Hey there! We are super excited to unveil the latest additions to the SimplyPrint platform - a feature that has been in the works for some time and is now ready for you to explore 🙌. Say hello to the new "Print Cost" feature, as well as the "Export print data as CSV" feature!
What's changed? TLDR;
- Added a to-the-cent cost calculation of your 3D prints
- Calculate using a variety of factors; electricity cost, printer run time cost, labor time, print time and of course material usage as well as material markup
- View cost estimates for files uploaded to the file system, the queue, and for prints you're about to start
- Automatically get updated costs based on actual print times and completion status
- Keep track of historical print costs even if settings or rates change
- View the total print cost of your farm in the "Statistics" page
- Read all about the more nerdy details of the new feature here; https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/all-about-the-print-cost-calculations-feature-19ck72x/
- Added "Export print data as CSV"
- Export Print History data (print job log)
- Export Print Statistics per-day data
- Export Print Statistics per-printer data
- Export Print Queue & finished queue jobs list
Diving into the 'Print Cost' Feature
The 'Print Cost' feature is a powerful tool for understanding and controlling the real costs associated with your 3D prints. With this addition to our platform, you can calculate what each print costs you or your company, ranging from basic calculations using the cost of the material, to more advanced estimations. The advanced calculations can take into account a variety of factors such as material markup, printer run time cost, electricity cost, and labor cost.
Possible because of the SimplyPrint Ecosystem
The 'Print Cost' feature is very accurate and was possible for us to integrate into the ecosystem, because of all the details you provide us with about your printer; the active material details, assigned spool, and now things like energy cost!
We hope you too will think this is a great new addition to the SimplyPrint ecosystem, leveraging the rich data our users provide about their materials. It shows cost estimations for files uploaded to the file system, the queue, and for prints you're about to start. This estimate is based off how long we estimate the print to take, and once the print is done, we run a new calculation based on how long the print actually took and whether it finished or was cancelled.
The material usage we get in millimeters, and we convert it to the correct gram amount based on the material assigned to your printer. As each material type has a different density, the "mm to gram" conversion can differentiate a lot - but as we know almost everything about your printer, we've got you covered!
The new "Export" feature
For users with the "Print Farm" plan, you can now effortlessly generate a CSV export of your print job data of everything from statistics, print job history to print queue data.
This has been a heavily requested feature from print farms and institutions, and we're happy to unveil it today! The suggestion was put in our Suggestion Box; https://suggestions.simplyprint.io/12.
Continued Improvements - thanks for your feedback!
Like so many times before, this update was made much better and much easier for us to develop, because of your support and feedback! Both newly added features were suggested by our users in the first place, and those very users helped provide feedback before, and during the development of the feature (via our Discord server - join it here; https://simplyprint.io/discord) - as usual, we appreciate and thank you for the feedback! ❤
Remember, we are always open to your feedback and suggestions. If you have ideas for more cool features for us to add, submit them in our suggestion box.
Hope you enjoy the update! As usual, let us know if you're having any issues, and how you're liking the feature!
Happy printing! 👋
Additional changelog: bug-fixes & more
- Added "Quick material change" spool icon to the "Start print" file selector menu, to allow you to quickly change filament or material details on your printer before starting a print, and provide you with a material-sanity check
- On the Control Panel, for printers that don't have any material data assigned, we now show a "Ghost"-spool that allows you to quickly edit the material data or assign a spool
- Made the print queue more compact, as we have recently added more columns, the queue item action buttons are now a bit smaller, and the printer selector field is squared rather than a long input-field
- Added Print Queue setting "Auto select printers on 'Start print'" (https://simplyprint.io/panel/settings/general)
- Moved the "Files uploaded" floating card to the left side of the screen, and made it auto-close after 10 seconds of the last file being uploaded - done to avoid main "CTA" (Call To Action) buttons such as "Add to queue" and "Start print" being hidden behind it (thanks to the community for making us aware of this being frustrating! 🙌)
- Improved how we display numbers; always show thousand-separators, and better logic behind when we show digits
- Removed excess "Print Queue" button on the Control Panel below printer image (main Queue button is located top right only now)
- Fixed slicer "OBJ" & "3MF" file type import bugs
- Fixed some "Permission" bugs (UI-only);
- Filament "Create" and "Delete" buttons showing if user didn't have permission
- When the "Set temperatures" permission was disabled, user couldn't even see the temperatures - they can now
- On disable of the "Control printer" permission, "Set print speed" was also hidden - fixed
- Fixed some small "Tag" printer matching material-related bugs
- Fixed small bugs in the API documentation, & added documentation for the "cost" feature (https://apidocs.simplyprint.io/)
- Fixed some general- & print-queue-related sorting bugs, where a newly added item would go to the top rather than to the bottom
- Fixed potential wrong percentage in tooltip of "Statistics: print status" doughnut chart