1. Got a question or need help troubleshooting? Post to the troubleshooting forum or Search the forums!

Great new slicer software, Craftware.

Discussion in 'Software' started by AxisLab, Jul 15, 2014.

  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Further Robo does NOT care what software you use with the printer.
    If you wanted their tech support to discuss it with you then you probably should use their flavor of MatterControl
     
  2. 3D Printer Man

    Joined:
    May 21, 2016
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    57
    Oh, I thought they only had a limitatiton to S3D, Cara, Mattercontrol. Okay, thanks. Will look to switching.
     
  3. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    Messages:
    5,905
    Likes Received:
    3,593
    I loaded up the new Craftware to see what the fuss was about. There are a few things I can say, personally the interface is cluttered and ugly as is the background. It detracts from what you are trying to do. I don't print in the open world, so my printer doesn't have clouds behind it. I couldn't find a setting to remove the background. Next, why are there so many colors! All of the separate colors for every button is just too much. I know you can change the configuration of the colors in the settings screen, but why should I need to. Someone at Craftware should study UI development, we have moved beyond the DOS (pre-Windows for you young ones) days. The last observation, the slicer is the fastest one I have ever seen. If it could be unbundled from that ridiculous looking UI and used in MatterControl, Repetier-Host or something else that might be good. I cannot vouch for how good the slicer actually is at creating tool paths, but it is fast!

    Again these are just personal insights after just a quick look through.
     
    Geof and mark tomlinson like this.
  4. 3D Printer Man

    Joined:
    May 21, 2016
    Messages:
    226
    Likes Received:
    57
    Thanks, for letting us know.
     
  5. Paul Yeh

    Paul Yeh Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2014
    Messages:
    170
    Likes Received:
    58
    Like other slicers, CraftWare won't meet all your slicing needs. It slices STL differently from other slicers. It can slice many STL files well but may have problem slicing others well. That's when I switch to S3D or Cura for those STL files.

    Actually, after using CraftWare for about one and half year, I like CraftWare's UI over all other slicers, even over S3D (S3D still the best slicer with a lot more advanced features and very stable). Probably I've grown used to it. I agree about the sky background and not quite fond of it either.

    However, I do like CraftWare's gcode viewer, it's probably the best viewer because it gives a bit more better representation of what the final print would likely look like. I think it generates the visual using a standard 0.4mm nozzle width representation currently. If you print using other nozzle size, it may not represent the true nozzle width.

    They still have many bugs to work on, but I do see that it's getting better and better over such a short time (less than 2 years). They'll be working on their slicing engine next with more features and bug fixes.
     
    #45 Paul Yeh, Jun 1, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2016
    Geof likes this.
  6. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2015
    Messages:
    5,905
    Likes Received:
    3,593
    @Paul Yeh I understand what you are saying about Craftware not being the end all of slicers, but tool paths are tool paths. I love the way Slic3r works and the many things I can manipulate, but sometimes their tool paths are just plain dumb. S3D is many times faster than Slic3r but sometimes they leave gaps at pointed sections of their slices. I haven't used Cura or MatterSlice in so long I can't remember their quirks.

    I do like their gcode viewer, and the fact that it is context sensitive to the sliders on the preview. Without the sky background it would be easier to read and a way to change transparency of the background also (maybe that is there already, I didn't really look for it).
     
    Geof likes this.
  7. Paul Yeh

    Paul Yeh Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2014
    Messages:
    170
    Likes Received:
    58
    You can't change the UI interface colors or the background. The new CW 1.14 beta is the first time it allows users to change the colors for those segment type, extrusion, speed, and toolhead.

    Current CraftWare also leaves gaps in those pointed sections of the models. CraftWare calls it thin hair (where the section is smaller than the width of the nozzle.) Hopefully they will address this in their future release.

    Janos and Zsolt at CraftUnique are quite good in listening to user's feedbacks. If you have some feature requests or bugs to report, please let them know on their forum. You can request them to remove the sky background. :)

    Bart on the forum collects those feedbacks and compiles them into a list for ease in follow up on the progress.

    They have very limited engineering resources, so it may take quite some time for anyone to see any bugs fixed or new features added. They need to prioritize what bugs to fix or features to add first. Over time, you will find it getting better and better than before.
     
  8. Richard Lee

    Richard Lee New Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2016
    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Question: Can you print to the R1+ directly from CraftWare? I entered the printer settings, including the start/end .gcode (copied from MatterControl) and C/W continues to say "Unknown Printer". What might I be doing wrong?
     
  9. Paul Yeh

    Paul Yeh Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2014
    Messages:
    170
    Likes Received:
    58
    You can't control your Robo3D printer with CraftWare or CraftPrint. You need to save your gcode.
     
  10. Richard Lee

    Richard Lee New Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2016
    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thanks Paul, it would be convenient though. ;-)
     
  11. ImaginationToForm

    ImaginationToForm New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2016
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    1
    Hello,
    Can some post a screen of how they set up the ROBO 3d R1 Plus printer in Craftware? I copied the xyz dimensions from Mattercontrol but I don't know what to put for the offset if anything. And what to put for origin,direction settings. Thanks.
     
  12. DannyO

    DannyO New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2016
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Did you ever get this figured out? I wanted to try Craftware out, but haven't been successful in getting a good print. Any help would be great.
     
  13. CurtG

    CurtG New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2017
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    I would like to know also. I copied the start and stop gcode sequence from Matercontrol to Craftware and then sliced a file and saved the gcode to the SD card. In MC selected the gcode and told it to print, printer homed and that's it. A point in the right direction please.
    Curt
     

Share This Page