nanoDLP

macdarren

Member

Registered: 2017-03-20

Posts: 411

Layer Video....

I frequently find myself sweeping thru most or all layers of a print prior to clicking Start.
This is nothing against NanoDLP but just at this stage in 3D printer world committing,
to a print can often mean real expense or on some machines printer damage if there is some 'problem',
and slicers are still fickle things. Sometimes not doing exactly what is expected.

At any rate my eye is fairly well trained at spotting potential issues, what I would like is a layer video,
one that shows the layers just like the preview and clicking the advance button...but driven either a fixed
or clickable rate maybe something like 2 frames per second...it would just start at the current frame
and stream through the remaining frames so I don't have to keep clicking the advance frame button.

I'd suggest just adding a button to the plate preview screen that looks like a the standard triangle play button (no line like the frame advance button)
It would then just move thru all subsequent frames at some fixed rate...maybe clicking again would double or just increase the speed or something.

I think this is better than scrubbing the horizontal bar which at present just jumps to the final position frame and might not have the fine frame by frame I'd
like even it it updated as the bar was scrubbed.

And just as a side note..I kinda think it might be more intuitive if the bar were vertical...Like the printer prints, however I know it shows a time line so horizontal also makes some sense,
and given the aspect of most screens maybe horizontal better.

Thanks for all the hard work on NanoDLP
Darren

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Layer Video....

Thank you for good suggestion Darren.
Added to backlog.

Yianni-VJ

Member

Registered: 2016-05-24

Posts: 95

Re: Layer Video....

I agree 100%.
In my case, my printer is in a remote location behind a VPN and I cannot slide to spot errors.
The video feature will be a great help!

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Layer Video....

Available on the latest beta.

macdarren

Member

Registered: 2017-03-20

Posts: 411

Re: Layer Video....

Thanks for the Feature Add...

FYI: 

I just updated to v2453...I see the play button and what I presume is a layer display time edit box.
Clicking play does not seem to cause the system to advance (nothing seems to happen at all)

....and I clicked it several times which seemed to result in either a crash or temporary failure to respond....

I could not return to plate screen had to close out and go back in...not sure possibly a browser issue.
I was using Safari on OS X Catalina...I will test some more with a couple other browsers and OS

Follow up...it definitely works differently from browser to browser....
using Firefox on the same system I get the streaming presentation however,
in approximately 3 places in a 500 layer print it seems to stall out.....
The images stop changing for several seconds....but frame number and slider bar continue to advance,
then it suddenly catches up and jumps to the new image and resumes playback.

I thought at first it was just how the model was but that is not the case.
Clicking stop during a stall, stops the video and displays the correct layer not the one that was frozen.

It seems to happen in the same point in the same model, and it doesn't matter where I start the playback.
It does stall at different frames on different plates.

Also maybe it is intentional but while playing things like dimming do not show until the stop is clicked.
That is probably not an issue...I had assumed the dimming was baked into the image files but maybe it is
computed and thus can't be done at high frame rates...

Love how nanoDLP keeps advancing...

Last edited by macdarren (2019-11-24 19:52:13)

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Layer Video....

1. Make sure resources are not cached on your browsers. Behaviour should be same.
2. For stalls check resource usage. It is very simple logic, maybe it putting to much pressure on resources. Slow down delay see if it works.
3. Dimming should be fine as it baked into image, maybe delay is too low and browser could not render them completely.

macdarren

Member

Registered: 2017-03-20

Posts: 411

Re: Layer Video....

I got this working however, maybe my systems are sub-par but I find the default frame interval is too short for anything I have to actually have the video mode work.
for me at least something like 0.25 usually works....not suggesting this be the default but maybe that the default can be set somewhere so it always
sticks at something the user has determined to work.

Also the video process should stop at the last frame...on my system it seems to just keep refreshing that last frame.

Which points out another oddity that I have always seen with nanoDLP and that is that the preview screens seem to
jump around just slightly when refreshing or moving to next layer....it is not terrible but my eye / mind has a tendency to
compare layers to the previous one and that subtle jump makes this more difficult as if you are focused on a spot and then
it shifts it is harder to say that it is correct or if something got sliced or supported oddly.

Thanks for all the work and listening to the users.

Last edited by macdarren (2019-12-11 23:54:41)

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Layer Video....

Darren,
All items corrected and will be pushed online with the next version.