CuraEngine Plugin

[cblt2l]

This is a macro I've been working on for integrating CuraEngine into freecad. For those not familiar, CuraEngine is the command line program used by Cura for gcode generation. I'm not an expert so the code may be a bit rough (but functional ). I didn't add all of the slice settings into the Gui yet but plan on doing so in the near future. I haven't figured out a way to save the settings either so they have to be entered every time you run the script. If anyone knows a good way to store these (preferably inside the freecad document) please let me know.

To use do the following:
1) install the official Cura package (CuraEngine is installed to /usr/share/cura/CuraEngine) or compile CuraEngine from source.
2) Clone the git repo into ~/.FreeCAD/Mod

Code: Select all

cd ~/.FreeCAD/Mod
git clone https://github.com/cblt2l/FreeCAD-CuraEngine-Plugin.git

3) Restart FreeCAD.
4) Select '3D Printing' from the workbench dropdown menu

Running the CuraEngine plugin
1) Switch to 3D Printing workbench
2) Select 'CuraEngine Slicer Tool' from toolbar
3) Enter settings and select part/parts
4) Click OK. Gcode, log and stl files will be created in the same directory as the fcstd file

** Update 5/14/14
- Created a 3D Printing workbench. Macros no longer run as macros.

**Update 4/23/14
- Fixed minimal layer time setting
- Created github repo. Removed tgz attachment

**Updated 4/11/14
- Fixed settings output to gcode

**Updated 4/9/14
- Added many more slicer options
- Settings are saved internally

curaengine_plugin_3.png (121.61 KiB) Viewed 21896 times

[quick61]

You would pick the one slicer that I still haven't been able to get to work on my 64 bit Linux. And I really like Cura!

Can't you have the script save the settings to a text file and save it to where ever you save the macros? Just give it an extension like .CUC (CUra Config) or something so it won't show up in the macro list.

Found this - http://www.landmap.ac.uk/index.php/Lear ... text-files

I am by no measure a Python guy, but it might point you in the right direction?

Mark

[wmayer]

Instead of having a separate file you can use FreeCAD's config file.

Code: Select all

grp = FreeCAD.ParamGet("User parameter:BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/CuraEngine")

The 'grp' object offers a couple of getter and setter methods for various basic types like integer, float, string, ...

[jriegel]

Hey thats great! Since I own a Ultimaker I will take a look!

This could be the beginning of a 3D printing workbench!!

[jriegel]

Oh, unfortunately AGPL

[mario52]

hi
interesting if you want, you can create a page Macros_recipes on utility topic
mario

[cblt2l]

You would pick the one slicer that I still haven't been able to get to work on my 64 bit Linux. And I really like Cura!

What distro do you use? I'm on Debian Wheezy 64 bit and everything has worked out of the box using the package from ultimaker. If all else fails compiling CuraEngine is pretty easy.

Instead of having a separate file you can use FreeCAD's config file.

Code: Select all

grp = FreeCAD.ParamGet("User parameter:BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/CuraEngine")

The 'grp' object offers a couple of getter and setter methods for various basic types like integer, float, string, ...

Thanks, that looks like it will work. What is the difference between User and System parameters? Is one used for setting default values? Are they both stored in the freecad document or is one stored in ~/.FreeCAD

Oh, unfortunately AGPL

That's strange. I figured since CuraEngine is a stand-alone program and the macro ran it through a shell it wouldn't matter what the license is. But I don't know much about software licenses......

hi
interesting if you want, you can create a page Macros_recipes on utility topic
mario

When its all said and done I will put it there. I still want to add some features.

[shoogen]

Instead of having a separate file you can use FreeCAD's config file.

Code: Select all

grp = FreeCAD.ParamGet("User parameter:BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/CuraEngine")

The 'grp' object offers a couple of getter and setter methods for various basic types like integer, float, string, ...

Thanks, that looks like it will work. What is the difference between User and System parameters? Is one used for setting default values? Are they both stored in the freecad document or is one stored in ~/.FreeCAD

The Preferences are stored per user not per document. You should provide a default value as the second parameter for the getter. I would shugest to have a look into the existing Modules implemented in python (Draft, Arch, OpenSCAD) (I'm not sure if preferences are used in the ship, spreadsheet and plot modules).

Oh, unfortunately AGPL

That's strange. I figured since CuraEngine is a stand-alone program and the macro ran it through a shell it wouldn't matter what the license is. But I don't know much about software licenses......

Having the user download it seperatly and interfacing through a pipe is not the most beautiful way to design software. I guess Jürgen would like to rather 'intergrate' such feature.

[quick61]

You would pick the one slicer that I still haven't been able to get to work on my 64 bit Linux. And I really like Cura!

What distro do you use? I'm on Debian Wheezy 64 bit and everything has worked out of the box using the package from ultimaker. If all else fails compiling CuraEngine is pretty easy.


I'm using Kubuntu 13.10 64 bit and it's a known issue with Cura. I haven't tried the workaround yet and will give it a go later today. The last time I tried a compile, it didn't work either, but I'll give it another try as well. We'll see how it goes.

Mark

[cblt2l]

The Preferences are stored per user not per document. You should provide a default value as the second parameter for the getter. I would shugest to have a look into the existing Modules implemented in python (Draft, Arch, OpenSCAD) (I'm not sure if preferences are used in the ship, spreadsheet and plot modules).

I looked through Draft and now have a pretty good idea how the settings mechanism works. I'll probably add that next.

I'm using Kubuntu 13.10 64 bit and it's a known issue with Cura. I haven't tried the workaround yet and will give it a go later today. The last time I tried a compile, it didn't work either, but I'll give it another try as well. We'll see how it goes.

That bug report looks specific to Cura and not CuraEngine so you may be ok. I always use Pronterface for running the printer so I never experienced the issue.