Welcome to printer software v1.42. This release includes the following improvements to your print process:

Changes in how we print:

Print preparation improvements:

Printer ecosystem improvements:

Additional improvements:

Network Configuration Note

Printer software v1.42 includes a change to the default behavior for traffic between the printer server and a user’s browser. Websockets are now the primary mode of communication. Customers should ensure that their organization's firewall/network configurations allow websocket traffic before installing v1.42. Customers that encounter an inability to load projects after an update to v1.42 should alert their organization’s IT teams for assistance.

Version Availability Note

Note that certain printers (all M1s and some M2s) that contain an older server configuration may receive this software update later than other printers within your fleet to allow for additional validation by Carbon. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions about the timing of this update’s availability for your fleet of printers.

Carbon requires that customers update software regularly. With the exception of specified Version Lockable older version(s), Carbon does not support non-current software versions. If you require support but are running an unsupported software version, the first troubleshooting step is to move to a supported software version.

The following are supported printer software versions as of the publication of these release notes (March 2024):

Important Version Support Information for v1.42

Software v1.42 includes functionality that is incompatible with older, unsupported software v1.38 and below. Printers with this older software (v1.38 and below) will no longer function if any other printer in a customer’s fleet is updated to v1.42. To ensure uninterrupted printer function, update all printers to v1.42. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about updating your printer software.

If all printers in your fleet are on older, unsupported versions (v1.38 and below) and none are updated to v1.42, operation will not be impacted at this time. However, keep in mind that Carbon does not support non-current software versions, and operation of such software versions could be impacted at any time and without advance notice.

Any feature marked as “BETA” in the user interface and/or these release notes is considered by Carbon to be an Early-Access Technology. Early-Access Technologies may not be at the level of performance typical of a final product or feature offering, and such features may be altered or withdrawn by Carbon at any time and without warning.

“Brightlining” is a method to reduce the amount of light scattered during long exposure times at the base of a part. This technique is useful for reducing flashing. Brightlining can be especially helpful when printing elastomeric resins, which can be susceptible to large amounts of overcure/flashing at the base of parts that can impact part dimensions and/or make part labels, data matrices, or fine features on part bases less legible.

Carbon print engineers have traditionally altered print plans to enable brightlining for select EPU projects to reduce or resolve flashing near the base of parts. However, this approach is laborious and can be hard for customers to master independently. With this software update, brightlining is automatically enabled for EPU prints on all printer types to drive improved part accuracy.

Note that printing behavior changes are only applied to larger areas of parts (exterior wall thickness >3.2mm); thin geometries are not impacted.

This change applies only to EPU prints: rigid prints (including all dental resins) remain unchanged.

More specifically, EPU prints are affected by this change if they use…

EPU prints are not affected by this change if they use a custom print script ending in .py that does explicitly set brightline parameters

For EPU print scenarios outside of those listed above (eg, a print that uses a custom print script ending in .lua), or to double-check brightlining settings for any print, refer to information available in View Details, as well as the new Brightline graphs available in Print Plan Adjustments (See “New functionality via Print Plan Adjustments” for details).

While negative impacts are expected to be rare, this change could result in reduced part adhesion in some cases. If needed, brightline settings can be altered or removed via Print Plan Adjustments (reference guidelines for instructions, login required); contact [email protected] for assistance if needed.

In recent release cycles, Carbon has offered two options for slicing print projects: the original Polygon slicer (sometimes called “Gen1 Slicer”), and a newer Poisson slicer (sometimes called “Gen2 Slicer”). The Poisson/Gen2 slicer is now the default for new projects.

The new Default (Poisson/Gen2) slicer has proven to produce fewer slicing defects and more successful prints across a wide variety of geometries when compared with the Legacy (Polygon/Gen1) slicer. For high-quality meshes, slicing results have been validated as being substantively the same; for imperfect meshes, the new Default (Poisson) slicer is capable of handling mesh errors more ably, effectively closing holes during the slicing operation without requiring separate mesh repair. A technical overview of how the Poisson slicing algorithm works is available on our website.

Some projects will experience longer print analysis times (average of ~30% increase), as the new Default slicer processes some geometries more slowly than the Legacy slicer.

The Legacy slicer is still available via a drop-down option, and can be selected if needed. However, Carbon recommends using the Default slicer for all projects unless there is a specific, validated need to revert to the Legacy slicer.

Projects created prior to the installation of software v1.42 will retain their previous slicing setting (eg, the Polygon slicer will be used if an active selection of Poisson was never indicated). Consider updating slicing settings on these projects to the new Default for the best print results.

Gen2 Auto Layout, originally introduced in printer software v1.38, is no longer considered Beta functionality. Along with this evolution, Gen2 Auto Layout will now be displayed by default as the primary Auto Layout functionality. Gen1 Auto Layout can still be selected if/when desired.

For most applications, Gen2 is recommended and will provide the best overall packing density and speed. Gen1 may still be desired if you want to prohibit overlapping bounding boxes or if your project includes part(s) that are composed of multiple disconnected shells.

Gen2 Auto Layout offers a new “Optimize starting rotation” option. Enabling this function adjusts each part’s starting rotation to minimize its bounding box (XY) before running the layout operation.

This capability can improve overall build density (especially for dental models), but it may be undesirable in cases where the parts’ initial rotations are intentional (e.g, for printability or post-processing concerns).

Print Plan Adjustments (also sometimes called Advanced Controls) offers the following new functionality:

Associated graphs are also available.

More information is available on Carbon Academy (login required).

Select exposure parameters now mutually exclusive

The following Print Plan Adjustments exposure parameters are now mutually exclusive. Only one of these parameters can be set for any given slice(s):

If a project uses Print Plan Adjustments to alter more than one of these parameters for the same slice, the printer will now display an error when the project is analyzed or printed.

Why did Carbon make this change?

Exposure parameters have always functioned according to interrelated dominance rules in the printer's software: the bulleted list above is in the order of dominance for these factors, with the Exposure Time parameter being the highest ranking. This means that projects with multiple exposure parameters have always actually relied on the single highest-ranking parameter. As of v1.42, Carbon's software will allow setting only a single exposure parameter per slice to avoid confusion about which parameter is governing the slice's exposure.

What should be done to address this error?

Refer to the displayed error to determine which parameter(s) need to be adjusted and for which slice(s). When determining which parameter(s) to delete from slices, delete the non-dominant parameter(s) for affected slices to resolve the error without changing print behavior.

For example, if you encounter an error indicating that both Exposure Time and Exposure Compensation are set for the same slice(s), remove Exposure Compensation from your adjustments to the print plan, as Exposure Time is the dominant parameter in this case and has been de facto controlling this element of your print. The print's effective exposure will remain unchanged as a result.

Textures will now process more quickly and with fewer errors.

Textures are an optional software feature; contact [email protected] for access if needed. Texturing is a Beta functionality at this time.

Keep in mind that textures are applied using cloud-based functionality, and thus any model that is textured will be sent to the Carbon Cloud for processing. Texturing a part requires accepting this off-printer, cloud-based interaction.

Customers with access to Design Engine Pro should note that texturing is also available via that interface; improved tools for patch selection and additional controls over texture parameters may make a Design Engine-based texturing workflow more appealing in some use cases.

The Advanced Autosupports tool leverages Finite Element Analysis to automatically create support structures based on anticipated slice-by-slice print forces. However, the tool is slow (with most requests taking >1 hour), and a review of user data revealed that less than 1% of autosupport requests leverage FEA functionality. This indicates that in the vast majority of cases, the modest performance gain from using Advanced Autosupports is not large enough to warrant the required waiting time. Additionally, users have responded positively to improved manual supporting functionality (including an updated workflow for applying supports to selected patches), which continues to be the workflow of choice for production applications.

In order to simplify our overall toolset, Carbon has opted to deprecate this offering, and Advanced Autosupports (FEA Autosupports) are no longer available.

For software versions prior to and including v1.41, all Carbon printers offer a “Reprint” button on the print record for any completed print.

“Reprint” attempts to print the project again, using the same slices and previously calculated print plan. Carbon is partially retiring Reprint functionality in software v1.42, and fully retiring it as of v1.43 (anticipated summer 2024).

As Carbon’s product line has matured, re-using slices and print plans has become less and less appropriate and less and less likely to net the intended results. Slices and print plans are intended to vary based on specific hardware at a specific point in time; re-using these assets ignores changes in hardware (eg, natural degradation of the light engine or the use of a different cassette) that require new slicing and print plan calculation to yield the expected results.

Additionally, Reprint is not compatible with all recent and planned software improvements, and simply may not work in all situations going forward.

Reprint is disabled on all M3 and M3 Max printers. While the functionality will remain available on other printers, Carbon recommends that customers begin transitioning away from use of the Reprint button due to the possibility of print-time errors or unexpected print results.

The Reprint button will be replaced with a “Print Again” button that will allow users to easily print the same project again from the print record, but with newly prepared slice and print plan data that are appropriate for the current state of all hardware. Reprint as it previously existed (print again using the same slices and print plan) will no longer be available.

For a given project, slicing and print plans are designed to yield the same results print-to-print, assuming the following are true:

Actual slices and print plans may vary subtly from print to print in service of the goal of creating the same print result. Slicing and print planning are designed to adjust to very small differences in printer and cassette hardware (eg, natural light engine variation and minute differences in individual cassette heights).

To accurately reprint a project, return to the project itself and queue a new print. For more information on specific workflows options, contact [email protected].

M3 and M3 Max printers will abort a print and alert the user if solid debris is detected in the resin at the start of a print.

Any debris in the resin pool poses a hazard to printing by (a) damaging cassettes (a descending print platform can push debris into or through the cassette window) and/or (b) causing print failures or defects (when a floating piece of debris disrupts a print). Even very small fragments of cured resin or external debris (less than 1mm) can be problematic. Detecting such fragments will improve print outcomes and reduce the overall cost of operation of Carbon printers by protecting the health and longevity of cassettes.

When debris is detected, filter or replace resin before continuing. (Remember that most debris will be too small to easily spot visually in the resin.) Select “Debris Removed” to resume printing; the project that was previously disrupted will still be at the top of the print queue. An override option is available in the unlikely event that no debris can be located/removed and the print continues to abort. Please be aware that using this option risks cassette damage.

This behavior is in effect for all resins with one exception: PAC-DENT® Rodin™ Sculpture. This resin is excluded from debris detection due to its thick, pudding-like consistency and non-Newtonian behavior. Use extra caution when working with this resin. Carbon expects to enable debris detection for this resin in a future release.

Rigid prints on M3 and M3 Max printers may be slightly faster (~20-40 seconds) when compared with software v1.41. This change in print time is due to refinement of the debris detection functionality only, as an early version of the feature was in development during previous software versions and required more processing time. It does not represent any change to behavior during the print itself.

Elastomeric prints on M3 and M3 Max printers may experience a slight increase to overall print time (<1 min) to account for the introduction of the debris detection step.

Contact [email protected] if you have concerns related to this feature’s impact on a specific application.

Based on data collected thus far, an average of 0.5% of prints have debris in the resin. If you encounter the debris detection workflow more frequently than that, consider making broader changes to your cassette care regimen to safeguard both your hardware and your print outcomes. Automated detection is not meant to be a substitute for good processes and cassette hygiene.

Carbon expects to enable debris detection for all or some L1 prints in a future release. Because this feature relies on Force Feedback, it will not be made available on M1 or M2 printers.

M3 and M3 Max printers will abort a print and alert the user if there is too little resin in the cassette for the print, or if there is too much resin to proceed safely.

Too little resin can lead to a failed print or a completed print with visible evidence of resin starvation. Too much resin in the cassette may overflow into the printer when the platform descends, damaging the printer.

When an inappropriate amount of resin is detected, add or remove resin before continuing. Select “Resin Corrected” to resume printing; the project that was previously disrupted will still be at the top of the print queue. An override option is available if needed; use this option with caution, as overriding the warning increases the risk of poor print results and/or hardware damage.

Estimates of the amount of resin required for a specific print are imperfect due to the impacts of individual part geometries on resin flow and entrapment. Resin level detection is tuned with a bias against unnecessarily alerting for low resin in “close but not quite” situations. We are interested in learning about users’ experiences with this tool. Please report any issues with required resin estimates or resin level detection to [email protected].

Carbon expects to enable resin level detection for all or some L1 prints in a future release. Because this feature relies on Force Feedback, it will not be made available on M1 or M2 printers.

Select legacy L1 projects that use a custom-built “required resin” feature are not impacted by this change and will continue to function as-is.

A cassette lid is now available for M3 cassettes to prevent external debris from falling into cassettes when not in use. The lid should be removed prior to printing. If a lid is accidentally left in place at the start of a print, M3 printers will abort the print and alert the user.

Contact [email protected] to purchase M3 cassette lids. Lids are not planned for L1 or M3 Max cassettes at this time.

Note that M2 cassette lids are available, but cannot be detected because the detection feature relies on Force Feedback; ensure that your workflows remind operators to remove cassette lids prior to printing to avoid hardware damage.

When a print aborts due to detected debris, an inappropriate resin amount, or a cassette lid, operators should be careful to press “Debris Removed / Resin Corrected / Lid Removed” or “Override Warning” only once. Pressing either button more than once can result in the print project being added to the print queue multiple times. After pressing a button to acknowledge or override the warning, please allow several seconds for the machine to receive and respond to the command.

Patch version v1.42.0-1576.61 disallows multiple button presses and should eliminate the possibility of re-queuing the same project more than intended. Contact [email protected] for access to this patch if it has not yet been released to your printer(s).

Carbon printers automatically store model data associated with each project and print. For some high-throughput printers printing many one-off parts (eg, those used in scaled aligner manufacturing), this can result in a printer’s disk space filling up unacceptably quickly.

Upon request, Carbon can configure printers to automatically delete models older than a specified number of days. Carbon may contact select customers about this option when a need is identified; customers can also contact [email protected] to request this functionality for one or more printers.

To discourage users from turning off or restarting printers while a software update is running (which can cause a server failure that requires a service visit to remedy), additional onscreen messaging has been added to the printer screen while the update is installing.

You can now specify that only Admins can accept/install software updates for your printers. This feature may be useful to organizations that have restrictions around when and how software updates are accepted.

To enable this setting, an Admin user should navigate to Company Feature Settings (via the Carbon dashboard at print.carbon3d.com) and turn “Only Admins can update printer software” to ON, then press UPDATE at the bottom of the page to save the new setting.

When this setting is enabled, Users and Operators will no longer see notifications about pending software updates. Please ensure that Admins are aware of and responsive to new software notifications, as Carbon printers must be on current software versions in order to receive full support.

This feature can be enabled or disabled at any time. “Admin only” software update acceptance applies to installations of printer software v1.42 or later. Printers must have v1.41 installed in order for the feature to work as intended (updating to v1.42 from an older version may not restrict access as expected).

While the features described above are the most noticeable and impactful changes in this software release, there are some additional minor changes you might want to be aware of.

The following issues have been resolved with this release.

Update for v1.42.0-1576.49

Force sensor issue resolved for all force feedback printers (M3, M3 Max, L1). This issue was previously resolved on a subset of M3 Max printers only.

Update for v1.42.0-1576.57

This version contains minor improvements to allow for expanded deployment to a larger set of printers. Users should experience no functionality differences.

[This issue is resolved in 1.42.0-1576.60; contact [email protected] if you have not yet received that patch but are encountering this issue.] Users of the optional Texturing feature should note that requesting multiple textured patches on a single part may fail. If this occurs, consider retrying the request or using Design Engine to texture your part. A fix for this issue is forthcoming.

Update for v1.42.0-1576.60

This version contains the following improvements:

Update for v1.42.0-1576.61

Resolves an issue in which a user responding to an alert about detected debris, an inappropriate resin amount, or a cassette lid (M3 and M3 Max printers only) could press a button more than once and inadvertently queue multiple copies of a project to the printer.

While Carbon encourages customers to stay current with software updates to access the latest features and printing improvements, we recognize that some production applications have stringent validation rules and may be better served by a stable software version. For this reason, Carbon offers a Version Lock program that allows customers to stay on a single, specified version of software for up to three years, with full support.

v1.39 is available for Version Lock. If you are interested in placing your printer(s) on Version Lock, contact [email protected].

We love hearing from you about your workflow, your parts, and how we can improve. You can reach out to the Carbon Support Team at [email protected].