Cura is an open sourceslicing application for 3D printers. It was created by David Braam who was later employed by Ultimaker, a 3D printermanufacturing company, to maintain the software. Cura is available under LGPLv3 license. Cura was initially released under the open source Affero General Public License version 3, but on 28 September 2017 the license was changed to LGPLv3. This change allowed for more integration with third-party CAD applications. Development is hosted on GitHub. Ultimaker Cura is used by over one million users worldwide and handles 1.4 million print jobs per week. It is the preferred 3D printing software for Ultimaker 3D printers, but it can be used with other printers as well.
Technical specifications
Ultimaker Cura works by slicing the user’s model file into layers and generating a printer-specific g-code. Once finished, the g-code can be sent to the printer for the manufacture of the physical object. The open source software, compatible with most desktop 3D printers, can work with files in the most common 3D formats such as STL, OBJ, X3D, 3MF as well as image file formats such as BMP, GIF, JPG, and PNG.
Major software versions
7-Jun-2016 Ultimaker announced the new Cura major release 2.1.2, superseding the previous 15.04.6 version. Sept 2016 Version 2.3 was a major release. It includes new printing profiles, slicing features, as well as increasing speed. It also supported the dual extrusion possible with the Ultimaker 3 model 17-Oct-2017 The current major version, Version 3.0 updated the user interface and allowed for CAD integration. This was the first version with plugin support. Nov 2017 - Cura Connect was released to enable users to control, monitor, and configure a group of network-enabled 3D printers from a single interface. October 2018 - Beginning with version 3.5, all files are saved in the 3MF format for improved compatibility with other 3D software. Hotkeys were introduced as well as a searchable profile guide. Nov 2018 - Version 3.6 introduced material profile support for materials made by major manufacturers such as BASF, DuPont, Clariant, and other members of the Materials Alliance Program consortium. Note: starting with Cura version 3.1, USB connected printers are supported. If you have a USB only printer or wish to use USB connectivity, Cura 3.1 or later must be used. March 2019 - Version 4.0 released. Significant changes to the user interface were made. In support of plugin capabilities, a star-based rating system was incorporated to allow users to rate plugins. Cloud-backup functionality was added as well as support for more third-party printers.
Plugins
Release 3.0 introduced plugin capability. Users can develop their own plugins or use plugins commercially available. Plugins simplify workflow for users by allowing them to quickly perform tasks like opening a file from a menu or exporting a file from an application. Starting with Release 4.0, users can rate plugins using a star system. Current plugins include: SolidWorks, Siemens NX, HP 3D Scanning, MakePrintable, AutoDesk Inventor.
Media coverage
On August 31, 2014 Cura was included in a review of 3D slicing software by Think3DPrint3D In the summer of 2015, Ultimaker released Cura 2.0. On January 1, 2018, All3DP named Cura one of the best 3D slicer software tools. In 2019, Cura was named one of the top free 3D printing tools by the industry blog, G2 Cura was named Software Tool of the Year at the international 2019 3D Printing Industry Awards ceremony in London.
