What's New in 2019.0 (July 2018)

• Update Autodesk Network License Manager. This software is available in the Netfabb installer under Install Tools & Utilities.
• Generate a new network license file. To do so, visit your Autodesk Account page at https://manage.autodesk.com/cep/, find the new version of your product, and follow the link Generate network license file for your product. Then install this license file in the network license manager.

Refer to this article in the Netfabb Installation Supplement help for more details.

My Machines

• Access to and management of machine workspaces has had a thorough overhaul. With My Machines we focus on the daily needs of managing and operating parks of multiple additive manufacturing machines.
  • Define and load one or multiple build platforms including process parameters no later than during start-up of Netfabb.
  • Assign repair and support scripts.
  • Group machine definitions arbitrarily to separate prototyping from production machines, single-laser from multi-laser machines, machines on the first floor from those on the second, and so on.

  No more scrolling large lists of machines not in your arsenal, no more saving of empty projects to store machine settings!

• My Machines fully replaces the Machine Library dialog. If, before updating to 2019.0, you had set up any machines as favorites, or machines to be loaded with the start of Netfabb, these set-ups will not transfer over to the new system.
• A new view has been added to add existing machine workspace set-ups via double-click. Like all other views, this one can be placed somewhere in the window layout (underneath the project tree, for example).

New view for picking directly from My Machines

Support generation

• We introduced a new support action that is capable of deleting generated supports based on certain criteria. This is especially useful for cleaning up generated supports in builds with cavities where supports would be difficult, even impossible, to remove. This feature should be of particular interest to users who apply additive manufacturing in making molds for small objects like hearing aids.
• A new function allows to "replay" support actions that have been applied to a part, be it via script, or applying them manually. No need to reapply them again individually after modifying the part, including rotating, extruding, cutting, etc.
• The dialog to calculate and apply a density map has been refined and is now clearer to use. Also, the formula field has been removed; be advised that this may break your existing stress-to-density curve, so you may have to recreate it.

In addition to making Lattice Commander available in the Premium description, we have made extensive changes and improvements to it.

• Reordered the UI into three tabs: a tab with some statistics and ways to create or import components, including some examples, an overview tab for managing the selected component, and a tab for managing, and working on, the selected body
• Added a grid overlay to the lattice generation set-up to visualize the division of the space occupied by the mesh body into unit cells and to define the offset directly in the display:

  

• A new body property has been implemented that sets the role it plays when a part is generated from the component: With this property, you can decide whether to use the body as it is (or even ignore it), or to use it for trimming or voiding of lattices. For instance, you can use a body as a stencil to cut out sections of a lattice where you do not need it.
• We added a new function to generate a part from component bodies at the click of a single button.

While we were working on Lattice Commander's user interface, we also collated the different latticing tools into a common section of the project tree to have them all in one place.

Reporting

• Netfabb now supports templates created and maintained using Pentaho Report Designer version 8.0.

Lua Automation

• A new example application written in Lua and executed within Netfabb illustrates a working implementation of several of the example scripts we include by default.

Measurements

• With a new function of the measurements module you can generate blueprint documents on paper sizes up to ISO 216 4A0 and ANSI E.
  Note: A 64-bit Java runtime is now strictly required; previously, this was optional, and a 32-bit Java runtime was sufficient. Make sure to upgrade your Java runtime if you haven't already. To obtain the 64-bit version, visit https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and choose Windows Offline (64-bit).

3MF support

• For opening 3MF files, there is now an option to interpret components as groups.
• For exporting as 3MF, groups can be applied as components as well, making use of 3MF's instancing capabilities. The behavior can be toggled in the settings.
• Support for large counts of parts and triangles has been improved.

Misc

• The window layout is now saved when exiting Netfabb, so we removed the associated option from the System menu.
• Certain settings and information are now stored in a database. By default, this is a local SQLite database, but this can be changed to access an Microsoft® SQL Server® or MySQL™ database residing on the network.

  Items stored in the database:

  • My Machines definitions
  • Lua scripts (some example scripts are still present as files in the installation folder)
• General UI polishing
• Mesh-to-BREP received some improvements to UI and functionality:
  • We added an early check for certain mesh flaws that are not immediately reported but which can throw off the BREP algorithm some 10, 20, or more minutes into calculation. You now have the option to send the part directly to repair when Netfabb suspects such flaws to be present.
  • The default settings for the BREP parameters received an adjustment. By default, they are now determined automatically.
• The packing priority now applies to all packers, not just to the Monte Carlo packer.
• The part library has had a few parts added, including a selection of standardized material testing shapes to determine tensile strength and breaking points.
• The window elements we used to call frames we now call views.
• Support for multi-laser powderbed machines has been added, and you can assign lasers to individual parts. During generation of the visualization, a Build job analysis is shown that graphs the laser time against the build progress.

1. Physical process parameters displayed for all PRM files in the initial library dialog.
2. New icons provide quicker access to operations such as editing, scaling, and opening the stored location of a PRM file.
3. When user-created PRM files are deleted, all associated files are also deleted.
4. Log files are available for user-created PRM files.