Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Hi there
Is there a way to print directly from Slicer via USB to the printer? I know, there is Pronterface, but I don't like this old fashioned GUI and it would be much more comfortable, if I could print directly from Slicer.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
I don't have an answer; but wonder why you want to tie up a computer just to print. Use the SD card and walk away. It also avoids all the hassles trying to keep a computer awake while printing a 48 hour part, USB issues when the OS takes a housecleaning break, and the odd chance you bump the cable.
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Rather than tie-down a computer that is subject to going to sleep and ill-timed updates, you might want to check out Octoprint on a Raspberry Pi. It does suffer from having the RPi tied to the printer and the usual pitfalls of printing via USB, but you also gain a lot of features. Most of the big slicers can print directly to Octoprint these days.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Minor sidetrack: How do you tell Prusa Slicer to print directly to Octoprint?
Currently I export the GCode to a staging area, then drag that to Octoprint.
It would be nice to skip that step...
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Minor sidetrack: How do you tell Prusa Slicer to print directly to Octoprint?
Under Printer Settings->General->Print host upload you can specify the type, IP address/name and API key for your Octoprint install. I didn't realize this was a thing until I'd installed Octoprint to work around a failing SD card slot. I was completely blown away and it's transformed my 3D printing experience. Just be aware that there are few differences between printing directly and via SD card. None major, but some front-panel features won't work via Octoprint, although you gain a hell of a lot of functionality as a tradeoff.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Thanks!
Octoprint has an API Key? Where is that...
My favorite feature is the GCode Viewer. That will hold me until I get my camera working...
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
[...] Octoprint has an API Key? Where is that...
Uhm... somewhere in the settings at the lower-left. Sorry, on the road so can't check for sure.
My favorite feature is the GCode Viewer. That will hold me until I get my camera working...
Octoprint just blew me away. Plugged in an old Logitech C270 camera that I had laying around and it just worked. I also added the multicam plugin and am able to switch to a RPi Zero running MotionEyeOS for a second view. Octoprint is really well done software. Gina is truly an open source hero. It's got one of the best interfaces I've used, and it's a flippin' web application. Just a tad slow, but a beefier RPi might help (using a RPi 3B).
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
I talked the Thingiverse 3B case maker into doing a Pi 4 version. Mounts directly on the MK3 frame. Beautiful case.
The Pi 4 will be inexpensive overkill for all your Prusa applications!
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Found it!
API key is on Octopi web server page, Settings, API.
I think I am good to go.
Thanks again!
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Here is the Pi 4 case I mentioned. Bit big if you don't want a Buck converter - but I like running off 24 volts.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3811421
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
Why would I ever let my computer sleep? It's not an unplugged laptop. It runs 24/7/365, other than the rare restart.
I print in the background all the time, without the slightest problem.
I don't have an answer; but wonder why you want to tie up a computer just to print. Use the SD card and walk away. It also avoids all the hassles trying to keep a computer awake while printing a 48 hour part, USB issues when the OS takes a housecleaning break, and the odd chance you bump the cable.
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
You can run Octoprint on Windows. And the "pitfalls of printing via USB" are greatly exaggerated. I use this computer for gaming, editing in Photoshop, and anything else while printing from it in the background via Cura. It'd be nice to know if I could do it via SuperSlicer, but nobody here seems to be actually answering that question, just mistakenly warning not to do it from a Windows machine at all.
Rather than tie-down a computer that is subject to going to sleep and ill-timed updates, you might want to check out Octoprint on a Raspberry Pi. It does suffer from having the RPi tied to the printer and the usual pitfalls of printing via USB, but you also gain a lot of features. Most of the big slicers can print directly to Octoprint these days.
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
The Pi 4 will be inexpensive overkill for all your Prusa applications!
This comment didn't exactly age well.
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
True. I use them for all of my printers now.
The Pi 4 will be inexpensive overkill for all your Prusa applications!
This comment didn't exactly age well.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
Why would I ever let my computer sleep? It's not an unplugged laptop. It runs 24/7/365, other than the rare restart.
If it's a multipurpose machine then from time to time it will go off and do something else for long enough to break the communication with the printer; this needs to be very nearly synchronous.
You need to run a stripped down Linux or single-task for the duration of the print. The beauty of using a Pi is that it's powerful enough to do this and cheap enough to dedicate one to the job.
Don't even think of doing this with Windows, it just can't cope.
Cheerio,
RE:
No, it will not. Windows sufficiently multitasks to be able to do almost anything without interrupting a print. That's an overblown myth. If I were to, say, edit a 25 megapixel graphic in Photoshop and do something really intensive like a multi-layer Smudge a bunch without letting it catch up, I might be able to make my machine hesitate. But nothing it's doing spontaneously, while idle, will cause that kind of problem.
You do not need to be running stripped-down Linux. With a Linux machine I wouldn't be worried no matter what I did. On a Windows machine, only the live playing of the latest, graphic-intensive game would do it. Now there may be people out there with a ten year old machine with two gigs of RAM who have those problems, but to claim that it's an inevitable problem for all machines but "stripped down Linux" is absolute nonsense.
> Don't even think of doing this with Windows, it just can't cope.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Don't state as fact a thing you don't actually understand. This isn't Windows 3.1 running a 16 bit program. I print straight from Cura in Windows, via USB, pretty much every day, while gaming, editing graphics, even running machine learning code I'm working on, without the slightest problem. I'm a professional computer consultant, and actually know what I'm talking about.
Why would I ever let my computer sleep? It's not an unplugged laptop. It runs 24/7/365, other than the rare restart.
If it's a multipurpose machine then from time to time it will go off and do something else for long enough to break the communication with the printer; this needs to be very nearly synchronous.
You need to run a stripped down Linux or single-task for the duration of the print. The beauty of using a Pi is that it's powerful enough to do this and cheap enough to dedicate one to the job.
Don't even think of doing this with Windows, it just can't cope.
Cheerio,
RE:
I use this computer for gaming, editing in Photoshop, and anything else while printing from it in the background via Cura.
Forgive me from being cynical but that seems to fly in the face of pretty much every person who has found a way to avoid sneakerware (writing to an SD card on the PC and carrying it to the printer. Perhaps you mean that you use USB to write to the SD card on the printer?
Touchy.
Must be a stressful job.
Upgrade to a Pi and relax.
Cheerio,
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
[...] . I'm a professional computer consultant, and actually know what I'm talking about.
The average person asking for help on these forums is not. Rather than taking any of this as a personal affront, perhaps acknowledge that the average user does not have your depth of experience and may well experience issues with things like automated updates and machine sleep. There's a host of reasons you consider yourself an expert after all.
The average user is likely to encounter issues printing over USB on a desktop OS for a range of issues regardless of their desktop OS. Many are not aware of straightforward solutions like OctoPrint that handle not only printing, but issues with physical printer location. Solutions that are fully integrated into modern slicers. Nobody is attacking you personally.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Printing directly from Slicer without Pronterface
So you disbelieve this because of secondhand accounts of a few people.
No, I (and many others) print directly to the machine via USB, using Windows and (in my case) Cura. Without the slightest problem.
This is absolutely normal, and there's no reason it shouldn't be. As I write this now, I'm printing via USB, using the USB port on the Ender 3v2, not some SD/USB or SD/network adapter.
Windows does not swap entirely to virtual memory simply because it's idle. The only really intensive background program that might ever be a problem on a normal machine is the drive indexing service, and that doesn't seem to bother my prints at all.
Windows preemptively multitasks, albeit not as well as Linux does. In the 1990s there were problems with multitasking smoothly. If one has a machine with inadequate RAM and tries to play a modern game, they will have problems with background tasks. But a normal, relatively new machine used by even a typical user can handle a USB print just fine.
I use this computer for gaming, editing in Photoshop, and anything else while printing from it in the background via Cura.
Forgive me from being cynical but that seems to fly in the face of pretty much every person who has found a way to avoid sneakerware (writing to an SD card on the PC and carrying it to the printer. Perhaps you mean that you use USB to write to the SD card on the printer?