Howdy,
In the Laser mode, under Output, the tool tip next to Merged says that layers will be color coded to denote stacking depth. But when I run Slice or Preview, I see only black. Is that feature not enabled yet, or am I just doing it wrong?
Thanks,
John
Newbie to KM
Hi @jsteward and welcome! If itās not working like the YouTube video, then itās possible I broke something recently. I will investigate this afternoon and let you know. If you can share the STL youāre using in the meantime, that would be helpful.
So, I checked this with the models I use and itās working as designed. However, this may not be what you are expecting. Once you share your STL I can get a better sense of whatās going on.
I looked through the youtube videos and never saw it demonstrated. Can you provide a link?
Here is a file that it doesnāt seem to be working on: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:776710/files
Based on your next comment, I must be doing something wrong. My expectation was that in the merged mode, I would see all layers at once, piled on top of one another, and each layer would be a different color. Right now they are all black. And when I export as an SVG and open in Inkscape, they are still all black. Trying to figure out which layer comes next to stack up is often tricky, so the color coding would be very useful. Thanks.
Well I found the Youtube video. Looks neat, wish it worked for me. I have tried it on MS Edge browser, Safari on iPhone, and Chrome. I get the same result, just a stack of black lines. Iāve tried the default cube model and lots of other things. I must be doing something wrong. Thanks for any help and guidance.
-J
I made a video this morning to show how itās supposed to work. Let me know if this helps clarify.
Iāve just been looking at Kiri for laser output, as well as using it for CNC operations, which itās done brilliantly at. Thank you for making it available!
In my use-case, Iāve got some topographic data, which Iād like to slice up to laser out the layers. I end up with about 38 layers, using 1mm slices. I can output SVG or DXF, which I can get into the laser cutter without issues, but itās all black and separating the 38 layers by hand is near impossible.
What Iād love would be a mode where each layer it slices gets assigned a different colour value (or layer, in the case of SVG/DXF). That way, everything is aligned and I can enable/disable the layers, in order to cut the sheets one by one.
Hereās the model Iām slicing:
@Barnaby_Relph welcome and thanks for the feedback. I will add an output option to uniquely color code each layer. In the meantime, if you look at the SVG output, you will note that each svg polyline is annotated with a z index value.
@stewart Thanks, thatād be amazing! Iāll take a look at the SVG files in the meantime.
Iālll post a pic here when I get something made.
@stewart Thanks for putting that up so very fast!
Iāve been for a look and unfortunately, I canāt reproduce the coloured view above. Iāve tried both Chrome and Safari and whilst I get the new ālayer colourā option, the resultant output is single-colour.
Iāve tried using the default object, as in your screenshot and I also get a single-colour view. Iām not sure if itās something Iām doing?
Thanks
Barny
@Barnaby_Relph can you try shift+reload on the kiri:moto page? perhaps the code is stale in your browser.
Hiya, Iāve given reloading a go, as well as pulling the code and running it locally (which I have to say was an absolute breeze!)
Unfortunately Iām not able to reproduce the screenshot above with coloured layers, which is very odd. Iāve played with a few options, but canāt seem to reproduce it. Iām not quite sure how to proceed, but thanks very much for putting the feature in, Iāll try reading the commit next and see if I can work out whatās going on.
Thanks
Barny
@Barnaby_Relph I re-tested on grid.space and itās definitely working. Can you attach screen-shots of your slicing and output options? If you hover over the Kiri:Moto title or open the help menu, what version shows up?
@stewart Thanks for getting back to me! Iāve been for another look and Iāve worked out a few things. I couldnāt get the layers to show as coloured in Kiri itself, but looking at the generated SVG, I can indeed see colours!
They also show up nicely and automatically become different layers in LightBurn, which I use to run my laser:
What I have noticed though, is that when I select āmergedā to line all the slices on top of each other, the colour becomes white for all layers. Opening the file in Inkscape initially I thought there was nothing there, until I looked at file size, but reading the raw file showed me thereās data there.
Iām still looking at the code, but Iām guessing when āmergedā is selected, something about the height data could be getting removed before the height->colour code kicks in?
Thanks very much fo looking/working on this, itās really appreciated!
merging is not a feature for terrain maps. itās more for signage and other more geometric patterns where you want to use some outlines for cutting and others for etching, but they intersect or overlap. i would only recommend it be used with a model that you have CAD control over.
what were you hoping to achieve with merging?
Hi Stuart, thanks for getting back to me. My use-case is that I want to cut layers to build up topography in 3d. In particular though, my plan is to use the scrap to help align each layer on the underlying layers as I assemble. Whilst I can get each layer out nicely as a separate entity, re-arranging them as overlapping layers, so I get consistent alignment is where Iām trying to go.
This is what I managed to get using the test shape, but I think that was whilst playing with the code locally and flipping the zColor flags. Iāll have a bit more of a play.
Did you have any luck getting merged data out? I cannot make the software do this. I too am trying it with terrain. The āpreviewā and āexportā buttons donāt do anything when I have the model selected.
I can import a terrain model. I can slice the model. I can āpreviewā and āexportā the model, colored and all laid out. However, if I select āmergedā as an option, the āpreviewā shows the same as the sliced, sort of a 3d view of things. And export does nothing.
Looks like I can get it to work in 2.3 and 2.2, but not 2.4 or 2.5. Also, the algorithm is automatically closing the last two endpoints.
