Tips and hits when using the CURA slicer.

[jamie_tully_79]

I’ve been using slic3r for a year since I started printing on my i2 and the last 6months on my i3. I tried out cura two weeks ago and have found that it does give better print quality and speed, not to mention the box frame i3 is a good bit quieter - the i2 is almost silent. I’m still at the guessing stage, but I’m putting this down to cura making better use of my firmware’s acceleration settings. The motors are quieter and there is less jerking on smaller travels. Slicer’s many extra settings could be tripping it up too causing extra unnecessary travel. I’m looking for any tips from seasoned cura user too while I experiment.

[Cristian_13]

I have test a lot of software, I think Cura 3D is the best for quality and speed. it is open source, regular update, and the community is active. The new version (now is 14.12.1 but I suggest 14.12) have a lot of settings like different speed for external, internal, and fill, type of supports and others. it’s have plugin olso etc etc

Excuse my bad english

regards

Cristian

[elmuchacho]

Thx Christian, for pointing out that a new stable version was out. I’ve just updated and really like that you don’t have to open the expert setting window to change some of the feature. Shame however I was hoping for some real improvement in the slicing parameter more than just the usability of the software user interface.

[elmuchacho]

Cura is really nice for it’s simplicity, nice visualisation and manipulation of the object. Unfortunately because it’s support feature are so much better than slicr3 I tend to use it more and jump between Cura and Slicr3 slicing engine. The easiest is to use MatterControl who offer all the nice user interface control and the ability to use slicr3 or cura slicing engine.\

But for Cura software a few features are missing the most important I think are in no specific order

• Ability to change bridge settings forcing you to use support more often than needed.
• Ability to customize speed settings for various part of the object
• Variable layer height feature from slicr3
• Ability to set different temperature between first layer and the rest of the object, Simplify3D as that really cool feature (called setpoint) where you can define temperature of hotend or heatbed for a range of layer e.g when I print with a raft I usually switch off the bed after the raft has been laid out and the first 5 layer of the object is printed or you can use it in many other different way.
• Ability to change infill pattern and orientation of infill pattern
• Ability to perform a cut of an object into 2 parts this is more often than we think the best solution to print really toough object
• Ability to save as an STL actually most slicer also miss that feature except MakerWare and MatterControl

I think that’s all for me I must miss some things that annoy me, but some of the missing features are available when using MatterControl but still some of the them listed above would be nice to get in the Cura software.

[rodolfo_viola_9]

I’m using Cura 14.2 with my Prusa i3. It:s really great, better that any other and…is free

for my perspective it has all you can need for a great printing at high speed and high quality.

but I did no go deeper into addons/plugins?? Does any of you have additional info?? Appreciate!!

Rodolfo 3D hub

[tony_canned]

That’s not a big problem with Cura - that’s an advantage of Slic3r!

At least with Cura you can change far more than speed, temp and layer height (a-la TakerBot)

[Cristian_13]

Thanks for this info

[bitouns]

Maybe because your marlin acceleration(if it’s a reprap) is lot highter than your setting in slic3r …

[Eric_7]

I’ve used Cura winc 14.1 and it’s pretty good. I do miss the manual temp controls of Pronterface. but all in all Cura prints really well. I have found another issure though that sometimes it makes a gcode that has gaps in it, or offsets. it’s just once in a while, but it is annoying. Mainly if they had the Temp controls easier to manage I’d be really happy. You can use pronterface with it, but it’s not as easy as with slicr. I do like how well it prints and the on the fly changes. oh, my Cura crashes out whenever I try to pause a print. It’d be nice if someone would write a nice resume function, such as manually control, lift from deck, to hight, then position at a point in the model and manually on your print, then hit go and it calibrates, then resumes from that set point in the G code. That would be awesome. to bad I suck at programming.

[Cornwallis]

Thanks, elmuchado. That is exactly the tips I am looking after. Will try it out this weekend.

[Roberto]

I use Cura for two+ years, and it is great for those who starting with 3D print. Simple and easy to use, but missing some features or optimized in the way to become quick. I would like to have option for various infills geometry. Current orthogonal infill is good for some but not for all prints. I use it with Ultimaker but also with RepRap’s, but also use other opensource software as well.

[JakG]

Thanks for the info. I will give Cura a go.

[Cornwallis]

Printed two Marvins, one in 100 micron in Cura and 200 micron in Slicer. I couldn’t go lower in slicer because the oozing of filament. Look at marvins helmet, cura on the right creates a sharp line while slicer on the left has a droop. Also the key chain loop is a bit cleaner with Cura. I also download Kisslicer which is free and will repeat the test with three Marvins in same resolution and apply a few hints from below. Also try to get the same settings like acceleration and cooling across all three slicers. Ps will add a macro photo at work today because the ipad takes bad pics.

[Cornwallis]

photo from my S4

[Cornwallis]

The Cura source code is available on github. So it should be possible to add the temperature controls into the front end. I will have a look at it and see if i can crack this nut.

[datmos]

as many of us i tried almost all 3d printing software. Works really well with my Witbox but is missing one super important point: more control over the support structures. Sometimes i don’t need a support on a part of the print, but i can’t select that support and delete it… If they introduce this feature to Cura, will be the best software for me.

Go job to Ultimaker with this Software!

[Filemon]

Very interesting experiment this is

[Cornwallis]

Amazingly Cura does have a temperature controls like Pronterface! They are just hidden under file, preferences, select interface “Pronterface” see attached picture.

[Shron]

I do not agree with your last point. When you’re saving a model in Cura it will be saved as a STL file when you put .stl at the end. If you don’t add .stl it will be saved as an AMF file.

Now you can delete the last point from your “Annoy List”

[elmuchacho]

Thx that’s true I should have try that but wrongly assumed the proprietary extension was associated with a propriatory encoding. But why not offering the options in the user interface instead of hiding it for the end user to find it by chance or by try and error.

I should also says that Slic3r do have this functionality as Export STL button on the GUI. Sorry if you felt offended but this is not an “Annoy list” The comment clearly stated few missing feature and not things that a re missing that I’m bothered by. Unfortunately comment are not editable otherwise I will have amended the list.