Whilst I was searching for yet another Stl. file to download I stumbled upon a hidden experimental support system within Cura itself. See attachment.
When I looked for this “Tree” setting it is not listed under “Experimental” however when I searched for it in the search box- it came up? The pink picture shows the result.
Are there any other hidden things in the Cura software that could be useful?
There are a LOT of settings in Cura. So many, that if everything were displayed in the custom settings panel, it would take a while to scroll through to find the setting you want.
To help you simplify the interface, Cura lets you ‘hide’ settings that you aren’t likely to use very often.
Go into “Preferences” -> “Settings” and you’ll notice a very long scrollable list. This is every option in Cura (nothing is hidden in this particular panel). Each option has a box in front of it. If there is a check in the box, then that option will be displayed in custom settings. If no check in the box, the option will be hidden.
But even that is a long list… so there is a search filter at the top. For example, if you type “tree” in the box, it will filter the list to only show the options that have the word “tree” in the name … and you’ll notice there are several customization options for tree supports.
Thanks for pointing that out! I have been wanting to use tree supports.
Thank you very much for replying.
That’s a very useful tip and I found a few interesting tutorials on YouTube.
Some are a bit lengthy, (one on vase mode/spiral support and the other about Z seam alignments) - all very technical and fiddly-I just wish all versions of Cura would have everything named the same in options!-“All of this requires more experimentation and more filament!”- joke.
I did experiment with Ultimaker Cura 4.2 and it’s start up routine is completely different to Lulzbot’s Cura version plus it did make a bit of a mess on the PEI- which did take some time to get off- so beware of this problem.
An interesting thing I found on youtube was a tutorial for plugins for Cura 4.2 that had expensive notes on explaining what the options/modes did with pictures and diagrams unlike the short notes that pop up in Lulzbot’s version…- needs further looking into.
Are there any lengthy instruction manuals (to download) to further my thirst for unusual ways of causing major mayhem with my printer please?-
And still no reply so far into my other topic- to really weird printing techniques? Any ideas on that one?
I also have Cura 4.4 installed but only very rarely use it (so far I’ve only found one case where it was helpful).
Cura 4.4 doesn’t have any integrations for LulzBot printers.
The ‘startup’ g-code in Cura LulzBot edition uses several variables … there’s a ‘soften’ temp, a ‘wipe’ temp, a ‘probe’, temp, etc. When Cura LulzBot Edition starts a print, the g-code warms the filament to whatever the defined ‘soften’ temp is, then back out several millimeters of filament so that it wont ooze as the printer wipes the nozzle and probes the corners. It then switches the nozzle to the ‘wipe’ temp (typically that’s 170°C) and cleans the nozzle. Then it switches the nozzle to the ‘probe’ temp (typically that’s 160°C) and it probes the bed corners. Finally it raises the nozzle to the layer zero print temp … and starts printing. But Cura 4.4 doesn’t understand any of these variables (at least I haven’t found any that work).
I’ve searched for docs with the Cura 4.4 variables (because I’ve heard it does know some) but so far no luck. This means I have to modify the g-code to replace all variables with hard-coded values. If you only use one kind of filament that’s not too bad, but I switch between a few different things.
Also, Cura 4.4 doesn’t have any of the firmware for LulzBot printers… you have to use Cura LulzBot Edition to flash new firmware to a printer.
As a convenience, Cura LulzBot edition does understand the bed sizes for all the LulzBot models … in Cura 4.x you have to key those in manually. You get a generic rectangular bed instead of the graphics that show a LulzBot bed (e.g. you can see the wiper pad and calibration cube, etc. for LulzBot models that have those).
So I pretty much just stick to Cura LulzBot Edition 3.6.x for most stuff.
I did run into what seems to be a 3.6 bug when trying to use custom support ‘blockers’. It works fine in 4.x though. So I use Cura LE 3.6 for daily use and only run Cura 4 when I need custom support blockers (something I rarely need.)
Now that explains a lot! I have to say I do the same, most if nearly all on Cura L.E 3.6 and once or twice on M. Cura 4.2 - for rare stuff I couldn’t find on the day- thus the mess I found on my PEI and your explanation gives the reason why I had to clean up afterwards. Many thanks for that.
There must be a manual for beginners somewhere?