UltiMaker has released UltiMaker Cura 5.4, bringing a major, years-in-the-making improvement – as well as new features and additions – to its popular slicing software
Initially brought to life by Cura user Thomas Rahm by way of a GitHub fork, the improvement homes in on the slicer’s tree support feature. By leveraging an increased number of smaller branches, tree supports now use less filament; meaning faster print times and – because slicing is now done on multiple cores – faster slicing times. Additionally, UltiMaker says, because branches are smaller and less prone to merging, tree supports are now easier to remove and less likely to cause scarring.
Augmenting the improvement are more than a dozen new settings – including, maximum branch angle, trunk diameter, and branch diameter – that users can tweak to their liking. Those eager to see the improved tree supports in action can download a just-released “dragon pencil cup” on UltiMaker’s Thingiverse page, which will enable them to test it (and the new settings) for themselves.
Also new to UltiMaker Cura 5.4 is what UltiMaker touts as “effortless brim removal” with a new “Smart Brim” setting, which is enabled by default when using adhesion. The setting adjusts the order in which brim lines are printed, making them easier to remove and reducing the likelihood of excess material being left behind. As above, a model (this one part of a cookie cutter) showcasing the setting is available for free on Thingiverse.
Rounding out the release are a host of smaller bug fixes and additional improvements, such as a new skirt height setting, intent profiles for UltiMaker PET CF filament, and a “Hole Horizontal Expansion Max Diameter” setting that allows users to adjust smaller holes in prints without affecting larger ones.
An UltiMaker blog post on the release dives further into the details, with full release notes and download links for Cura 5.4 available on GitHub.
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License: The text of "Cura 5.4 Brings User-Contributed Improvement Years in the Making" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.