So I got my U1 a few days ago, and I am just blown away by this spectacular piece of hardware!
On the software side, though, I’ve had to switch from Cura to Orca, and that turns out to be not as smooth as I’d have hoped… I think I’m mostly ok now, but there are still a couple of things I still can’t figure out:
I can’t find a way to tell Orca to arrange the seams relative to the object (“Z Seam Relative” in Cura), which has a unexpectedly huge impact on the visual quality of some of my prints. Is there any way to do this in Orca?
Orca keeps putting solid infill in places I’d rather have something else (or nothing at all), but I can’t find any way to disable or control solid infill. Am I missing something obvious here?
Some of my prints need custom support, which I am modeling as a separate object and printing with a different filament (usually PVA or BVOH). However, it seems Orca doesn’t “see” objects printed with a different extruder, so it bridges over holes in object 1 that are actually supported by object 2 (my custom support). Also it slows dramatically for overhangs, which is really great for real overhangs but is not needed when my custom support is there to print on (so actually no overhang). Am I doing something wrong here that prevents Orca to take other extruders into account for bridging and overhangs?
Sorry if those are noob questions (reading other posts I really feel like a complete beginner, people here are doing fantastic work!)… Thanks for any insight that could help me with the above!
PS: is there any chance we’ll eventually get a Cura driver for the U1?
Also came to say, paint the seam. And the supports.
I also came from Cura and the painting is great for support and seams. Whatever isn’t good you can just point and click with different tools to override directly.
For volumetric modifiers you can select a part or assembly, then right click to add a modifier shape. You’re not limited to cubes and can scale and position them very easily.
Tip: Click over to the Object tab. That’s a slider over the print settings, and object view lets you see a part list including modifiers and their settings.
Also, I highly doubt Snapmaker will go to Cura for the U1. Someone might port some profiles, but they’re doing a lot of heavy lifting here for managing multiple (more than 2) extruders with Orca here.
Seems to fit here, so: how can one add build plates to the U1 in Orca? I was able to do that for the J1, but did not find a way to do the same for the U1?
I’d argue that Orca has something even better: Paint-on seams. In the “Prepare” tab, select your object and click the “Seam painting” Icon:
Now draw on your object, where the seam should go. Click the icon again to finish.
Yes, this indeed comes in handy (and Cura has it, too), but it remains quite painstaking, time-consuming and imprecise for complex prints. Just clicking a checkbox in Cura was really the perfect solution for me, and the difference it made for some prints was really surprising.
But based on your answer, I suspect the option doesn’t exist in Orca at all? Is there a place where I can suggest to add that feature?
← This icon in the icon bar at the top adds a plate.
I’m having trouble using multiple plates, though, as I can’t find a way to tell Orca that plate 1 has support enabled while plate 2 has it disabled. There doesn’t seem to be a way to do that, unless I am missing something.
For volumetric modifiers you can select a part or assembly, then right click to add a modifier shape. You’re not limited to cubes and can scale and position them very easily.
Tip: Click over to the Object tab. That’s a slider over the print settings, and object view lets you see a part list including modifiers and their settings.
Yes, the modifiers are quite powerful and I am using them extensively, for example to fine-tune sparse infill. But they don’t give any more control over solid infill than anything else, and it’s solid infill that I’d like to get rid of or at least have some control over.
Also, I highly doubt Snapmaker will go to Cura for the U1. Someone might port some profiles, but they’re doing a lot of heavy lifting here for managing multiple (more than 2) extruders with Orca here.
I guess at some point UltiMaker will come up with their own multi-material printer… Then maybe coming up with a driver for the U1 would be easier. Cura works like a charm with my Artisan, so I was quite disappointed when it turned out I can’t use it with the U1. I’m not a Cura fanboi, and it seems Orca has some really great functionality, too, but I’d prefer to stick with one slicer if altogether possible (and using Orca with the Artisan seems to involve some uber-clunky workaround through Luban, which is a real disappointment, too).
The icon you mentioned adds another slicing plate, but no new plate type, like, a cool plate or structured plate. That is what I am looking for, sorry.
Just above where you select the printer settings, switch from global to object. Then you can add support for any object if you want. You can also change almost any setting for whichever object you select.
← This icon in the icon bar at the top adds a plate.
I guess at some point UltiMaker will come up with their own multi-material printer… Then maybe coming up with a driver for the U1 would be easier. Cura works like a charm with my Artisan, so I was quite disappointed when it turned out I can’t use it with the U1. I’m not a Cura fanboi, and it seems Orca has some really great functionality, too, but I’d prefer to stick with one slicer if altogether possible (and using Orca with the Artisan seems to involve some uber-clunky workaround through Luban, which is a real disappointment, too).