v1.44

overview welcome to printer software v1 44 this release includes the following improvements to your print process v1 44 /#changes in how we print avoid “striping” print defects on large, flat surfaces v1 44 /#print preparation improvements enhanced control over part locations in the build space v1 44 /#printer ecosystem improvements debris detection is available for more workflows v1 44 /#additional improvements minor changes miscellaneous bugfixes version details v1 44 0 1714 24 released to select printers on or after 08/06/2024 v1 44 0 1714 28 released to select printers on or after 09/04/2024 v1 44 0 1714 29 released to select printers on or after 10/03/2024 v1 44 0 1714 30 released to select printers on or after 10/28/2024 m3 printers that are scheduled to receive an ao backpack in september or october 2024 will not receive v1 44, and will instead receive a special software update upon backpack delivery and installation contact support\@carbon3d com if you have subscribed to an ao backpack for the m3 printer and would like to discuss your specific software update plans additionally, certain printers are not eligible to receive this software version until they receive a no cost hardware upgrade from carbon’s service and support team current exclusions are as follows select m1 and m2 printers contain an older server configuration and must receive a server upgrade select m3 max printers contain an outdated light engine component and must receive a replacement carbon has contacted or will contact affected customers directly, but please reach out to support\@carbon3d com with any questions about the hardware configurations for your fleet of printers version support note 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 (august 2024) v1 44 (current version) v1 43 (most recent version; supported until december 2024) v1 42 (prior version; supported until october 2024) v1 39 (supported until april 2026 if your printer is enrolled in version lock ) beta features note any feature marked as “beta” in the user interface and/or 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 changes in how we print avoid “striping” print defects on large, flat surfaces carbon has observed that projects featuring wide, flat surfaces in the xy plane can sometimes display print defects that present as horizontal stripes or striations on a surface that should be flat and smooth such defects stem from certain mesh triangulation patterns containing long triangle edges, which are sometimes negatively impacted by carbon’s optical corrections the defect can be most visible on the l1 and m3 max printers, which feature a wide printing area example unintended horizontal striping on wide, flat surfaces to prevent further occurrence of this type of print defect, carbon has improved our method of handling such geometries this change impacts projects prepared on printer software v1 44 or later , in all resins and on all printer types, and with either slicer (default or legacy) while all part geometries are subject to the change, parts with small features or curved surfaces (including lattices and dental applications) are unlikely to display printing differences due to a lack of long sided triangles in the representative mesh projects prepared on v1 43 or earlier are not impacted ; if you have a project created on a prior software version that suffers from this print defect, consider re creating the project on v1 44 to take advantage of this printing improvement note that the project must be fully re created to access the change; duplicating a project will retain prior settings and behavior print preparation improvements enhanced control over part locations in the build space preserve original model positions upon upload when a new project is created, you can now opt to preserve the original model positions (xyz coordinates) this may be useful if you have set relative positions of parts in design software and wish to retain those positions on the print platform to enable this function, check “preserve original model positions” in the project creation dialog leaving this box unchecked will place part(s) near the center of the platform example a new “preserve original model positions” checkbox provides additional functionality during project creation additional notes and considerations after uploading any part(s) with retained xyz coordinates, inspect your build carefully to ensure it is appropriate for printing if z coordinates are negative, part(s) will be lifted to the platform surface individual parts’ positions will be impacted by resin and part specific correction scale factors (review v1 39 released in v1 39, for a recap of this feature); while such adjustments will be dimensionally small, inspect finely tuned builds carefully – especially if they include multiple different part geometries or very sensitive spacing if automatic correction scale factors impede successful retention of very precise part locations, consider scaling parts pre upload in your design software (eg, design engine), and then setting correction scale for all parts to a value of 1 after uploading to a print project regardless of what is selected at project creation, any parts uploaded to the project at a later time will not retain xyz coordinates and instead will be placed as close as possible to the center of the build platform this feature is not recommended for use for dental applications, as parts created at z>0 could inadvertently be imported floating about the platform and require remediation before printing move parts in z a new option in the layout tab allows users to set the location of parts in the z dimension (eg, to place them at a certain height above the platform) find this tool at the bottom of the layout panel example “set z location” is available in the layout panel important notes for using this functionality if a set z location is beyond the height boundary of the available print space (different by printer type), part(s) will be lowered to fit within the maximum build height individual parts’ set z locations will be impacted by resin and part specific correction scale factors (review v1 39 , released in v1 39, for a recap of this feature); while such adjustments will be dimensionally small, inspect your build carefully if precision is paramount select customers may have previously been granted this functionality as an optional software feature (eg for use with the ao stack workflow); in such cases, this functionality is unchanged with this release printer ecosystem improvements debris detection is available for more workflows gen2 aligner model production solution (l1) l1 printers using the gen2 aligner model production solution (hollow models with uma20 resin, using an appropriate print profile per carbon’s instruction) will now abort a print and alert the user if solid debris is detected in the resin at the start of the 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 detection of such fragments is intended to help 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 be aware that using this option risks cassette damage example user facing alert when debris is detected note that not all sizes and shapes of debris can be detected care should always be taken to keep debris out of the cassette/resin and off of the print platform debris detection is not available for other resins/workflows on the l1 printer at this time pac dent® rodin™ sculpture resin (m3 and m3 max) when debris detection was introduced for m3 and m3 max printers in printer software v1 42, pac dent® rodin™ sculpture resin was excluded due to its thick, pudding like consistency and non newtonian behavior carbon has now enabled debris detection for this resin (m3 and m3 max printers only) additional improvements 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 when using the measure tool, press the esc key after placing a first measurement point to end the measure action; you will remain in measure mode until you de select the tool from the bottom toolbar on the l1 printer, the default cassette type used for project analysis if no cassette is currently installed is now b1 (changed from c2) to better represent customer usage patterns minor improvements have been added to part supporting workflows when selecting a bar or fence support to review its parameters, the ui will automatically update to show the relevant ui (bars or fences), even if the user was most recently viewing a different tab parameters for a selected support remain visible when a user enters edit mode for supports the above improvements build on the support editability improvements offered via v1 43; review v1 43 release notes for more information miscellaneous bugfixes the following issues have been resolved with this release the cloud based print database is reliably updated in the following circumstances following a failed print when a print is completed during a network outage a solution is available to address a potential cause of full or partial frame exposures between print slices that may result in print defects that present as horizontal lines or webbing across all or part of a print this resolution is currently being enabled optionally based on need; if you believe you have encountered this print defect, contact support\@carbon3d com note about deprecated “reprint” functionality carbon previously offered a “reprint” functionality that printed a project again using a stored print plan and slices reprint was deprecated for all printers as of v1 43 (m3/max in v1 42), and replaced with a “print again” functionality that supports the same workflow but with newly calculated slices and print plan while no new reprints (using stored print plans and slices) could be queued/requested as of v1 43, carbon has observed that some printers with long queues had reprints that were enqueued using a prior software version, but printed after the installation of v1 43 on v1 43, those reprints could still print successfully on v1 44, however, any previously queued reprints (queued using v1 42 or earlier) will not print if you experience a print error that presents as “internal server error” for a previously queued reprint request, return to the original project and press print again updates update for v1 44 0 1714 28 resolves a bug in which printers did not display the “preparing” screen during print preparation/processing after a user pressed “start print” at the printer for a project that was queued remotely (“project queued remotely” could apply to a print queued to any printer via the api, including automatically prepared prints, and/or a print prepared on printer 1 and then queued to and started at printer 2) while the print would eventually start despite the lack of the “preparing” screen, the lack of the “preparing” indication led some users to press “start print” multiple times, which resulted in a “project busy” error update for v1 44 0 1714 29 introduces a new print template to reduce flashing for epx 150 parts with fine slicing available for select customers based on demonstrated need update for v1 44 0 1714 30 this limited release update, provided to select early access printers only, enables the use of the m3 and m3 max ao polishing cassette with certain compatible resins carbon expects that the m3/max ao polishing cassette will be available to all customers in 2025 version lock 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, with full support through april 2026 carbon expects to designate a new version lock offering in 2025 (with long term support offered until 2028) if you are interested in placing your printer(s) on version lock, contact support\@carbon3d com feedback and early access we love hearing from you about your workflow, your parts, and how we can improve reach out to the carbon support team at support\@carbon3d com to share feedback interested in receiving early access to new features and functionality? contact support\@carbon3d com to be added to our early access user group