Axon 2 released
Hi
I just noticed that Axon 2 (Beta1) is available for download from the BfB website... (Resources>Technical Resources>Downloads (software, profiles, firmware and print test files)) . or try this link http://3dpedia.3dsystems.com/login.action?os_destination=%2Fhomepage.action&os_username=bfbcustomer&os_password=3dprinting
I have done a bit of Alpha testing on this and it looks to be a big improvement on Axon1.
Lots of new goodies!!!..............Multi material support, new visualisations, better workflow and much more.... perhaps most importantly it is built on a recent version of Skeinforge that can easily be updated to newer versions (just drop the new vesion on top of the old one inside the program folder)
The last alpa version seemed to be pretty stable and i think Andrew has ironed out a few wrinkles before releasing the Beta1 version... But I'm sure that he will appreciate any comments or feedback to make the final release even better.
Here's a screenshot ... just to tempt you!
Dave White
Oh and one final thing ... take a look at the "About" screen (on the blue tab, top left of Axon)... COOL!!! and thanks to the guys at BfB for this!!!
Wow, I very much like the new interface. One thing that would be highly appreciated is a port to linux of course. :)
What I am missing, now that I got used to, is the ability to disable printing the raft. Is there any way to share profiles with other computer? I have not yet found out where Axon2 saves the profile data.
Profiles... not certain where they are stored... My understanding of the way that Axon2 works is that Andrew has tried to break away from the Skeinforge "profiles" as they are so complicated for the average user to get to grips with.... perhaps the way to think of this (and I'm sure Andrew will correct me if I'm wrong) is that behind the scenes Skeinforge does the number crunching to carve/slice etc and after this has been done Axon takes over and modifies the code specifically for different configurations of BfB machines. I think this is why there is now a "printer configuration" , "material profile editor" and "build settings".... much more logical to my mind. But as to where all this data is kept so that you can transfer between PC's- I don't know, I mainly looked at things like "user interface" and "things that caused crashes"... perhaps an e-mail to Andrew might clarify things
Dave
Edit.... The "no raft option" was available in the alpha version... I will alert Andrew to the possibility that this is missing in Beta1... thanks for noticing it
I can now open all my STL models so that bug is fixed. What it won't do is save settings, extruded and perimeter width in the material editor, but great job... Will you allow us to use / copy / access our previously created skeinforge profiles? And how do I disable the raft? There is no option to select None.
Hi there
Does anyone know how I can align the model to the bed? Rotating is possible, but shifting?
Axon 2 seems also much faster, but the advanced settings are looking somewhat poor to me.
Saluti Joerg
The ability to print with no raft has been requested a number of times and is on the list of features to be implemented. The raft material option of “None” which appeared in the Axon alpha releases was displayed in error, and has been removed in beta 1 due to the fact that configuration is not yet implemented.
Axon 2 stores build style profiles and material profiles under the Windows special folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\Axon\ . On Windows 7 and Windows Vista this equates to:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Axon
On Windows XP this equates to:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Axon
The AppData folder is a hidden folder, but you can easily access it without changing any settings by using Windows Explorer to navigate to “C:\Users\Username” and use the keyboard to add “\AppData” in the Windows Explorer address bar resulting in “C:\Users\Username\AppData” and press Enter.
Andrew
Jim,
Thank you for reporting the fill and perimiter width issue, it will be fixed in the next release. Please see my previous post regarding profiles and raft:
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/forum/post/axon-2-released#comment-12497
Andrew
Joerg,
You can hold the right mouse button down and move the part around the bed. (I am aware that if you rotate the view of the bed with the left button, then right click and drag the part, the orientation is incorrect.) The right-click-drag does not move the built Gcode around. Help information is in progress.
Have you discovered the Material Profile Editor? This allows you to change many major settings that were previously under advanced settings in Axon 1.11.
Andrew
those who don't want to wait for "No Raft" to be implemented, you can use my derafter :)
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/forum/post/chyllds-derafter-windows-only
the logic is very simple - first make a list of Z heights for all extruded layers, then cut out the chunks for the lowest n Z heights from the gcode file (important to cut out the non-extruding parts as well, hence "chunks")
I'm also very happy that BfB released a new Skeinforge frontend version. I've just given it a quick try and it looks good but...
There is no way to access an "advanced settings" that offers all the possibilities that where available in previous Axon version. So it's a bit like having Axon1 with just the "Settings" tab (basic settings). Personally I never, never, never used the "basic settings" and allways prefered to work on the Skeinforge "Advanced settings". So I'm afraid I won't use this version in it's alpha stage except for testing it. And I hardly hope that the stable version will allow users to access all of the Skeinforge parameters.
I appreciate very much the BfB efforts in making Axon2 and want to congratulate you for the great work. But to be honest I will continue to do my Axon/Skeinforge teaching on Axon1 that offers much, much more settings for fine tuning a print job.
EDITED :
I just tried to generate a G-code file with the "Build" button with all settings by default. An error window opens with a not so explicite message starting with "Build error"... Don't know what's wrong.
Did anyone succeed in generating a gcode file with Axon2 ?
I allways have an error window message and I'd like to know if others have this problem too...
Thanks
Hello!
Hope i'm not to late for the party!
I d/l the update, but have the same issues as another user, I just get error messages when I hit the build icon. :(
Ed
For those who are getting an error when the build button is clicked, please check that Python 2.7 is installed in the default location of C:\Python27. On my computer I have C:\Python27\python.exe which is invoked by Axon 2.
Fixed, Thanks!
Do I have to remove Python26, which was used by previos Axon?
OK and thank you.
It seems that the python27 installation embeded in the Axon2 installation fails. So I had to install python27 on its own.
May we start another subject for Axon2 bug reports or may we list them here ? I have found some issues...
Regards.
Thank your for your reply Andrew. One other thing that came to my mind is the ability to print multiple copies of the object using the multiply plugin. I would welcome this very much as I use it very often.
I have not yet seen the Python 2.7 installer fail, please can more information be posted:
- What operating system?
- Was Axon 1.11 installed previously?
- Was Axon 2 Alpha x installed previously?
- What happens when Axon 2 Beta 1 is installed, does the Python27 installer start? Were any errors reported?
- Was the C:\Python27 folder created when the bundled installer was unsuccessful?
The bundled Python27 installer is located in the Axon 2 installation folder under Program Files "Bits from Bytes\Axon 2\Python Setup\python-2.7.1.msi". In order to save locating and downloading Python, it should be possible to run this manually to install Python should the bundled installer fail.
Hi Andrew and sorry for not describing it better...
1) I run under Windows XP SP3
2) I installed Axon2 with Axon 1.11 and Pyton26 allready and previously installed.
3) No. I started with Axon 2 Beta 1
4) At one stage it says it's going to install Python2.7 in a C:\Python27 folder and the python install starts fine. But the installation fails with no message except that "python was unable to finish correctly" or something like that.
5) In result, the C:\Python27 folder is not created at all.
Do you prefer to open a specific subject for Axon2 bug reports or is it fine to report them here ?
Regards.
Please do post about any problems or annoyances in this thread after checking the "Known Problems and Limitations" section in the release notes, which are available under the Downloads section at our Customer Technical Resources site.
1) Sometime, when rotating the view, Axon2 freezes. And when it is "live" again the stl mesh as rotated and is no more correctly oriented.
I happened to do it several time. It occurs every time that this "freeze" occurs.
My OS is Windows XP SP3 and my graphic card is a NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS.
2) I also tried a multi material build but Axon2 crashed in the middle of the procedure. It might just be because my stl(s) are not prepared the way they should... I will have another try.
EDITED : I tried again. The crash occurs at the end of the build progress step 3/5 - widen, or more probably at the beginning of step 4/5
Dear all,
I downloaded Axon 2 to use with my RapMan 3.1 single-head machine.
First impressions were great and I have managed to use it to create some bfb files (one of which is printing right now) - however, my Windows 7 PC has blue-screened 4 time in the last two days and it would appear to be Axon that is causing it. It seems to be at the point where the g-code is finalised and where it should then allow you to save as a bfb file - but the system just crashes. The reason I suspect this is because at the times of the crashes, I have not been running anything else (apart from Internet Explorer) and when the system is restarted there is a file in the working directory whose filename is whateverfileIwasworkingon (rebuilt)_export_p.gcode and the creation time is pretty much co-incident with the crashtime. I am about to try loading Axon2 onto a spare XP machine and will report back after some more trials. By the way, Windows 7 has Service Pack 1 installed.
Adrian
(who really needs to get some 3D prints done but unfortunatley the Netfabb Engine beta is also not working properly under Windows 7)
I too downloaded Axon 2! First impression: Awesome!
I love the new UI and I have found that so far my prints are coming out cleaner. The time it takes to generate the G-code seems like it has been improved as well.
I know this has been mentioned before but I would also like to see the "no raft" option. Thanks for your program chylld, it worked for me.
Something else that I would really really REALLY like to see is the ability to add multiple STLs to one print. Lastly, I wasn't able to find a way to change the plethora of Skeinfoge settings either and I feel like that is important, at least for the tinkerers... and we are the majority here, because who else buys a 3D printer??
Maybe this stuff is possible in Axon already and I missed it, or maybe it is on the issues sheet and I missed that. In the end I appreciate the work being done and am enjoying the improvements.
Ray
I've read the known problems and limitations. Is it correct that I cannot (yet) build ABS with PLA raft and ABS support?
By the way, I like the new version of Axon. I would love it if it wasn't restricted to windows.
I've read the known problems and limitations. Is it correct that I cannot (yet) build ABS with PLA raft and ABS support?
I have built ABS parts on PLA rafts (and with PLA support) and PLA parts on ABS raft (with no support)
But not yet tried the combination you are looking to do.... (why an ABS Part with ABS support??? I suppose you get a speed increase at the cost of difficult support removal)
I set up axon2 with the combination of materials you have stated and the resultant g-code graphic looks like the part and support are the same material/extruder. see pic below
BUT I haven't checked the code or tried printing like that.
Dave
The idea was indeed a speed increase. After the raft the printer began with the object without heating up first. I've changed the gcode and I'll try again tonight. I will also try the PLA support to see what the difference is in time.
Henrico
get error installing on WIN7-64:
error 1001. InstallUtilLib.dll:ClrCreateManagedInstance (hr=0x80004005)
any idea about fixing the issue?
thank you
Maurizio
P.S. (Phyton 2.7 in correct folder and Axon 1 removed)
One enhancement I'd like to see is the option to see the support material in the gcode view shown in a different colour (in a similar way to how you can view Extruder 1, Extruder 2, etc. in different colours)
Also, as others have mentioned, it would be great to be able to add multiple STLs to the job, orient/position each one, etc. - but a huge improvement over Axon V1.x
David
I think both mentions are very welcome (and needed in case of Enrique's Skeinforge) and an appreciation towards the work of the community as a whole and Dave and Enrique in special!
I have been testing Axon2 too and must say that it is a huge step forward! cheers to Andrew