Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Not sure if this is the right place to post this (Mods, let me know and I'll immediately cease and desist/delete, whatever you want me to do), but I I wanted to let anyone interested know that the Octolapse plugin for Octoprint seems to be working for the MK3 now. Previously it had only been tested on the MK2 and Mk2 with MMU. No other printers have been tested to date, so it's a Prusa only club atm. I have not used an MK3 before, but was send a video of a 33 hour timelapse by a brave tester, so it must be true. I'll post it if I get permission to do so.
It's in Beta right now, so using it may pose some risks. I wouldn't recommend using it unattended, or for critical parts, or if you are new to the hobby. Disclaimer: I am the creator. It is open-source, though, so I thought it would appeal to this crowd.
Check it out here: https://github.com/FormerLurker/Octolapse
Read the issues first: https://github.com/FormerLurker/Octolapse/issues
If you want to know/see anything else (timelapses, screenshots, etc.), let me know. I didn't want to pollute this form with any more than was necessary
I hope to join you MK3 users as soon as I can afford one!
Edit: I just wanted to add this - If you are using Octolapse and you run into issues, please don't post them to the Prusa forum. They have enough on their plate regarding Octoprint, and I don't want them to be bothered with problems that might be caused by my app. If you do have problems with any given print, I'd recommend trying it again with Octolapse disabled if you suspect printer/firmware issues. Thanks for understanding!
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Hey the brave tester is here! I wanna say first off that Octolapse is AWESOME!!! It is 1 million times better than the stock timelapse included with octoprint. I did create a MK3 profile which I believe will be included in the plugin. Here's my video from my 33 hour print.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Are you running RPi Zero/w to Einsy Bd. or RPi3 via USB?
MK3 Kit, Designed, built 4x4 CNC Plasma Cutting Table, Motorcycles Bigdogbro's Adventures
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5djrxBeeOKB9_6rHnn6G8A
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Are you running RPi Zero/w to Einsy Bd. or RPi3 via USB?
RPi Zero w connected to Einsy. I've had zero issues!
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Man, this is really cool. Thanks for posting. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this and will plan to try it out soon.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Man, this is really cool. Thanks for posting. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this and will plan to try it out soon.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I'd love to hear about your results. Please private message me here or on Github (see the link in the OP). I'm so excited to see more timelapses!
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Hey the brave tester is here! I wanna say first off that Octolapse is AWESOME!!! It is 1 million times better than the stock timelapse included with octoprint. I did create a MK3 profile which I believe will be included in the plugin. Here's my video from my 33 hour print.
How did you get it so that the nozzle isn't in the shot at all the entire time?
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
How did you get it so that the nozzle isn't in the shot at all the entire time?
Not the person you were asking, but I thought I'd jump in. You can tell the plugin where you want the nozzle to be when it takes a snapshot. You can even animate it if you want. If it's somewhere outside of the camera's line-of-site, it won't appear in the timelapse.
Here's a video where the extruder is almost out of frame, but still visible.
Here is a video where the extruder is animated along the x axis:
Though my animation was too fast for such a high framerate, here's a video that does animation along both axis:
You can see now how the axis position can be controlled and easily put out of frame if you position your camera correctly. If you need further explanation, let me know!
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
How did you get it so that the nozzle isn't in the shot at all the entire time?
Not the person you were asking, but I thought I'd jump in. You can tell the plugin where you want the nozzle to be when it takes a snapshot. You can even animate it if you want. If it's somewhere outside of the camera's line-of-site, it won't appear in the timelapse.
Here's a video where the extruder is almost out of frame, but still visible.
Here is a video where the extruder is animated along the x axis:
Though my animation was too fast for such a high framerate, here's a video that does animation along both axis:
You can see now how the axis position can be controlled and easily put out of frame if you position your camera correctly. If you need further explanation, let me know!
That's awesome. I didn't know this was a thing.
I feel like it would add a decent amount of time to the total print time for the object. Does it affect the length of the print a decent amount?
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
That's awesome. I didn't know this was a thing.
I feel like it would add a decent amount of time to the total print time for the object. Does it affect the length of the print a decent amount?
It's not so bad. There are 2 travels from the current position (wherever that may be, depends on settings and the print) to the snapshot position and back, and a small delay that should be based on your framerate (1/FPS seconds) to make sure you get a clear image. This ranges from 1-3 seconds per image.
Say you are doing a layer trigger (snapshot on every layer change), and you have 360 layers. If your snapshots take 1 second or less (snapshot very near the current extruder position, high framerate, fast axis movements) it would only add 6 minutes to your print time. If you have 1000 layers and your snapshots take 3 seconds (snapshot very far from extruder, very low framerate, slow movement speed) it would take 50 minutes.
The plugin actually has a monitor that shows you how much time all of the snapshots have taken during the current print, but I've just discovered it's over-reporting the time required somewhat. I'll try to fix that soon.
Here's an image of the Octolapse tab, you can see the snapshot time in the image: 
You can see that it took 58 seconds to take 38 frames, which is about 1.5 seconds per snapshot. That's 1.2 seconds of 30FPS video right there! The plugin will do fixed length timelapses also, by adjusting the framerate automatically.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Those videos are amazing.. Is your camera attached to the bed.. Or does Octolapse take a photo when the bed is in the same place each time allowing for the camera to be placed where ever you want?
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
is there a profile that i can download for the mk3? i just installed it, and not sure if the mk2 settings will work, or what to change. this plugin looks amazing! thanks
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
is there a profile that i can download for the mk3? i just installed it, and not sure if the mk2 settings will work, or what to change. this plugin looks amazing! thanks
I'm working on getting one. It's best to check your slic3r profiles for retraction distance and z lift distance. The speed settings are there too, but you need to convert from mm/s to mm/min I think (multiply by 60, should be in the 1000s). If your printer profile in octoprint is correct, you shouldn't need to override the print area at all. If not, make sure the bed size is correct (y min may be negative!). Set to auto detect origin. Let me know if that helps.
Edit: if you post an issue at GitHub, you can add an issue for the mk3 profile. Then you can post a link with your slic3r profile (maybe pastebin). Also, when you have everything configured, export your settings file and post it as well. I'll review everything for you if you're willing to wait a day or two (heading out of town tomorrow). I could look at the slicer profile tonight maybe, or tomorrow afternoon.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Those videos are amazing.. Is your camera attached to the bed.. Or does Octolapse take a photo when the bed is in the same place each time allowing for the camera to be placed where ever you want?
The camera is not attached to the bed. Yes, Octolapse moves the bed and extruder, and yes you can put your camera anywhere.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Very cool add on! Happy it works with the regular timelapse app as well since I usually check those to see what goes wrong in a print.
Here is a knee I printed for my wife on my MK2.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
Very cool add on! Happy it works with the regular timelapse app as well since I usually check those to see what goes wrong in a print.
Here is a knee I printed for my wife on my MK2.
Nice print, and thanks for the compliments! Is she using that knee for teaching? I'm very glad to see your good results. If you want you could post this in the MK2 forum since you're using that printer. I've not posted anything there yet, and probably won't until V1.0 is released (will be a few months) since there will be improved compatibility and better printer profiles for MK2 and MK2 w MMU. I'm also hoping a new firmware will be released that solves the serial communication issue that exists when using linear advance with Octoprint.
I'm sure you already know this, but if you secure your camera a bit more that would get rid of the camera drift you are seeing. I was getting that too when I first started testing the plugin. I use one of these cheap mounts https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005H1W4LA , and have added a few magnets around my enclosure to hold it down (look ma, no screws!). Depending on the weight of your camera, about three decent quality rare earth disc magnets should do the trick, though you certainly don't want the camera to fall on the build plate or into the axes during a print! Additionally, I also have a little rectangular tower (waste from printing lack enclosure feet, about 6" tall) that I added some magnets to. I put some rubber feet on it to keep the tower from sliding (it too was drifting without the feet), and use that to capture odd angles. Unfortunately it is at a fixed height. At some point I'll print an adjustable stand, but I've been too busy with work and play (Octolapse) to do it!
Thank you again for posting your video!
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
So yes, my wife is a physical therapist and she does hips and knee replacements at her hospital. I'm still trying to find a good hip to print out.
The camera is usually decently in there, but it does move if I go in there. You can't see it, but I was going in there a bunch at the first half and even did a filament change about a quarter of the way up, thats likely why it drifted. Here is my current setup for the mk2.
The enclosure will eventually go away. I am going to build a nice long desk in my office and keep the printers on there. I may mount this to the bed, too.
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
I'd love to know what values people are using for the printer profile. I attempted to go off the Slic3r profile that comes with the printer but am not sure I'm finding all the correct values:
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
We've moved the conversation about printer profiles over to https://github.com/FormerLurker/Octolapse/issues/21
Re: Timelapses with Octoprint on Mk3
We've moved the conversation about printer profiles over to https://github.com/FormerLurker/Octolapse/issues/21
Thank you kind user for sharing your results with me! I'm going to try to have an update for the master branch by the end of the weekend that should add a few new features (snapshot position restrictions), and several bug fixes (thank you Shadowen and others!). I'll post back when the new beta is ready and includes the MK3 profile out of the box.