Feature request(s): duplicate and layout

[UKIan]

There doesn't appear to be a way to duplicate a piece that has been imported and rotated. You currently have to import the stl a second time and then reapply any scaling or rotation.

I'd also like an option to lay out the items on the platter differently. Currently it lays them out in a row along the Y axis. I'd prefer them to be in a row along the X axis. A final option would be to take up the least space in the centre of the build plate. So if I had 9 2cm cubes, instead of them running from one side of the build plate to the other, I'd like three rows of three placed in the centre. I try and avoid printing near the edges of the build platter on my printer for various reasons.

One final request, unrelated to the above. The machine control panel with jog controls and all has a windowing mode where it is completely independent of the main layout window. This means if you alt-tab to the app, the control panel doesn't come to the front with the main app. This is the sort of thing I'd prefer to be configurable and I'd configure it to always come to the front with the main window.

[tri-lite]

You can already do this in Simplify3D.

Import your model and make all the adjustments you want to the model (scale, rotate, add supports, etc.) Then go to the MODELS menu > Duplicate Selected Model, as shown in the attached image. You may get a question asking about duplicating supports - answer "yes".

Then choose how many copies you want and click OK. You can end up with a build plate FULL of identical models. This is a great feature!

[tri-lite]

Sorry, you identified three things you wanted and my response was only in regard to #1.
Maybe others can comment about requests #2 and #3.

[dsegel]

For #2, you can manually move the objects around by holding command on a Mac (and probably Alt on Windows) and dragging them where you want them. Not as convenient as auto-placement, but I can sometimes make much more efficient use of space by manually rotating and placing objects than S3D can.

#3 I consider to be a bug. It's not just the machine control window - the manual support dialog box floats separately also. If you have it open and switch to a different application (in OS X at least), it stays on top, and if you click to close it you get sent back to S3D. Very annoying.

[UKIan]

Sorry, you identified three things you wanted and my response was only in regard to #1.
Maybe others can comment about requests #2 and #3.

That's a good start anyway

[UKIan]

For #2, you can manually move the objects around by holding command on a Mac (and probably Alt on Windows) and dragging them where you want them. Not as convenient as auto-placement, but I can sometimes make much more efficient use of space by manually rotating and placing objects than S3D can.

#3 I consider to be a bug. It's not just the machine control window - the manual support dialog box floats separately also. If you have it open and switch to a different application (in OS X at least), it stays on top, and if you click to close it you get sent back to S3D. Very annoying.

For 2, I like it to line them up for me. In my mind it is optimising the path the head will need to take (or something like that).

For 3, it's one of those personal choice things which is why, rather than change it to please us, there should be settings so that it pleases everyone