Request Feature: Support Needed Warning  

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

If you enable 'detect overhang perimeters', then all the overhangs are drawn in blue. 

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

I think he is looking for something like the "tool path outside build area" warning to let him know he needs to add supports. More proactive by the slicer rather than him having to inspect each layer.

Obviously that is subjective as the printer can do some incredible stuff with overhangs and bridges, but I can see the value of an overly conservative "nanny" for new users.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

Indeed, 80 degree overhangs are actually printable on the Mk3 with some tricks. And I understand that a 'nanny' would be good, but then perhaps it'd be enough to always enable supports in the 'nanny' mode. The slicer would just not generate any when they're not needed.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

Slice and spend a moment in preview mode looking for the bright blue bits. I'm not sure how much simpler it could get.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

Posted by: bobstro

Slice and spend a moment in preview mode looking for the bright blue bits. I'm not sure how much simpler it could get.

I agree it's not hard, but if you are a new user that doesn't understand what the printer can do or how to do it some assistance in a beginner mode could be nice. If not automatically adding supports (Benchy, for example, would be a mess if it had supports added), maybe a list of "You have an overhang on layer X that may need support" messages so at least they have some guidance as to where to look.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

Posted by: gnat

[...] If not automatically adding supports (Benchy, for example, would be a mess if it had supports added), maybe a list of "You have an overhang on layer X that may need support" messages so at least they have some guidance as to where to look.

I suppose a one-time message would be OK, but for the love of all that is holy, ALWAYS make it a simple click to disable this level of hand-holding once the user has the 15 minutes of experience not to need it any more. I think we're a long ways from 3D printing being as simple as operating a toaster, so there's a line between enabling the capabilities of the printer and dumbing it down so far it drives experienced users nuts.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

Posted by: bobstro

Posted by: gnat

[...] If not automatically adding supports (Benchy, for example, would be a mess if it had supports added), maybe a list of "You have an overhang on layer X that may need support" messages so at least they have some guidance as to where to look.

I suppose a one-time message would be OK, but for the love of all that is holy, ALWAYS make it a simple click to disable this level of hand-holding once the user has the 15 minutes of experience not to need it any more. I think we're a long ways from 3D printing being as simple as operating a toaster, so there's a line between enabling the capabilities of the printer and dumbing it down so far it drives experienced users nuts.

Oh I agree that it should be easy option to disable.

I disagree about the state of 3D printing though. Certainly not just any idiot can do it, but I bought my MK3 pre-assembled as I did not have any experience with printing and I wanted to reduce potential complications for initial start up. I still expected some bumps. Between the quality of the printer and the state of tools (Slic3rPE at the time, TinkerCAD, places like Thingverse, etc..) I was up and printing without a hassle and still having very little clue what I was doing. This let me learn while still being able to make the printer do something useful and without having the printer as a part of the "why didn't that work" equation.

It was a bit more than 15 minutes, but that simplicity allowed me get a better grasp of the printer and start to see where improvements were needed (bed leveling and Y belt adjustments in my case).

Unfortunately there is a lot of overhang related information out that (same with bed adhesion) there that doesn't take into account how good the MK3 is. So I tended to over support early on which can be a mess to clean up. Now I'm better at identifying what needs support and how best to orient my models.

RE: Request Feature: Support Needed Warning

I think a warning is a great idea. Even though I usually  think I know what I'm doing, there are times when I make a hasty mistake. As any programmer will tell you, "warnings" are as much for experts as they are for novices. It also sounds like a relatively minor implementation effort (I say this having never seen the code) as the software is already capable of computing whether the overhangs exist.