Improve GCode preview: Visibility (Distinctness) of extrusion lines
Quote from dartrax on 2021-10-09, 13:31Even with the Contour styles (Solid Line or Bevel) it is not possible to distinguish between the extrusion lines. Let's compare with Simplify3D. One can instantly see when there are two extrusion lines next to each other because of the lightning. In Craftware Pro, the lines have a flat top. While that may represent reality better, one can only tell if it's two lines or not when he follows the path to see if there are any junctions on the way.
I also attached a screenshot from the bottom of a part in Craftware Pro. There it is far better. Why not always like that?
Even with the Contour styles (Solid Line or Bevel) it is not possible to distinguish between the extrusion lines. Let's compare with Simplify3D. One can instantly see when there are two extrusion lines next to each other because of the lightning. In Craftware Pro, the lines have a flat top. While that may represent reality better, one can only tell if it's two lines or not when he follows the path to see if there are any junctions on the way.
I also attached a screenshot from the bottom of a part in Craftware Pro. There it is far better. Why not always like that?
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Quote from Magori Andras on 2021-10-11, 11:04We wanted to be a little more realistic when displaying the Extrusion lines - we even use ray tracing instead of tessellated shapes.
In reality the extrusion lines have a cross section like a stadium shape. We wanted to approximate them this way. The cross section in our case it's a circle segment with a flat top part. The bottom part remains rounded, because in most cases it is hidden by the previous segment, but if it is not, then there is no previous layer to squeeze the filament to the stadium shape (like in case of a bridge).
One backdraw of this realistic rendering is that the neighbouring segments tend to join to each other and give a coherent flat surface with no distinguishable individual segments, like it would happen in reality. So we introduced the Contour styles, to emphasize the borders of the segments. But in cases where the parallel segments are overlapping, it is more like a distraction, so wi thiscard the overlapping part's contours. (See attachments)
So in your case you don't see the contours because the segments are overlapping (I attached screenshots with increasing overlaps.)
The need to distinguish these segments is valid of course, so we will come up with a proper solution for it in the near future.
In the meantime you can use the inferior tessellated gcode rendering instead the ray tracing. In the settings turn off the HQ Gcode shaders. 🙂 We introduced it for low end machines, but it is like you would find in the other slicers.
P.S.: The orthogonal gcode view is clearly buggy in your case, so please try to use the perspective view. (left button above the camera cube gizmo)
We wanted to be a little more realistic when displaying the Extrusion lines - we even use ray tracing instead of tessellated shapes.
In reality the extrusion lines have a cross section like a stadium shape. We wanted to approximate them this way. The cross section in our case it's a circle segment with a flat top part. The bottom part remains rounded, because in most cases it is hidden by the previous segment, but if it is not, then there is no previous layer to squeeze the filament to the stadium shape (like in case of a bridge).
One backdraw of this realistic rendering is that the neighbouring segments tend to join to each other and give a coherent flat surface with no distinguishable individual segments, like it would happen in reality. So we introduced the Contour styles, to emphasize the borders of the segments. But in cases where the parallel segments are overlapping, it is more like a distraction, so wi thiscard the overlapping part's contours. (See attachments)
So in your case you don't see the contours because the segments are overlapping (I attached screenshots with increasing overlaps.)
The need to distinguish these segments is valid of course, so we will come up with a proper solution for it in the near future.
In the meantime you can use the inferior tessellated gcode rendering instead the ray tracing. In the settings turn off the HQ Gcode shaders. 🙂 We introduced it for low end machines, but it is like you would find in the other slicers.
P.S.: The orthogonal gcode view is clearly buggy in your case, so please try to use the perspective view. (left button above the camera cube gizmo)
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Quote from dartrax on 2021-10-11, 19:06Thanks for the detailed explanation and the screenshots! I already knew about the goal of a realistic Display of the Extrusion lines. What I did not know was that you use ray tracing - cool!
But still, even in reality one can easily tell how is the direction and how many extrusion lines are printed next to each other. Only after ironing that becomes difficult. That brings me to an idea - what about using the flattened top shape only when the ironing is visible?
Another idea would be to have a view that visualizes the direction of the extrusion. Sometimes it is handy to see in what direction a path is extruded, without needing to use the extrusion slider. There was even a FR at PrusaSlicer repo, with a comment stating that Craftware had something like this? However, some little arrows in the middle of the path would not only show that this is one path, it would also show the direction.
Thanks for the hint to turn off the HQ Gcode shaders - this is basically exactly how I like the preview. May be I'm just to used to the other slicers 😉
Thanks for the detailed explanation and the screenshots! I already knew about the goal of a realistic Display of the Extrusion lines. What I did not know was that you use ray tracing - cool!
But still, even in reality one can easily tell how is the direction and how many extrusion lines are printed next to each other. Only after ironing that becomes difficult. That brings me to an idea - what about using the flattened top shape only when the ironing is visible?
Another idea would be to have a view that visualizes the direction of the extrusion. Sometimes it is handy to see in what direction a path is extruded, without needing to use the extrusion slider. There was even a FR at PrusaSlicer repo, with a comment stating that Craftware had something like this? However, some little arrows in the middle of the path would not only show that this is one path, it would also show the direction.
Thanks for the hint to turn off the HQ Gcode shaders - this is basically exactly how I like the preview. May be I'm just to used to the other slicers 😉
Quote from Norbert Fekete on 2021-11-11, 17:04Hi,
In the meantime András has added an extra button into the GCode viewer page, the "GCode Top Roundness" button.
If you are in HQ mode, you can set the roundness of the top of the extrusion lines by clicking on this button. The button itself shows the cross-section of the extrusion lines, and it has several different states. If you click several times on it, you will see the difference.
Regarding the direction visualization: It was indeed in Legacy CraftWare, but I think a much better way could be implemented. You can try out this in the Legacy CraftWare, it is a mezmering view. 🙂
The arrows in the middle of the sections are a really good idea!
I'll write this into the backlog, and we'll see what we can do about it.Regards,
Norbert
Hi,
In the meantime András has added an extra button into the GCode viewer page, the "GCode Top Roundness" button.
If you are in HQ mode, you can set the roundness of the top of the extrusion lines by clicking on this button. The button itself shows the cross-section of the extrusion lines, and it has several different states. If you click several times on it, you will see the difference.
Regarding the direction visualization: It was indeed in Legacy CraftWare, but I think a much better way could be implemented. You can try out this in the Legacy CraftWare, it is a mezmering view. 🙂
The arrows in the middle of the sections are a really good idea!
I'll write this into the backlog, and we'll see what we can do about it.
Regards,
Norbert