Per Layer Fan Speed UI needs some love

[Brad Morgan]

By default, the cooling fan speed is off (check box) for layer 0 and then 100% from layer 1 to the last layer but if I want to gradually increase (or decrease) the fan speed, then I can click edit per layer and this brings up a set of graphical controls.

To my surprise, the graphical controls are by height, not by level. Should this be changed? Should there be an (additional) input to select the level? If both height and level inputs exist, I would like them to synchronize so that if height is entered, level is calculated and if level is entered, height is calculated (in the current implementation, height doesn't appear to be useable as an input).

As an example, I'd like to have the fan at 0% for layer 0, 50% for layer 1 increasing at 10% per layer until 100%. If I attempt to set this example using the graphical controls (and my model has a reasonable height) I've got 6 controls all stacked on top of one another. This isn't very useful (actually, since the speed is interpolated between controls and this example is linear, it may only be 2 or 3 controls in the stack).

One possible solution is for the vertical bar to be logarithmic instead of linear.

Instead of logarithmic, I suggest that the graphical control be changed to have a +, an input for height (in mm), an input for layer, and an input for percent speed all on one row without the X. This control can then be moved up and down or will position itself when a height or layer is entered from the keyboard.

When the + is checked, a copy of this box drops to the bottom, the + sign is removed and the X added. As each new location is added with +, it drops to the bottom stacking without overlapping on top of the ones that are already there. It might be worthwhile to resize the bar so that it starts above the last saved value. The vertical bar can still have horizontal lines and shading.

When the user is done, the screen shows a stacked list of fan change locations at the bottom of the screen, a vertical bar with color gradients, and a floating control waiting to be used.