Dimensions, Time Passed, and Docking UI Elements?
I've been using Repetier-Host via USB to run a few printers over the last couple of weeks for my University to assist with PPE efforts at our medical schools as well as with local law enforcement.
We're a team of people all with different printers and software so we are constantly trying to 'convert' between programs. I also answer customer support questions about how to print our PPE designs so I have Ultimaker-Cura and Makerbot Print installed side-by-side for troubleshooting.
None of these are big issues, just Quality of Life things that I thought would be nice to have.
1) At first I didn't think Repetier-Host showed dimensions and only percentage scale available for models. We were doing a lot of size tweaking for masks, and one thing that was handy in other programs was the ability to scale not only to a percentage, but also to specific size in mm. I then read about the 'gear' object information menu and the ability to perform an analysis on the piece which is where Repetier-host hides the dimensional information. I thought maybe if I grouped items together the analysis would be performed on all of them but it still appeared to be per model. A Group analysis button would be nice to have. Maybe a gear icon on the group name to evaluate them all together. Also, accessing each one individually is a bit of a hassle at times, but that will be raised in my last item below.
2) Stop Watch. Repetier-Host displays the estimated time and the start time and end time in the job status window. But an actual running clock would be a nice feature so that I don't have to have another app running on my computer or on my phone when trying to determine estimated time issues. Other things that might be nice would be an error estimate as the print continues. Since you know the estimated time and are constantly recalculating the time to finish as it prints having a rolling error percentage would be interesting to see especially when testing changes to hardware as well as software.
3) I haven't seen a statistic for estimated material used in grams. I see a length, but I have to convert it when talking to the rest of the team to determine optimizing models and calculating bulk orders for filament. Since this is a mass estimate you would need the density of the material. Could a density property for the chosen filament be added to the Filament tab settings and used to calculate? A few default densities could also be provided for people who don't want to bother (PLA, ABS).
4) Dock windows into the UI. Or if not dockable, at least icons on the top left to activate these windows within Repetier-Host interface that are locked in place into the active window. Certain windows like Job Status and the Object Information windows would be great to have dockable on the sides of the interface. At the moment, if I select Repetier-Host window, it will move ontop of these other windows. Not another tab on the right side, but something I can dock on the bottom, maybe next to the log? There is so much free space on the right side I could easily dock two or three windows without interrupting output information. What would also be great is that the object information tab, if dockable could also be object sensitive so that when you select a model it would populate with that models information. Or if you selected a group it would provide you with all of that groups information.
I like using Repetier-Host. It doesn't USB block all my ports like Cura does and lets me work with multiple instances open across multiple printers for home testing. I also like that you have kept the Manual Control settings that some of the other apps have removed over the years. And the ability to send G-Code and have commands return in a console is great to have as well. I know that those aren't anything new to 3D printing or unique to Repetier. But keeping them around instead of dumbing-down or locking things out as other more popular programs are doing is one reason I've settled on using Repetier-Host.
We're a team of people all with different printers and software so we are constantly trying to 'convert' between programs. I also answer customer support questions about how to print our PPE designs so I have Ultimaker-Cura and Makerbot Print installed side-by-side for troubleshooting.
None of these are big issues, just Quality of Life things that I thought would be nice to have.
1) At first I didn't think Repetier-Host showed dimensions and only percentage scale available for models. We were doing a lot of size tweaking for masks, and one thing that was handy in other programs was the ability to scale not only to a percentage, but also to specific size in mm. I then read about the 'gear' object information menu and the ability to perform an analysis on the piece which is where Repetier-host hides the dimensional information. I thought maybe if I grouped items together the analysis would be performed on all of them but it still appeared to be per model. A Group analysis button would be nice to have. Maybe a gear icon on the group name to evaluate them all together. Also, accessing each one individually is a bit of a hassle at times, but that will be raised in my last item below.
2) Stop Watch. Repetier-Host displays the estimated time and the start time and end time in the job status window. But an actual running clock would be a nice feature so that I don't have to have another app running on my computer or on my phone when trying to determine estimated time issues. Other things that might be nice would be an error estimate as the print continues. Since you know the estimated time and are constantly recalculating the time to finish as it prints having a rolling error percentage would be interesting to see especially when testing changes to hardware as well as software.
3) I haven't seen a statistic for estimated material used in grams. I see a length, but I have to convert it when talking to the rest of the team to determine optimizing models and calculating bulk orders for filament. Since this is a mass estimate you would need the density of the material. Could a density property for the chosen filament be added to the Filament tab settings and used to calculate? A few default densities could also be provided for people who don't want to bother (PLA, ABS).
4) Dock windows into the UI. Or if not dockable, at least icons on the top left to activate these windows within Repetier-Host interface that are locked in place into the active window. Certain windows like Job Status and the Object Information windows would be great to have dockable on the sides of the interface. At the moment, if I select Repetier-Host window, it will move ontop of these other windows. Not another tab on the right side, but something I can dock on the bottom, maybe next to the log? There is so much free space on the right side I could easily dock two or three windows without interrupting output information. What would also be great is that the object information tab, if dockable could also be object sensitive so that when you select a model it would populate with that models information. Or if you selected a group it would provide you with all of that groups information.
I like using Repetier-Host. It doesn't USB block all my ports like Cura does and lets me work with multiple instances open across multiple printers for home testing. I also like that you have kept the Manual Control settings that some of the other apps have removed over the years. And the ability to send G-Code and have commands return in a console is great to have as well. I know that those aren't anything new to 3D printing or unique to Repetier. But keeping them around instead of dumbing-down or locking things out as other more popular programs are doing is one reason I've settled on using Repetier-Host.
Comments
2) In the bottom status you have the output. If you click on it it switches between ETA and ETE. Adjusting time estimate based on past error might be an idea, also the main error at beginning is pre heating that is not calculated. On long prints this would be neglectible. So maybe if error is more then 5 minutes it should be applied.
3) Only available vie Repetier-Server. We have no material properties in host.
4) GUI has no flexible docks, only tabs. I know such guis exist like in IDE, but without the structure it would be a paint to implement it now. Sorry.