Announcing Cura 2.5

Development and beta testing is over. The next version of Cura is officially here. Cura 2.5 is packed with new features and bug fixes to make your 3D printing experience even better. With this version, you get improved speed, multithreading, print cost calculation and so much more.

New feature highlights

Our development team worked hard to make Cura 2.5 the best performing 3D printing software on the market. Here is a quick look at the new features and improvements.

Improved speed. We’ve tweaked the system. Changing printers, profiles, materials and print cores is even quicker than before. 3MF processing is also faster.  Now open a 3MF file in one-tenth of the previous time. That means less time waiting and more time printing.

Multithreading. This is a significant improvement for Windows and Linux users. On computers with multiple cores, Cura can now process multiple operations concurrently while slicing. Depending on your computer’s configuration and the model you want to print, slicing is now up to 70% faster. Now that’s efficient!

Preheat the build plate. Now set your Ultimaker 3 to preheat the build plate. This reduces downtime and manually speeds up your printing workflow. Just use the ‘preheat’ function on the Print Monitor screen and set the correct temperature for the active material(s).

Better layout for 3D layer view options. Need to see things a bit clearer? We’ve  incorporated an improved layer view for computers that support OpenGL 4.1. For OpenGL 2.0 to 4.0, we will automatically switch to the old layer view.

Disable automatic slicing. Some users told us that auto-start slicing slowed down their workflow. We listened and added the option to disable auto-slicing.

Auto-scale off by default. This change needs no explanation.

Print cost calculation. Cura 2.5 now helps you calculate the cost of your print. Simply enter a cost per spool and a number of materials per spool. You can also set the cost per material and gain better control of your expenses.

G-code reader. The g-code reader is back! Load g-code from a file and display it in layer view. You can also print, share and re-use saved g-code files with Cura. Verify printed object appearance via the g-code viewer.

New infill settings. The Expand Skins Into Infill setting allows users to specify if skin layers extend into areas of infill. This avoids the expansion of narrow areas of a skin next to walls that are not vertical. The Minimum Infill Area allows users to specify minimum areas of infill to be replaced with a skin. Top/Bottom Line Directions & Infill Line Directions settings let users control the directions used for most suitable patterns (e.g. line, zig zag etc.).

Discard or Keep Changes popup. Now when you change a printing profile after customizing print settings, a popup appears with the option to transfer customizations to the new profile or discard modifications and continue with default settings. This dialog window is more informative and intuitive.

Bug fixes

Cura 2.5 includes a variety of bug fixes.

• Window overflow:  Corrected an overflow on the General (Preferences) panel and the credits list on the About window on some configurations (OS and screen dependent) by adding a slider.
• “Center camera when item is selected”: “Off” is now the default.
• Removal of file extension: Now when you save a file or project without changing the file type, no file extension is added to the name. The extension is only added when you change the file type.
• Better Ultimaker 3 Extended connectivity: When Ultimaker 3 Extended is selected, Cura will no longer allow you to connect to and print with Ultimaker 3 without a warning.
• Corrected Y/Z colors: Y and Z colors in the tool menu are now like the colors on the build plate.
• No collision areas:  Corrected the no collision areas that were generated for some models when “keep models apart” was activated.
• Perimeter gaps: Perimeter gaps are now filled.
• File location after restart: Cura 2.5 remembers the last opened file location after the restart.
• Project name: The project name no longer changes after the project is opened.
• Slicing when error value is given (print core 2): When a support is printed with the Extruder 2 (PVA), some support settings triggered a slice when an error value is given. This has been corrected.
• Support Towers: Support Towers can now be disabled.
• Support bottoms: Support bottoms now print when you place one object atop another separated by space and select support with support bottom interface.
• Summary box size: The summary box size is larger.
• Cubic subdivision infill: Cubic subdivision infill now reliably produces the infill (WIN).
• Spiralize outer contour and fill small gaps: Combine Fill Gaps Between Walls with Spiralize Outer Contour to create massive infill.
• Experimental post-processing plugin: Since the TweakAtZ post-processing plugin is not officially supported, we added the  ‘Experimental’ tag.

Updates for 3rd party printers

• Folgertech printer definition has been added.
• Hello BEE Prusa printer definition has been added.
• Velleman Vertex K8400 printer definitions have been added for both single-extrusion and dual-extrusion versions.
• Material profiles for Cartesio printers have been updated.

Get started now!

Download Cura 2.5 now and be sure to share your feedback and comments with us!