A short review of Preform 0.8.4 for Mac

• Zooming with the scroll wheel is reversed
• Software doesn’t use Mac OS X interface for the menus (File, Edit etc) (as in developers’ guidelines)
• Formlab logo is mistaken for a button (to the website)

• Window keeps opening maximized

• Files browser doesn’t interact with Mac OS X file browser (can’t drop folder/file  to use)
• Double clicking a .form or .stl doesn’t load it in Preform
• Can’t save sliced model (can’t slice a model (long process) while printed is disconnected, can’t share it, can’t use it again)

• Supports can’t be deleted

• In some cases (butterflyclip) duplicating a model with its supports traps one occurrence in the other’s supports (does it again if all supports are regenerated)

• Can’t generate support inside the object (possible in FDM)

• Can’t reset support settings

• Size can’t be set in mm/in. (I use this all the time, the lack of it would force me to use another software or to make some calculation based on the percentage.)
• Model can be resized to be bigger than the maximum build envelope.
• Resizing is done by moving the cursor up/down or left/right instead of from/to the centre of the model (counter intuitive)
• Can’t set rotation angle (only weird XYZ positioning)
• Some STL that don’t need mesh repair are said to need one, Preform crashes if repair is chosen

Thanks for the thoughts, Corn! We’re aware of some of the issues and questions you have, and we’re doing our best to make the software better. We’re improving our support-generation algorithms all of the time, so you should see the results of that in coming down the line.

Would you mind posting a STL that causes PreForm to crash, as you say? We’re particularly interested in seeing if we can replicate that issue here at the HQ! Thanks!

How to crash Preform:

  1. drop the attached file onto the work area

  2. agree to repair it

MKBT_TorTes_Th64549.stl

No crash here. (macos 10.8.4; Macbookpro 2.3Ghz; ic i7; 16GB ram)

  1. Open File (or drop onto work area)

  2. agree to repair

  3. File opens

no crash

Thanks, Corn! Can you open up a ticket with us at support@formlabs.com? Please include the crash report that you’re seeing when PreForm goes down – as well as any other details you might have. We’re having some issues repeating it in house, but we do want to investigate it more completely. Does this happen every time?

likewise, I have no problem running on an HP Elitebook Win 64bit.  It took less than 2 seconds to repair and display.  No crashes for me.  Sorry Corn, it may be a local problem…

I opened the file by dragging and dropping on work area.

No crash.  I did select the repair option.

MBP 10.8.4 2.66 i7 4mb ram

Funny.

Your model did not crash here, but I have the same problem with many of my models. Including the gyrocube from Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19026)

Hmmm, I’m not seeing issues with our latest software, Will. What machine are you using – are you using the OS X version as well? We’d be really curious to see any models that are crashing PreForm.

I seem to encounter the problem when using the “open” function. Sometimes it crashes even as I click File > Open. If I on the other hand choose the same file from File > Recent, the same file will load without problems. (In other words, it seems it is the open function and not the repair function, that crashes PreForm)

Here is the error message from console:

9/18/13 8:11:32.244 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[158]: ([0x0-0x8b58b5].com.formlabs.PreForm[12797]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault: 11

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 com.apple.GeForceGLDriver 0x00000002002ef945 0x200000000 + 3078469
1 com.apple.GeForceGLDriver 0x00000002001da1c5 0x200000000 + 1941957
2 com.apple.GeForceGLDriver 0x00000002001d78d7 0x200000000 + 1931479
3 com.apple.GeForceGLDriver 0x00000002002f13c6 0x200000000 + 3085254
4 GLEngine 0x0000000108cadb01 glDrawArrays_ACC_Exec + 505
5 com.formlabs.PreForm 0x0000000100073ceb 0x100000000 + 474347
6 com.formlabs.PreForm 0x000000010000c7bf 0x100000000 + 51135
7 com.formlabs.PreForm 0x000000010000a1a5 0x100000000 + 41381
8 com.formlabs.PreForm 0x00000001000089ea 0x100000000 + 35306
9 com.formlabs.PreForm 0x000000010000846b 0x100000000 + 33899
10 QtGui 0x0000000101450014

(I can provide you with the full detailed crash report, if you need)

I am on a Mac Pro (late 2008), 8-core, 32GB, OS X 10.8.3

For Mac users we released a patch fix for crashing experienced by some users: v 0.8.4.2 now available for download. I would try the latest release to see if that resolves the issue.

Jory

I updated to 0.8.4.2 , however I still experience that the application freezes upon opening with the “File” > “Open” >  “Repair” option.

Attaching a screencast to show the problem:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46972523/screencast%20-%20Broadband.m4v

If any of the above issues are still occurring with the latest release of PreForm (0.9.0) please submit a ticket via our webform so we can evaluate: https://support.formlabs.com/anonymous_requests/new

Jory