Ultimaker Cura 4.5 is officially live. The latest version of Ultimaker’s open-source slicing software offers useful new features and roughly coincides with the launch of the improved Ultimaker Marketplace, allowing you to browse, search, and subscribe to your favorite plugins via a new online interface – without ever opening Ultimaker Cura.
“Ultimaker Cura is continuously powered by its open source community and dedicated in-house software team,” Dick Moerkens, CTO at Ultimaker, said. “We see our user database is rapidly expanding every day with new students, makers and professional users. Where one user is more eager to manually tweak and test every setting available, others want to fully integrate 3D printing into existing workflows. I am proud of our open approach and agile development strategy, which allows us to fully streamline and simplify the 3D printing workflow now and in the future.”
What’s new in Ultimaker Cura 4.5?
Here are a few of the new features implemented in the latest version of Ultimaker Cura.
Usability improvements
Ultimaker Marketplace sync. Plugins and print profiles downloaded from the Ultimaker Marketplace will now become associated with your Ultimaker account when logged in. If changes are detected in your installation after logging in, an option to sync a list of available packages will become available.
Downloaded profiles and plugins will automatically be synched to Ultimaker Cura
New printer definitions. Native support has been added for 10 third-party printers. Find them in the "Add Printer" list. Do you want to add a third-party printer definition to Ultimaker Cura? Here’s how.
Layer preview number. In preview mode, the layer slider number is now at the top, instead of on the left, resulting in a neater fit next to the “Settings” panels.
Project name in window title. Just as your web browser shows the page title next to the name of the application, Ultimaker Cura now shows the name of the loaded file in the title bar.
Bridge over low density infill. Smartavionics has contributed a setting that determines if the infill density in a location is lower than the specified infill density, showing that the skin and walls above it should be treated as bridging.
Slicing features
Brim distance. Also contributed by smartavionics, this setting allows you to define a gap between the brim and the model, resulting in easier brim removal and reducing chances of leaving blemishes or damage to finished prints.
The 'Brim Distance' setting allows you to define a gap between the brim and model
Material mixing. Should you have a mixing nozzle, you can make use of a new post-processing script to mix materials. Differently colored materials, for example, can be mixed in order to print in a different color than either of your currently loaded materials. Contributed by Hrybmo.
Infill mesh planning. Another contribution from smartavionics optimizes the order in which infill meshes print their parts. It now takes the previous location into account rather than only the starting location.
Performance improvements
Crash logging. We switched to a more robust provider for crash analytics, which allows us to develop a product with increased stability. We also added extra datapoints to crash reports.
Property checks on instance containers. A speed optimization for reading setting values from profiles.
Bug fixes
Bug fixes in Ultimaker Cura 4.5 include, but are not limited to:
S-line build plate temp limit. Values over 125 °C will turn the setting input box orange for safety reasons. It is, however, still possible to print above this temperature.
Surface mode: Don't combine overlapping. Fixed an issue in which overlapping volumes combined incorrectly in surface mode. Contributed by BagelOrb.
Added “All Settings” visibility. Fixed an issue in which selecting "All Settings" visibility in "Custom" mode would override custom settings when switching back.
Start printing now
Download Ultimaker Cura 4.5 today to make your prints as reliably and easily as ever. Have an idea or a comment? Be sure to let us know on our community of 3D printing experts, where you can offer questions, feedback, or suggestions, directly to our development team.
