They’ve certainly tried, but no one has used our exact solution. Surely someone has done this before, though, right? Well, yes and no. Left: Ultimaker Cura 4.13 Right: Ultimaker Cura 5.0 Variable line width is like suddenly being given a paintbrush and a blank canvas. Earlier we mentioned how static line width is like drawing with a pen you can’t tilt or apply pressure to. This is a huge leap forward as it essentially gives your printer a whole new set of capabilities. The resulting G-code can then be run on any printer. Tim’s paper was also eventually used as part of his PhD dissertation.Īfter being implemented, Tim’s solution makes it possible for variable line width to be applied automatically when slicing any digital 3D model. The paper, which can be found here, posited a new method for handling adaptive line width that would be applicable to a wide range of 3D printing hardware. But, the answer to exactly how it came about lies further back still, in an academic paper which was written by Ultimaker software engineer Tim Kuipers. The new slicing engine was built by our talented team and tested by our loyal customers through multiple open betas. The line width solutionĮnter the new Ultimaker Cura slicing engine which is now capable of fully dynamic variable line width. A more fundamental solution was elusive, however. Over time, some improvements were made, Ultimaker Cura, for example, added a setting that allowed you to make wall lines a different thickness from internal lines by adjusting the flow rate during a print. If you want to know why that’s a bad thing, try drawing a picture without being able to tilt your pen or being able to change how much downward pressure you’re using. Whatever layer width you chose, that would be the width of every line, throughout your whole print. It was also possible to increase or decrease the flow rate of your nozzle, meaning that more, or less, material would be pushed through the nozzle, affecting the layer width. Want less noticeable layer lines? Use a smaller nozzle. If you wanted faster print times, you could change to a nozzle with a larger diameter with the tradeoff that your print would be less detailed and would have more noticeable layer lines. In the past, when slicing a file, the width of a line depended on the width of your nozzle and your settings. However, until now, all the most widely used slicers have had one unfortunate weakness. Decreasing print times and improving the quality of the final printed parts. Modern slicers (Ultimaker Cura included) have gotten better and better at making these toolpaths more efficient and effective. Simple tweaks to common settings like the number of outer walls, infill pattern and density, and whether supports are used, can fundamentally change the toolpath of any given layer. How it does this depends on the settings chosen and the slicing algorithm used. Each of those layers is then interpreted by the slicing software and turned into a toolpath. It breaks a digital 3D model into a stack of flat layers, each a fraction of a millimeter thick. Most slicing software, including Ultimaker Cura, work in fundamentally the same way. Those instructions tell your printer where to move the toolhead, how much material to extrude, and what temperature to do it at, amongst many other things. It’s what allows it to turn a digital 3D model into a simplified set of instructions that your FFF printer can read and understand (G-code). The slicing engine is the heart of our software. The secret weapon of Ultimaker Cura 5.0 is our new slicing engine and its one biggest trick, variable line width. What is a slicing engine and what makes one better? Ultimaker Cura now has a new engine, and it’s about to make things a lot more interesting. However, like a sensible family car that’s been modified and tuned by a Formula 1 mechanic, underneath the surface is a very different story. After installing the latest version, you’ll find mostly the same functional and easy to use layout as always.
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