gearsawe
Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 11:06 pm

Parent/Child "clone" mode

This for me would solve a multitude of issues for me and would be a competing feature to other major professional systems such as Stratasys "GrabCad Print" and Mark Forge "Eiger". This would not be the same as the duplicate.

The idea is the duplicate "children" would be exact copies. You can rotate about Z or move in the XY, the infill pattern would move with it and rotate with the object. Or things like the seam would be if the same place on the children as the parent.

The children would be clones.

This currently cannot be done at all even with a bunch of processes. As the infill pattern offset is based on the overall foot print of all objects on the bed. as soon as you add another duplicate which changes the foot print the pattern shifts for all objects. Only work around I have found is placing to small sacrificial objects in opposite corners then moving the copies around within the defined rectangle till the patterns match. But cannot easily rotate.

Maybe Bed Layout part for the program. So this would not change the current factory file just add a "Clone line". so the duplicated would be X,Y positions and Z axis rotation of the gcode generated by the parent.

This would also force the objects to be printed A Layer 1, B Layer 1, C Layer 1, then A Layer 1, B Layer 1, C Layer 1. Currently see may times it prints A Layer1, B Layer 1, C Layer1, C Layer 2, B layer 2, A layer 2.
S3D-Jason
Posts: 1383
Joined: Sun May 31, 2015 6:01 am

Re: Parent/Child "clone" mode

gearsawe wrote: As the infill pattern offset is based on the overall foot print of all objects on the bed
I think it's actually based on all the parts within a single process. So if you want to make sure each part has the same infill pattern offset, just put each part within a separate process (and make sure the parts are far enough apart that they don't "join" together). I just tested this with 5 cubes and it was easy to make them all have the exact same infill pattern offset using separate processes. In V5 you can do that in a few clicks by going to Tools > Variable Settings Wizard, and selecting "different settings for different models". That will make 1 process for each part automatically.
gearsawe
Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2017 11:06 pm

Re: Parent/Child "clone" mode

yes is sort of possible but if the part where just a clone it would allow you to very easily be able to nest and rotate each clone into position without the need to edit infill angles, seam positions, supports, support angles. They would be clones and not a bunch of different processes for each object.

The Markforge software (Eiger) allows you to process each part individually. Then you create a build plate with as many copies as you need. The copies are nested and rotated which does not change anything including supports Patten/angle, Infills, or Seams. You get true clones of each part.

You could then also have multiple processes for one object and still very easily create multiple clones without a multitude of processes.
Just my opinion and would feel like a huge feature improvement. I understand this would not be a simple thing to implement as the software currently has no framework to handle such a feature. maybe this will make it into version 8,5? Just looking for a way to "Simplify" the process.

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