The Cura 5.10 beta introduces the UltiMaker S8, 3D mouse support, and more!

The Cura 5.10 beta release is here, and it brings support for the new Ultimaker S8, as well as new materials and profiles for previously supported UltiMaker printers. In addition, you can now control your models in Cura using a 3D SpaceMouse and more!

Support added for the new UltiMaker S8

The super-productive UltiMaker S8 was just announced and is now supported in Cura. The S8 is the newest professional desktop printer in the S series, and it achieves up to 4x the speed of its predecessor while also improving print quality. That is possible thanks to the new UltiMaker Cheetah motion planner and new high flow cores, all of which will be usable at launch with Cura!

Check out the full announcement for more info about the S8, or go straight to the product page to order one for yourself.

Interact with your object using the 3D SpaceMouse by 3Dconnexion

Support for the SpaceMouse has been added in this release. Commonly used in CAD and 3D design software, a 3D mouse makes working with 3D models more precise and efficient. The SpaceMouse, along with the CadMouse, are a perfect fit for Cura and should help make your 3D printing workflows more efficient, especially when switching between Cura and CAD or design software. A big thanks to 3Dconnexions for helping to make this integration possible!

New materials and intent profiles for UltiMaker and MakerBot printers

Several new intent profiles have been added in this release. All UltiMaker Method printers now have ‘High Speed’ and ‘High Speed Solid’ profiles, while the Sketch Sprint now has ‘Visual’, ‘Extra Fast’, and ‘Draft’ profiles.

In addition, Method X and XL printers both have new material profiles for the PC-ABS and PC-ABS-FR materials. All S series printers also now have support for the Nylon Slide material and all Sketch printers have a new Metallic PLA material profile.

Lastly, the MakerBot Replicator+ printer is also now supported in Cura!

Upcoming changes for USB-connected printing

A heads up for anyone who uses Cura with a USB-connected printer. From Cura version 5.11 onwards, we are changing how printing via USB works. Note that this refers to having your PC and printer directly linked via a USB cable, not printing with a USB hard drive.

In Cura 5.11, USB printing will no longer be enabled by default. Instead, it will be disabled by default, and new users will need to enable USB printing manually if they wish to use it. Anyone who has already printed using USB before updating will not have their settings changed and can continue printing as normal.

The reason for this change is that many people now print wirelessly or via USB hard drive/SD card, and this functionality was causing more people errors than it was helping. In this release, we have already added the ‘Enable/Disable USB Printing’ setting in the preference menu so that you can set your preference now in preparation for the next release. Don’t worry, though; the functionality is not going anywhere, and you will still be able to enable it later at any point, even if you do not take any action now.

Keep printing over cloud – quick action needed

A quick heads-up for anyone using Digital Factory to print over the cloud. To keep things running smoothly, you may need to update to a workspace. We made some changes for non-subscribed users in November 2023, and if you haven’t updated yet, now’s the time! Just click here, or check your account settings—it should only take a few seconds and does not require a paid subscription. If you have already joined someone else's workspace without upgrading your account, you may still need to make a workspace. Please follow these support instructions to find out how!

Additional improvements

The following improvements have also been implemented in the Cura 5.10 beta release:

• You can now tune the Bottom Surface Skin, like you can tune the Top Surface Skin! You can now tune Extruder, Layers, Line Width, Pattern, Line Directions, Outer Wall Flow, Inner Wall(s) Flow, Flow, Outer Wall Speed, Inner Wall Speed, Skin Speed, Inner Wall Acceleration, Skin Acceleration, Outer Wall Jerk, Inner Wall Jerk, Skin Jerk, and Monotonic Bottom Surface Order
• Introduced a new Marlin-like Gcode flavor called Cheetah
• Enabled printing over the cloud with Digital Factory for Sketch Sprint users
• Moved Interlocking materials settings out of experimental and into expert
• Upgraded the build system from Conan 1 to Conan 2. Updated documentation is available
• Added an option to flip the Y-axis translate tool handle in preferences, contributed by @GregValiant
• Introduced rotation by input & snap angle input, contributed by @GregValiant
• Added a Purge Lines and Unload Filament Post Processing Script, contributed by @GregValiant
• Enabled the "Open in Cura" button from Thingiverse to open files in Linux, contributed by @hadess
• Introduced 3 new configuration options in machine settings for multitool printers, contributed by @TheSin-
• Significantly improved the Search and Replace post-processing plug-in with features like replacing only the first instance, limiting search to a layer range, and ignoring start-up or ending G-code, contributed by @GregValiant and @FieldofView

Note that Cura 5.10 supports Mac OSX 12 Monterey or higher. This is because the tools that we use to create Cura builds no longer support older versions of Mac OSx.

Check out the full release notes on GitHub for a complete list of changes.