PrusaSlicer 2.7.0-alpha1

PrusaSlicer

Summary

This is the first alpha release of PrusaSlicer 2.7.0. This release introduces SVG emboss tool, G2/G3 G-codes, binary G-code output, improved UI, editor for custom G-codes and many more smaller improvements and bugfixes.

To let you enjoy the alpha without worries, the alpha builds save their profiles into PrusaSlicer-alpha directory, so you may use the alpha side by side with the current release without ruining your production configuration.

Important note for Original Prusa MINI, MK4 and XL owners: The new configuration update of our system profiles will enable binary G-code and G2/G3 features. Users using older firmware need to update to 5.1.0-alpha2 or later or manually turn these features off. On older firmware, new binary G-code is not visible or recognized and the G2/G3 G-codes may not work perfectly.

Github clips this text at the release history overview. Please open the 2.7.0-alpha1 release log ↗ to see the complete change log.

SVG embossing tool (#6916, #9373)

In addition to the text embossing tool first presented in PrusaSlicer 2.6.0, it is now possible to emboss SVG images onto the models. The feature can be accessed through right button click and it allows similar options for projection and manipulation like the text tool.

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When saving a project file, the user is asked whether they want to save the path to the SVG file, which would allow them to further modify the embossing parameters or reload the SVG from disk later. Otherwise, the SVG part is saved as a model and editing it is no longer possible.

G2 and G3 G-code support #4352

Starting with this release, PrusaSlicer is able to emit G2 and G3 G-codes (arc and circle moves). This results in smaller G-code files when compared to the classic stream of plain G1 commands. The feature can be enabled in Print Settings->Advanced->Slicing->Arc fitting. The G-code size reduction heavily depends on the contents of the G-code, but we are talking tens of percent in general.

Note that emission of G2 and G3 is not compatible with Pressure Equalizer feature and with Spiral Vase mode. When either of the two is active, the G2 and G3 G-codes will not be emitted regardless of how arc_fitting is set.

This feature is based on ArcWelderLib ↗ by @FormerLurker, who is also the author of the famous ArcWelder OctoPrint plugin ↗. Big thanks to @FormerLurker for all the effort invested into the project and for making it open-source.

Binary G-code

G-code files are easy to read and interpret, but their downside is that the data is not saved efficiently and the file size is often very large. Compression of the file is problematic because the printers usually run on limited hardware and they may not have enough memory and/or CPU power to decompress it.

Several solutions to the problem were proposed by members of the community, such as MeatPack ↗ encoding (utilizing the fact that the character set of a typical G-code is very limited) or heatshrink ↗ compression algorithm (designed to have very small memory requirements).

We are proposing a new standard for a binary G-code format for encoding and compressing ASCII G-code files (see the specification ↗). The format is flexible and the encoding and compression of individual blocks is variable. We also provide libbgcode ↗ library which contains the routines to convert ASCII G-codes to binary and vice versa. The library is written in C++ and the repository includes bindings for Python.

Regarding comparison of ASCII vs binary G-code sizes, the result depends on the contents of the G-code. Our testing shows that using binary G-code reduces the size by about 70 % on average. Using arc fitting (described above) at the same time can reduce the size even further. Following chart shows the comparison for 10 randomly selected 3MF projects: image

The support for the new .bgcode file format was implemented in PrusaSlicer, including its export, loading configs, previewing G-code or file associations. Exporting binary G-code can be enabled in Print Settings->Output options->Export as binary G-code. An option to convert ASCII G-code to binary (or the opposite) has been added into File menu.

To print a binary G-code, it has to be supported by firmware of the printer. For Original Prusa MINI, MK4 and XL printers, this is supported since version 5.1.0-alpha2. It is necessary to update printer firmware before using the binary G-code format.

We would like to thank Scott Vokes (@atomicobject) for his work on heatshrink ↗ and Scott Mudge (@scottmudge) for developing and maintaining MeatPack ↗.

Improved user interface

The visual looks of user interface controls has been improved. They are now more pleasant to look at in both light and dark mode and various UI quirks have been resolved (e.g. #8877, #6399).