Makerbot has announced upgrades to its proprietary 3D printing software with the release of MakerWare 1.1 and MakerBot Firmware 7.0! These upgrades bring with them a host of new features and the highlights include improvements in print quality as well as more automation, easier handling and overall improved experience.
The Makerware 1.1 upgrade sees significant improvements to MakerBot Slicer (formerly known as “Miracle Grue”) that enhances print quality on low and medium settings with higher accuracy and faster slicing. Furthermore, slicing profiles for Skeinforge and MakerBot Slicer are now fully editable. Also, users can now automatically arrange and optimise a cluttered build plate using the Auto Layout option.
MakerBot Firmware 7.0 reportedly brings with it greatly improved acceleration, using contributions from our rockstar community members, Jetty and dnewman, to allow for smoother movements, better quality on high-detail prints and a quieter machine. However, Makerbot does stress that Firmware 7.0 uses a new file format — X3G — for printing from an SD card. Users can export X3G files from MakerWare 1.1 or ReplicatorG 40. But X3G files are NOT compatible with firmware earlier than 7.0.
To get up to date with these upgrades, users are advised to download the latest version of MakerWare before attempting to install new Firmware.
Source: Makerbot
