Ideamaker wrong import STL scaling

[shaddow501]

Hello

I am using the IdeaMaker software to slice the models, it happen that when I import STL model I get this popup:
Model size exceeds the maximum printer build plate... But it is wrong!! (it gives me a model size that is XXXXX times bigger than the actual model, so big that I cannot see it anymore)

If I open the same STL file in CURA or Slic3r the model size is correct.
The version of IdeaMaker I use now is the latest beta 3.0.4 but it also happened on the latest non beta version.

What is causing the problem?

I have added the STL file so you can check.
It also happen with other STL files, the file I have uploaded it is just an example.

[John@Raise3D]

Thanks for your feedback and I have seen the same problem here as well. Our software team will look into this to find out why.
In the meantime, you can use the 'scale' button in the toolbar to manually type in the correct dimension.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Tried with Cura, it shows the the same as it is in ideaMaker.

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With Slic3r, it also ask too large whether you want to scale.

[vernie]

I noticed the same situation on my first test print using ideamaker. At first I wonder why it took more time to print the same model but I did not bother checking on the numbers. I did not notice right away the difference other than the one printed using ideamaker looks nice until I put the printed models side by side to check on details. The one done by ideamaker is bigger printed size than the one done by cura. The tiny difference in numbers is a huge size difference in actual print output. This is my first time using ideamaker.

Screenshot attached, both shows a 100% scale from imported stl file but the numbers on x, y and z shows the size differently. I did not do any scaling after import on both ideamaker and cura. It's funny to see the same version number for both ideamaker and cura at this time, 3.1.0, both on linux. The stl file used for comparison is also attached.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Checked the model with S3d, Slic3r, Makerbot Print and Meshmixer, all show the same dimension with ideaMaker.

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About printing time, there are lots of factors affecting this, printing speed of different structure, defined structures (Raft, Shell, Support, Layers), defined moving paths, accelerate settings of different machines. But such tiny difference of size won't affect a lot.

[Squenz]

Probably it's an comma versus dot error. German language and regional typeset numbers use the comma to define the decimal point in a number, US uses the dot. In US is the comma used to define three digit places before the decimal, in german typeset it's the dot for those things.

I see a lot of places inside Ideamaker where comma typed in coming from my keyboard works, but not everywhere. In other words, you actually have to watch what happens when you're trying to type a decimal number.

Now, if similiar behavior is inside the import algorythm, it could easily multiply size by 10^x, where x depends on the acual count of digits after the comma or dot (=the decimal point) inside the STL-file.

[vernie]

Ok, assuming we do not have any issues with the numbers on screen and that all different software claimed to have the 100% scale presented on the same model while keeping the same printer settings, the question now is why the print from ideamaker is bigger in physical size than the one from Cura? The output from Cura is of correct size or calibrated for they do match with the physical measurement after printing. I am looking into ideamaker for others reported having good prints with it and I like the feature that I can manually add individual support which I do not find in Cura. Recently I also noticed that there is a possibility I can save on plastic with ideamaker than with Cura when having support (Cura support uses more plastic by default) but with the current issue of not producing the correct size - I cannot use the software at all for the output is way off the actual dimension. I now checked on Cura output which I got 26.7mm on physical measurement while in ideamaker it is 27.2mm. Even I got longer print time, it is okay since I am testing but the cause of the longer print time is greatly because of printing a larger size and not because of some settings and algorithm. The final output size will be the deciding factor if the part is useable or not. If we print a 20mm cube, it should come out as 20mm cube and not 20.5mm. This 0.5mm difference is huge in 3D printing parts that should fit together. This 0.5mm difference is on all axis on the final output and is visually bigger also the first time you see it compared side by side with the print done with Cura which I already verified to work well in printing the correct size. Maybe a difference of 0.001mm can be ok for some applications but a 0.5mm?

[Vicky@Raise3D]

The model you need to print to be 26.7mm is not the one you uploaded above right?
The designed size of X or Y direction is 26.7mm in 3D modeling software? May I ask the STL to have a look?
What type of printer you are currently using with ideaMaker? Is it possible to test with a 20mm calibration cube to confirm the result?

[vernie]

The measurement I took was from the printed model of the above stl example, one sliced by Cura and another by ideamaker. I was thinking also of doing a 20mm calibration cube print but knowing a visually obvious difference (plus the difference was confirmed by actual measurement) of the output I did not bother wasting plastic. I am using Anycubic i3 Mega Ultrabase printer. I can't do the 20mm cube this time, the printer is in use for several hours printing.

[vernie]

Kindly check on the attached image. I tried to replicate all settings for both software even the infill pattern which is Cubic and 20% infill, all at 0.1 layer height. Both may have a different algorithm to implement things but looking at the numbers, I am not going to print this for it is very clear already which one uses more plastic. Look at the estimated time, way far from each other. Though Cura have 199 layers and Ideamaker have 198, still Ideamaker is way far out in terms of volume of plastic used. That's 4.6g on Ideamaker against 3g on Cura. The estimated time on Cura is 37minutes while on Ideamaker, it is 1hour 5minutes 7seconds. From experience, Cura usually will print 4 minutes longer on my setup than its estimated time. Ideamaker however printed a little lesser amount of time than its estimated time but it never came close to that of Cura. I am not going to waste prints on this, the numbers are there. The previous prints does the same thing, bigger output on Ideamaker - for that reason I searched for similar issue hoping it was already solved and found this forum.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

We tried with Cura 3.1 and ideaMaker 3.1 with the same model.
Using ideaMaker default High-Quality setting profile, edit infill ratio to be 20% and infill pattern to be cubic to match with Cura's UM3 profile. The estimated time are the same.

Attached the settings edited in Cura to match with ideaMaker.

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