New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)  

RE:

The first major issue I'd like to fix at this point is starting a remote print. Right now I'm testing some multi-color prints using the MMU3. I have dragged and dropped the files into Prusa Connect in my browser and then started the print from the Prusa Connect dashboard. I've started multiple test prints this way and every time, they "start" according to Prusa Connect and the status on the web page, but nothing happens. I've found I have to go to the printer and hit "Start" to actually make the print begin. I'm often in the house working and want to send a file to the printer to print. My printers are in my workshop, in the barn, so a management program does not help if I have to walk down to the barn to start a print, then go back hours later when it's done. Is there a way to bypass having to press "Print" on my printer and start a print remotely?

You need to press the set ready button in the top right hand corner of Connect. I also think you need to define the filament for each colour rather than leaving any on default but I am not sure about that - seems to ask for you to confirm filament if you don't, I set them anyway and I can start a print from Connect no issue or from Prusa Slicer.

Regarding cameras, see https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/camera-setup-for-prusalink-prusa-connect_470943

Cannot help with your setup, I went for the cheap and cheerful ESP32-CAM

RE:

You need to press the set ready button in the top right hand corner of Connect. I also think you need to define the filament for each colour rather than leaving any on default but I am not sure about that - seems to ask for you to confirm filament if you don't, I set them anyway and I can start a print from Connect no issue or from Prusa Slicer.

Okay. I had not defined filament colors for the MMU at this point because, with testing, I figure I could be changing them out. I just realized that before the MMU, when I changed filament, it would ask what type of filament I was using - but it doesn't ask that with the normal pre-load option. (I guess I need to use the advanced one - looks like that specifies filament type and not color.)

Regarding cameras, see https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/camera-setup-for-prusalink-prusa-connect_470943

I went through that, but did not see anything where I could just specify a URL. I did find a few comments about what a Mk4 can do and they seemed like they were excluding the Mk3.5, but when I clicked the links, I saw they included the 3.5. Still, unless I missed something, I didn't see anything about using a URL. On the link to setting up OctoPrint on a Pi, it has a guide to setting up OctoPi, but not using the cam on the OctoPi system for Prusa Connect. (In fact, on that 2nd page, after setting up OctoPi, it links back to the original page with how to set up the webcam - but nowhere does it provide a way to share an OctoPrint camera with Prusa Connect.

Cannot help with your setup, I went for the cheap and cheerful ESP32-CAM

I'm considering setting that up. I saw your link to your case and, on the Printables page, your link to the setup. I have a few ESP32s here, but no cam board at this point. I may go with that if I find I stick with Prusa Connect over OctoPrint.

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

I always use the load advanced, it saves a lot of hassle in the long run.

No idea about getting your camera to work, with the esp cam you push a picture at regular intervals to a web service which Connect then picks up and displays on it's webpage

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

with the esp cam you push a picture at regular intervals to a web service which Connect then picks up and displays on it's webpage

I saw a comment somewhere that Prusa Connect was targeted more at print farms than just individual printers, so it doesn't do streaming, since the main purpose would be to check on the status of ongoing prints. Timelapse videos are a feature I use on OctoPrint, so I'd miss that. I've often used it to find out, with a second or two, where a print went wrong and that helps with troubleshooting. Still, that's not a deal-killer for me.

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

I have my camera set to upload every 10 seconds, so if I've got Connect open, I can spot problems petty fast.

And whilst Connect may be targeted at farms, it works well for my one printer

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

Regarding camera you could try https://nvtkaszpir.github.io/prusa-connect-camera-script/ to run as a container or directly on the pi zero, though I have not tried to link it to octoprint camera yet (maybe time to try it in the weekend....)

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

Posted by: @jp-guitars

I have my camera set to upload every 10 seconds, so if I've got Connect open, I can spot problems petty fast.

Are you looking at Connect from in your LAN or outside it? I have an issue that creates problems for many services: I have Starlink. It's the only viable internet we can get. (You do not want to hear the horror stories about poor internet and openly hostile service from when we had to use Viasat!) Starlink is great, but there is ONE nagging issue: It's CGNAT, so I can't use any kind of port forwarding. So if my printer is sending info to a server Prusa Connect runs on, then I can get info from outside my LAN, but port forwarding doesn't work. Currently, to access any systems on my LAN from "The Real World," I have to use Tailscale, which works for the most part, but basically I have to turn it on, use it, then turn it off.

I was surprised to find that OctoPod works with OctoPrint and someone's servers somewhere to send notifications to my phone for things like a print finishing or the heat not going down as it should on a printer, or the heat going down below a threshold after a print (which helps me relax, knowing that the bed and hot end are cooling down as they should.)

And whilst Connect may be targeted at farms, it works well for my one printer

Sorry - yes, I think it's targeted at print farms, but can work well for one printer. I would like to see them offer plugins (I don't see an indication they do or will), since there are some functions on OctoPrint that I really like that I don't see on Prusa Connect (like timelapse videos, but also the phone notifications I get with OctoPod, a GCode viewer, like on Prusa Slicer, a thumbnail viewer of the thumbnails the slicer generates, and home automation tie-in - for instance, with OctoPrint, I can turn my printer and the light over it off after a print is done, but turn the light on again, from OctoPrint, if I want to see the result and am not in the shop.)

Posted by: @_kaszpir_

Regarding camera you could try https://nvtkaszpir.github.io/prusa-connect-camera-script/ to run as a container or directly on the pi zero, though I have not tried to link it to octoprint camera yet (maybe time to try it in the weekend....)

Thanks! I'll look into that - after all, and I didn't think about this, if I'm using Prusa Connect, I still have the Pi and camera (both in one mount) on there and can just put something else on the Pi, with an SD card, to run instead of OctoPrint.

RE:

Remember that seeing images on PrusaConnect requires printer to be up and sending telemetry to PeusaConnect, that is having active PrusaLink local on pi or on firmware of the printer. Otherwise you can send images but they will not be shown (or are discarded) as the printer is offline.

Yes AFAIR PrusaLink local on pi tries to use the camera directly and this will not allow other devices to use it (such as octoprint) and this may be problematic.

I think there may be an option to do virtual cameras where you start software that attaches to the real cam and then creates two camera clone instances instead and copies data from source to the clones - then you can instruct each app to use specific camera clone instance without collisions. But I have not tried it.

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

Are you looking at Connect from in your LAN or outside it?

I've done both, mainly from within but also quick checks on my phone when out.

The whole process works like this:

• Camera takes a picture and pushes it out to the internet to Connect web service
• You open Connect, it downloads the latest picture and shows it, it does not matter if you are on your LAN or not, it is just a web page.
• Connect web page makes a regular series of fetch commands to Connect web services, initially to a service from a function called requestFactory, from what I can see that gets back a message that says "X has changed". Not sure what triggers requestFactory to fire, my guess is a one second timer by looking at the frequency and thinking how I would do it.
• If anything has changed then it makes a load of other fetches to get the new data and picture to display

So whatever method you use to get the photo on the Connect server, be in ESPCAM, old phone, RPi script etc. once it is up there it is just a webpage pulling the data back down. If you can see the Connect web page it should all just work as it is just a load of web requests. If you have flaky internet you will just lose some of those requests but providing you don't lose to many it will still be reasonably up to date

RE: New user - 2 questions (webcam via URL and remote printing)

PrusaConnect allows to get images every 10s or less frequently, so it is not realtime but frequent enough to have it few times per layer while printing any medium size model.