Auto-tagging & auto printer model selection
In this article, we'll cover how our auto-tagging and automatic printer model selection works, shedding some light on where and how we find the information in your printable files.
Both auto-tagging and automatic printer model selection can be disabled in the settings. If it's not working for you, make sure to go to your settings, and make sure they're enabled.
The auto-tagging functionality in SimplyPrint is a powerful tool, where we use the Gcode Analysis result, to apply tags to your files. You can learn all about our Gcode Analysis feature here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6
If you're not yet familiar with the "Tags" feature in SimplyPrint, you can learn more about the feature here; tags.
As tags help us identify which printers match with a file, tagging files properly is powerful and often times quite important.
We can automatically, in most cases, apply 2 tags to your files; nozzle size and material details. That means we do not auto-apply any custom tags.
Both of these tags are based on the Gcode Analysis performed of the file. So, if the Gcode Analysis does not pick up the nozzle size or material data, we cannot auto-apply the tags of one or both.
You can check if your slicer supports nozzle auto-tagging here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6/#4-nozzle-size
Material tagging is a bit more complex, as a material tag includes up to 3 pieces of information;
Color code / "HEX"
Color name *
Material type
Of these 3, slicers don't often give us no. 2; the color name*. So, we're left with color code and material type in most cases!
Material type info:
While we take the color code "as is", the material type has to go through some processing on our end, for us to make sense of it.
The color type name must match with a material type from your filament settings. By default, you have a bunch of generic materials here. PLA, PETG, ABS, etc. - so, if the matched material type is "PLA", and you have the default settings, or your own custom "PLA" material type, you'll have a match! But, if you renamed "PLA" in SimplyPrint to "My PLA", it won't match.
This can be double-edged, though, as it also allows you to create new material types, just for your account, with the names that are exported in your sliced files. It might be "r-PLA" for recycled PLA, or a special name that the brand has given the spool, because it's too cool to just be "PLA", and they call it "PLA+"!
You can check if your slicer supports color code and/or material type auto-tagging here for color, and here for material type. One can be present without the other.
This feature was release on 19-04-2024. Any files uploaded before that were not subject to automatic printer model selection.
Upon uploading a file, based on the Gcode Analysis that we perform, where we analyze your file, we may be able to gather which 3D printer model this file is sliced for.
This is super useful, especially if you have multiple different 3D printers. Could be a Prusa MK3 and a Bambu Lab P1P; very different printers, requiring different print files.
You can check here if your slicer reports which 3D printer model the file is sliced for; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6/#4-what-printer-model-the-slice-is-for.
If you use the SimplyPrint slicer, we'll always know which printer model you sliced for. For all other slicers that we don't control, we may have to guess a little bit.
SimplyPrint has a large database of most 3D printers on the market, and when you set up a printer in SimplyPrint, you select one from this list. We use the brand and model name specified by the manufacturer, meaning if the sliced file includes that exact name, we'll easily be able to match it! But, some slicers and some slicer profiles are a bit more "lazy", and may just write "XL", without the brand name (looking at you, Prusa!), in which case, we have to be a bit clever about it. Here's how we do that;
The process to identify which 3D printer model a file is sliced for involves a series of checks to find the best possible match based on the identifier provided by the slicer.
Ignore List: We check if the identifier falls into a list of ignored identifiers, such as generic printer types. If the identifier is in this list, we do not proceed with further checks.
Perfect Match Search: Next, we attempt to find an exact match for the identifier among the list of printer models associated with your company. If a perfect match is found, that model is immediately returned.
Partial Match Logic: If an exact match is not found, we then check for partial matches:
- We first look for a match that includes both the brand and the full model name together.
- If the above fails, we check if the identifier includes the entire brand name. If it does, we further look for a match in the model name within the same brand. Additionally, if the company has only one model from this brand, we select that model.
- Lastly, if no matches have been found yet, we try to match just the model name.
By employing these methods, we significantly improve the likelihood of correctly identifying the printer model for each file, helping ensure that your files are always printed with the correct settings tailored for your specific printer.
If your printer model is not automatically selected for your files, it may not be defined in your Gcode file, or the name may be obscured to the level where we can't guess which model from our database, that it'd belong to.
There's also the case where you may have two different printer models from different brands, but where both models may have the same name, such as "XL", if all that is defined in the slicer profile and put in the Gcode, is "XL", we may select both of these printer models for the file.
Both of these - and any other cases - can, in most cases, be fixed by you, by modifying the printer profile or start Gcode, depending on your slicer. If you can find the line that we look for (you can see what exact line we look for here), and enter the full brand and model name of the printer, specified in our compatibility list. With the full name specified, we'll be able to more accurately select the printer model!
Feel free to reach out if the default slicer profile's printer model description is not picked up by SimplyPrint, as we may be able to add it to the list of checks to perform for that given printer.
If all goes wrong, you can disable the auto printer model selection feature in the settings.
Both auto-tagging and automatic printer model selection can be disabled in the settings. If it's not working for you, make sure to go to your settings, and make sure they're enabled.
Auto-tagging
The auto-tagging functionality in SimplyPrint is a powerful tool, where we use the Gcode Analysis result, to apply tags to your files. You can learn all about our Gcode Analysis feature here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6
If you're not yet familiar with the "Tags" feature in SimplyPrint, you can learn more about the feature here; tags.
As tags help us identify which printers match with a file, tagging files properly is powerful and often times quite important.
How we auto-tag, and what we can tag
We can automatically, in most cases, apply 2 tags to your files; nozzle size and material details. That means we do not auto-apply any custom tags.
Both of these tags are based on the Gcode Analysis performed of the file. So, if the Gcode Analysis does not pick up the nozzle size or material data, we cannot auto-apply the tags of one or both.
Nozzle auto-tagging
You can check if your slicer supports nozzle auto-tagging here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6/#4-nozzle-size
Material auto-tagging
Material tagging is a bit more complex, as a material tag includes up to 3 pieces of information;
Color code / "HEX"
Color name *
Material type
Of these 3, slicers don't often give us no. 2; the color name*. So, we're left with color code and material type in most cases!
Material type info:
While we take the color code "as is", the material type has to go through some processing on our end, for us to make sense of it.
The color type name must match with a material type from your filament settings. By default, you have a bunch of generic materials here. PLA, PETG, ABS, etc. - so, if the matched material type is "PLA", and you have the default settings, or your own custom "PLA" material type, you'll have a match! But, if you renamed "PLA" in SimplyPrint to "My PLA", it won't match.
This can be double-edged, though, as it also allows you to create new material types, just for your account, with the names that are exported in your sliced files. It might be "r-PLA" for recycled PLA, or a special name that the brand has given the spool, because it's too cool to just be "PLA", and they call it "PLA+"!
You can check if your slicer supports color code and/or material type auto-tagging here for color, and here for material type. One can be present without the other.
Automatic printer model selection
This feature was release on 19-04-2024. Any files uploaded before that were not subject to automatic printer model selection.
Upon uploading a file, based on the Gcode Analysis that we perform, where we analyze your file, we may be able to gather which 3D printer model this file is sliced for.
This is super useful, especially if you have multiple different 3D printers. Could be a Prusa MK3 and a Bambu Lab P1P; very different printers, requiring different print files.
You can check here if your slicer reports which 3D printer model the file is sliced for; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-gcode-analysis-feature-1klftk6/#4-what-printer-model-the-slice-is-for.
If you use the SimplyPrint slicer, we'll always know which printer model you sliced for. For all other slicers that we don't control, we may have to guess a little bit.
SimplyPrint has a large database of most 3D printers on the market, and when you set up a printer in SimplyPrint, you select one from this list. We use the brand and model name specified by the manufacturer, meaning if the sliced file includes that exact name, we'll easily be able to match it! But, some slicers and some slicer profiles are a bit more "lazy", and may just write "XL", without the brand name (looking at you, Prusa!), in which case, we have to be a bit clever about it. Here's how we do that;
How we determine printer models
The process to identify which 3D printer model a file is sliced for involves a series of checks to find the best possible match based on the identifier provided by the slicer.
Ignore List: We check if the identifier falls into a list of ignored identifiers, such as generic printer types. If the identifier is in this list, we do not proceed with further checks.
Perfect Match Search: Next, we attempt to find an exact match for the identifier among the list of printer models associated with your company. If a perfect match is found, that model is immediately returned.
Partial Match Logic: If an exact match is not found, we then check for partial matches:
- We first look for a match that includes both the brand and the full model name together.
- If the above fails, we check if the identifier includes the entire brand name. If it does, we further look for a match in the model name within the same brand. Additionally, if the company has only one model from this brand, we select that model.
- Lastly, if no matches have been found yet, we try to match just the model name.
By employing these methods, we significantly improve the likelihood of correctly identifying the printer model for each file, helping ensure that your files are always printed with the correct settings tailored for your specific printer.
Wrong or missing selections; what to do?
If your printer model is not automatically selected for your files, it may not be defined in your Gcode file, or the name may be obscured to the level where we can't guess which model from our database, that it'd belong to.
There's also the case where you may have two different printer models from different brands, but where both models may have the same name, such as "XL", if all that is defined in the slicer profile and put in the Gcode, is "XL", we may select both of these printer models for the file.
Both of these - and any other cases - can, in most cases, be fixed by you, by modifying the printer profile or start Gcode, depending on your slicer. If you can find the line that we look for (you can see what exact line we look for here), and enter the full brand and model name of the printer, specified in our compatibility list. With the full name specified, we'll be able to more accurately select the printer model!
Feel free to reach out if the default slicer profile's printer model description is not picked up by SimplyPrint, as we may be able to add it to the list of checks to perform for that given printer.
If all goes wrong, you can disable the auto printer model selection feature in the settings.
Updated on: 19/04/2024
Thank you!