New Cura 15.06 Review. Short version. DON'T!
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Daniel DeGagne
Jul 29, 2015, 9:29:46 PM7/29/15
to 3D604
Just a word of warning, the new version starting with 15.06 ((and 15.6.2) is TERRIBLE.
Yes needed to capitalize that. They decided to rework the whole program user interface and add a ton of new settings. As well the ability to chose to turn the visibility of those options on or off. Makes it extremely, overly and unnecessarily complex.
-Added a simple mode which is way to simple and doesn't offer things that they should like filament size, brim or raft. Only support and its only one option.
-They no longer have support for none Ultimaker machines Not even options if you've changed your nozzle size. (Very Bad idea)
-Removed support to import DAE files. So there goes using Sketchups default 3d file format.
-The screen seems slower now. Loading models sure is slower
-Cura slicing is slower. But so far none of the tests I've done show that its better.
Other things in the read me file
The ‘Configuration Wizard’ and ‘Bed Leveling Wizard’ for the Ultimaker Original
and Ultimaker Original+.
All At Once / One At A Time Printing.
A dual extrusion feature with a completely new workflow.
An improved way to incorporate ‘Lay Flat’, and ‘Split Object Into Parts’
Future plug-ins will include support for DAE and AMF files. And for directly
loading a GCode file. There will also be plug-ins to support PNG, JPG and other
image formats. Support for loading Minecraft levels will also be implemented as
a plug-in.
‘X-Ray View’ will be added as a future plug-in.
Yes lot of these are in the older versions of Cura but are not in the newest version. This isn't what I would call a good update path
And most concerning is this last line.
Forever removed
Available to download for free from the xxth of July, new Cura is set to take
the 3D printing experience to a whole new level.
So is a price tag about to be added to Cura?
Don't get me wrong I'm not opposed to someone creating a program and selling it. We all have to eat and pay the rent. But in the last few years i've seen a dozen releases of Cura and the only thing I can say good about it is that its the fastest slicing software out there. In many other ways I've seen the program lose more and more functionality.
Ashley Webster
Jul 29, 2015, 9:47:19 PM7/29/15
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Daid has explained some of that. They are not planning to sell it, it will remain free and open source. You can still configure it for other printers by editing a file. I can't remember the details but it's there. They are focusing more on their own machines in terms of pre configuration, that's the price of it being free. Still, I don't use Cura, never really warmed to it, except when I want to generate a lithophane.
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Daniel Friesen
Jul 29, 2015, 9:58:11 PM7/29/15
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On 2015-07-29 6:29 PM, Daniel DeGagne wrote:
Yes lot of these are in the older versions of Cura but are not in the newest version. This isn't what I would call a good update path
It sound's like they overhauled the backend working on a new
rewritten version of Cura. Made a partial release with some basic
features re-implemented. And will be working to bring parts of Cura
back to feature parity with the previous version. They even mention
that people can keep using the previous version while waiting.
((Whether the overhaul/rewrite of the backend is a good or bad idea is a different topic. It's hard to say without examining the code and history. But this kind of rewrite is sometimes warranted in software development.))
Though they probably should have called it Cura 16.x.
((Whether the overhaul/rewrite of the backend is a good or bad idea is a different topic. It's hard to say without examining the code and history. But this kind of rewrite is sometimes warranted in software development.))
Though they probably should have called it Cura 16.x.
And most concerning is this last line.
Forever removed
Available to download for free from the xxth of July, new Cura is set to take
the 3D printing experience to a whole new level.
So is a price tag about to be added to Cura?
Don't get me wrong I'm not opposed to someone creating a program and selling it. We all have to eat and pay the rent. But in the last few years i've seen a dozen releases of Cura and the only thing I can say good about it is that its the fastest slicing software out there. In many other ways I've seen the program lose more and more functionality.
The blog post looks much clearer than your C&P:
https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/view/16574-the-all-new-cura-with-all-new-features
That paragraph is not part of "Forever removed". "Forever removed" isn't even a header, it's a description of the list that directly follows. Which simply states that Windows XP support and the "Follow Mesh Surface" feature have been removed. That paragraph is one after that list finishing off the article by declaring when the new version of Cura is available.
https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/view/16574-the-all-new-cura-with-all-new-features
That paragraph is not part of "Forever removed". "Forever removed" isn't even a header, it's a description of the list that directly follows. Which simply states that Windows XP support and the "Follow Mesh Surface" feature have been removed. That paragraph is one after that list finishing off the article by declaring when the new version of Cura is available.
~Daniel Friesen (Dantman, Nadir-Seen-Fire) [http://danielfriesen.name/]
Daniel Friesen
Jul 29, 2015, 10:36:49 PM7/29/15
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I do see them in Cura.app/Resources/cura/resources/settings/.
It looks like they changed from the previous .ini format (seen here) to a new .json format.
They released the new version with just the Ultimaker profiles they could verify themselves. But profiles for other printers have already been made and there's even a generator.
I guess the one thing that might be reasonable for them to add is a way to add custom machine settings to a $HOME/.config/cura location (+documentation on how to do it) and/or a "Select machine configuration file" option for the "Add Printer" list in Cura that will let users pick a custom file.
It looks like they changed from the previous .ini format (seen here) to a new .json format.
They released the new version with just the Ultimaker profiles they could verify themselves. But profiles for other printers have already been made and there's even a generator.
I guess the one thing that might be reasonable for them to add is a way to add custom machine settings to a $HOME/.config/cura location (+documentation on how to do it) and/or a "Select machine configuration file" option for the "Add Printer" list in Cura that will let users pick a custom file.
~Daniel Friesen (Dantman, Nadir-Seen-Fire) [http://danielfriesen.name/]
Daniel DeGagne
Jul 30, 2015, 4:52:59 AM7/30/15
to 3D604, dan...@nadir-seen-fire.com, nadir.s...@gmail.com
What I read wasn't from that link. It was from the actual readme file that comes with both installs. Under the header "Forever removed". If you read that, you'll see what I'm talking about. If it is a misunderstanding then the blame lies in their released text. But then again I didn't say they were planning to charge for it. I just wondered if that was there intention. Because if it was they need to release better software not worse.
Yes I have read about their new design intentions and yes a rewrite is a good idea. But I wasn't reviewing there coding practices or intention. And if I did I would say that no where under good business practices does it say release a new software version that's missing half the previous features. They would be better off calling it Cura B or something and indicating to the general user that its complete rewrite and lacking features that they had in 15.04. Because installing and then uninstalling a version of Cura you don't want doesn't restore the previous version. Some people are gonna find that out and not be happy.
Thanks for the link for the printer setups. That link is not anywhere in the documentation in the software. Also its still missing things. Like Head size and gantry height needed to do one at a time printing. Which can't be done anyways atm, but they said they plan to return it. I already knew where the settings are and they do include the default head sizes. Also yes knew it was in JSON but that is another bad idea. And I don't want to recommend to people to edit those files unless the understand how JSON works. Its not meant to be used as a replacement for an .INI file and for a good reason.
But this was not a review about the actual intentions of the redesign of the software. It's a review of its current functionality and user interface and it still fails both.
And like I said I've done test pieces and compared. Also gone through the gcode and compared the old and new. The new slicing is no better and in a few cases some of the code is worse.
I have in the past recommended Cura to many people who don't own an Ultimaker becomes it had a lot of advantages. Ex. not waiting 30mins for slicer to run. But not this version.
So my suggestion stands, If you use Cura, don't get the update. Stick with the old version and wait till it improves.
Yes I have read about their new design intentions and yes a rewrite is a good idea. But I wasn't reviewing there coding practices or intention. And if I did I would say that no where under good business practices does it say release a new software version that's missing half the previous features. They would be better off calling it Cura B or something and indicating to the general user that its complete rewrite and lacking features that they had in 15.04. Because installing and then uninstalling a version of Cura you don't want doesn't restore the previous version. Some people are gonna find that out and not be happy.
Thanks for the link for the printer setups. That link is not anywhere in the documentation in the software. Also its still missing things. Like Head size and gantry height needed to do one at a time printing. Which can't be done anyways atm, but they said they plan to return it. I already knew where the settings are and they do include the default head sizes. Also yes knew it was in JSON but that is another bad idea. And I don't want to recommend to people to edit those files unless the understand how JSON works. Its not meant to be used as a replacement for an .INI file and for a good reason.
But this was not a review about the actual intentions of the redesign of the software. It's a review of its current functionality and user interface and it still fails both.
And like I said I've done test pieces and compared. Also gone through the gcode and compared the old and new. The new slicing is no better and in a few cases some of the code is worse.
I have in the past recommended Cura to many people who don't own an Ultimaker becomes it had a lot of advantages. Ex. not waiting 30mins for slicer to run. But not this version.
So my suggestion stands, If you use Cura, don't get the update. Stick with the old version and wait till it improves.
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