/X3GWriter

X3G output plugin for Cura

Primary LanguagePythonGNU Affero General Public License v3.0AGPL-3.0

X3GWriter

X3G output plugin for Cura. This allows saving the slice output as an X3G file for printers based on the Sailfish firmware.

This plug-in takes the normal g-code output of Cura, and converts it using GPX to the X3G format.

Installation

There are multiple ways in which you could install this plug-in.

  1. Marketplace: In Cura, go to the Marketplace and find X3GWriter in the list. Click it, then click on "install" and restart Cura.
  2. From package: Go to the releases page to download a plug-in package file. For some old releases of Cura, you'll need a different release of X3GWriter:

    • Cura 3.5 and up: The most recent release is always compatible, but you must select the correct SDK version:

      Cura version SDK
      5.0 8.0.0
      4.4 - 4.13 7.0.0
      4.0 - 4.3 6.0.0
      3.5 and 3.6 5.0.0

    • Cura 3.2 - 3.4: v1.1.1

    • Cura 2.1 - 3.1: v1.0.0

    • Cura 15.06 and 15.10: v1.0.0

    • Before Cura 15.06: Not supported.

  3. Building packages: Download the latest source code from Github, then in a terminal run cmake . && make pack to create a .curapackage file for each supported SDK version. Similar to the previous option, select the SDK version that fits your version of Cura and drag it onto the Cura window, then restart Cura.
  4. From source: Download the latest source code from Github. In Cura, click on "Help", "Show configuration folder". Navigate to the "plugins" subfolder and unpack the .zip file from Github there. Rename the folder to "X3GWriter" (removing any suffix that Github added such as "-master"). Rename the plugin.json.in file to simply plugin.json and fill in the CMake variables inside. Then download the GPX executable from its repository which is appropriate for your operating system. For MaCOS, extract the gpx executable from the .dmg archive. Finally, restart Cura.

Usage

Once installed, you should now be able to select X3G output for printers that support it. Try the Malyan M180 printer. Load a mesh, and save the output to a file. In the file dialogue, you should now be able to select the X3G format.

Compiling

X3GWriter is compiled using CMake. Basically what this does is to compile its dependency, GPX, and places it in the correct location when you install or package.

Compiling is done using the standard CMake workflow, namely:

  1. (Recommended) Create a directory to build in, with the command mkdir build, then cd build.
  2. Configure and generate with CMake with the command cmake ...
  3. If desired, change the install directory. For instance:
    1. Find the plugins directory of Cura, such as C:\Users\<You>\AppData\Roaming\cura\<Version>\plugins on Windows, ~/.local/cura/<Version>/plugins on Linux or /Library/Application Support/cura/<Version>/plugins on MacOS.
    2. Open CMake configuration using cmake-gui . or ccmake ..
    3. Toggle the advanced options. In CMake-GUI this is done with a checkbox at the top. In ccmake this is with the t key.
    4. Change the variable CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to the installation directory found at step 3.i.
  4. Configure. In CMake-GUI this is done with the "Configure" button. In ccmake this is done with the c key.
    1. If there were any errors, this is likely when you need to resolve them. In particular, please check whether the X3G executable was found. If it wasn't found, you will need to point CMake to the location of your GPX executable (likely in your Program Files or /usr/local somewhere).
  5. Generate. In CMake-GUI this is done with the "Generate" button. In ccmake this is done with the g key.
  6. Compile. This depends on your compiler. With GCC this is the make command. With MinGW this is the mingw32-make command. With MSVC this is with the nmake command.
  7. Install with the command make install (or mingw32-make, nmake, etc).

Now you can start Cura and test the plug-in.

Support

X3GWriter supports all parameters of GPX to convert g-code to X3G. Our version of GPX has profiles for the following printers:

  • Cupcake Gen3 XYZ (c3)
  • Cupcake Gen4 XYZ (c4)
  • Cupcake Pololu XYZ, Generation 4 extruder (cp4)
  • Cupcake Polulu XYZ, Polulu extruder (cpp)
  • Core-XY (cxy)
  • Core-XY, slow Z (cxysz)
  • Clone R1 (cr1)
  • Clone R1 Dual (cr1d)
  • FlashForge Creator Pro (fcp)
  • Replicator 1 (r1)
  • Replicator 1 Dual (r1d)
  • Replicator 2 (r2)
  • Replicator 2 with heated bed (r2h)
  • Replicator 2X (r2x)
  • TOM Mk6 (t6)
  • TOM Mk7 (t7)
  • TOM Mk7 Dual (t7d)
  • ZYYX (z)
  • ZYYX Dual (zd)
  • ZYYX Pro (zp)

If your printer is not in there, it can still be defined (using Cura's *.def.json files) with custom parameters.

The printer profiles installed in Cura by default should automatically use these built-in GPX profiles if available. If you are writing your own printer profile, you can add the metadata entry machine_x3g_variant to the abbreviated names in the list above.

If there is no profile available for your printer, this plug-in will use Cura's settings instead by way of customising the conversion. These can be set in a customised .def.json file for your printer, or by installing the Printer Settings plug-in from the Marketplace. The following settings are relevant for conversion to X3G:

  • Diameter
  • G-code Flavor
  • Printing Temperature
  • Build Plate Temperature
  • Stand-by Temperature
  • Maximum Speed X/Y/Z
  • Maximum Z Speed (up to Cura 4.1)
  • Maximum Feedrate
  • Travel Speed
  • Steps Per Millimeter (X/Y/Z/E)
  • X/Y/Z Endstop in Positive Direction
  • Feeder Wheel Diameter
  • Has Heated Build Plate
  • Nozzle Diameter