------------



We think users are going to enjoy this experimental new feature. We’ve

implemented Wire Printing that will print objects as a structure of lines. To

use it simply go to Advanced Mode -> Fixes -> Wire Printing.



An all important Undo/Redo feature

----------------------------------



We listened to our community and it’s now possible to undo and redo most scene

operations, like moving or rotating objects.

[BeeAmaker]

No support for Delta style printers. I imagine it will work, jut doesn't show a round build plate but sucks that Ultamaker is the only printer supported.

[BeeAmaker]

Doesn't appear to be able to save different profiles, As everyone knows that different parts require different settings. Crashes on Wire mode as well.

[BeeAmaker]

Another thing that will help with all these different slicers is to standardize the language. External Perimeter is called External Perimeter in ALL slicers. (just for example)

[BeeAmaker]

I keep getting "Cura Slicer has stopped working" errors and my top and bottom layers are missing on both the STL files I imported. The 3D image shown is fine, but looking at the layers everything is hollow and the top and bottom are missing. I might just be missing a setting or something too.

But both looks I took with it I'm not impressed and the interface is horrid. Most computers now are 64bit, capable of millions of colors - USE THEM!

[bvandiepenbos]

What pc do you have it installed, your newest?

That wire mode sounds interesting.

[BeeAmaker]

Jul 1, 2015 22:34:48 GMT -5 bvandiepenbos said:

What pc do you have it installed, your newest?

That wire mode sounds interesting.

Not my newest, no but what does that matter? There entire interface is baby blue and white, and it should run on any platform.

I couldn't get Wire mode to work. It would crash, in fact it started crashing just about every time I changed any parameter.

[jimustanguitar]

My first impressions from using it weren't awesome either. Very windows 8 esque, almost to the point of being difficult to navigate. I'm not thrilled that you can't create custom printers with round and heated beds, or at least I haven't found out how yet.

It's probably nice code under the hood, but it's just tedious to use. I think I'll stick with v15.04 from before the overhaul.


From Ultimaker, "While we work to implement new features, we want to reassure all of our users who wish to continue using the previous version of Cura, that we will continue to offer support for it.".

[BeeAmaker]

Jul 2, 2015 7:03:55 GMT -5 jimustanguitar said:

My first impressions from using it weren't awesome either. Very windows 8 esque, almost to the point of being difficult to navigate. I'm not thrilled that you can't create custom printers with round and heated beds, or at least I haven't found out how yet.

It's probably nice code under the hood, but it's just tedious to use. I think I'll stick with v15.04 from before the overhaul.


From Ultimaker, "While we work to implement new features, we want to reassure all of our users who wish to continue using the previous version of Cura, that we will continue to offer support for it.".

I'm not a fan of Cura anyways, but I have to agree, the previous version is a better interface.

[msizemore]

I get the sense that this is an early, almost beta, version of the new Cura. I actually do like the way their new UI is setup. It lets you pick which settings you see and hide the rest, which is very helpful. Plus it has all the settings categories visible at all times, so I don't have to guess which setting is on the basic or advanced tab. Definitely a bit Windows 8ish but not in a terrible way, if that's possible.

The rest of the program is garbage right now. It has maybe 20% of the features old Cura had and not really enough to be actually useful. Overall I like the direction they're taking and I'll check it out again when they flesh out the rest of the features. Until then, it's back to old Cura.

[sgraber]

Continue to use the old 15.04 version until the new version is updated with bug fixes, etc. No biggie.  I took it for a spin w/ my UM2 and it works fine with it.

FWIW: plus.google.com/+JarekSzczepanski/posts/Hy6tXM6Qzuy

And:  plus.google.com/+Whosawhatsis/posts/1goTBWtQ2k8


Daid Braam: 6:32 AM, +16

Simply a focus issue. We decided to focus on our machines (which provide us with income, remember that I like to eat as well) on this release.

The lack of a "custom printer" option is simply a new code architecture thing. Definitions of printers has become slightly more complex, but also slightly more capable because of that. Before, the Ultimaker2 support had lots of hacks all in the code. Now this is handled fine in the json file.

Extra machine definitions are placed as json file here:
https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/tree/master/resources/settings
While it puts a bit more effort initially for other people to produce this file, it does mean the overall quality of these files should go up. Especially with the dependencies, where you can have a single base machine and multiple small differences based of that one.

Why we didn't add all the older contributed printers? Time&quality. It would take time to check what we need to import exactly, and we have no idea how good those profiles are. We're stressed out as it is, this was a major undertaking the last 6 months, as all the GUI code has been re-written and quite some engine code has been touched up. Also trained 3 new people on everything that is Cura, as well as the finer points of 3D printing.

Previous versions are (and always will be) available from the Cura page. Or from these locations:
http://software.ultimaker.com/current/
http://software.ultimaker.com/old/


we did open the source months ago, when we started the beta testing stage. Evidence: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/issues/6  it's a "workaround" proposed by us. And once you have a file like that it's easy to integrate it into the next release as well. Talk about encryption is not only silly, it's idiotic if you look at the fact that's still 100% open source code.

One of the new people working on Cura came from the Krita open-source project, was selected for his great GUI programming capabilities, and his trust and focus on OpenSource development.
Github account: https://github.com/awhiemstra
Krita work: http://quickgit.kde.org/?p=calligra.git&a=search&st=author&s=Arjen+Hiemstra
(he even looks like an OpenSource developer: https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_400_400/p/2/005/075/16d/1edd5e9.jpg )


Right now, the truth is, I've been developing and giving away Cura for years. And we've been getting little back for it in terms of contributions. There are different ways to react on this, one would be to close off the wall and say "kcuf you all" (kinda what Makerbot did). But we didn't, instead, we looked at our code, and our code was crap, hard to contribute on, hard to customize or add on. So instead, we make this new code, which is build for a large part on plugins. Giving room for customization, and contributions, or custom packed versions. So on one hand, this new version is a bit of a shock for you guys as the custom printer option is gone. On the other side, it is a version that's much more open to customization. (For example, just to name a random thing, better Octoprint integration)
So don't see this as a path to screwing you all, see this as a fresher new start. Yes, the beginning of this road is bumpy, sorry. But sometimes hard things need to be done.

We did however, focused on ourselves first. I've always done this. (And this isn't the first time people are mad at me for changes  ) The current RepRap and other printer support is just the result of 3 years of collecting small contributions in the form of extra printer profiles and a few modifications needed from my side.

(Also, the current release does not 100% support our current product range, as dual-extrusion printing isn't supported yet in this release)

(And finally, 3.5 years I spend building Cura for everyone. 3.5 years you trusted me. Trust me now will ya?)