早在 2012 年，德国(German)软件开发者、制造商和优秀的导游Gina Häußge获得了她的第一台3D 打印机(3D printer)。随后，她编写并发布了一个名为OctoPrint的免费(OctoPrint)开源(open source)3D 打印机主机控制器应用程序，该应用程序允许用户通过网络浏览器远程控制和监控打印件。
“这很好，”您可能会说，“但OctoPrint与所有其他 3D 打印机主机应用程序有何不同？” OctoPrint 的与众不同之处在(OctoPrint)于其极其通用的可插拔框架。
Häußge设计的框架吸引了开发人员社区，他们反过来通过插件不断扩展 OctoPrint 的特性和功能。OctoPrint 的存储库中目前有 277 个插件。Häußge说：“总共有 194 位插件作者花费时间和精力为您带来这些插件。”
下面，我们将介绍一些用于OctoPrint 的最佳工具和玩具——这些插件(OctoPrint—plugins)将帮助您创建更好的打印件以及一些只是为了好玩的插件。所有这些插件都可以通过OctoPrint界面免费安装。
工具：用于更好打印的最佳 Octoprint 插件
可以预见，OctoPrint的大多数插件都是帮助您制作更好打印件(prints)的工具。安装和使用以下插件将帮助您改进您的 3D 打印游戏。
1.床位可视化仪(Bed Level Visualizer)
要在您的 3D 打印机上获得良好的打印效果，您需要做的第一件事是确保您的打印机床是水平的。这是一个困难、耗时的过程，会消耗大量的灯丝，而且非常令人沮丧。
Bed Level Visualizer通过向您显示床的地形图，让您知道哪些区域高，哪些区域低，从而消除了该过程的猜测。如果您希望您的床完全平整（提示：您愿意），这是您应该安装的第一个OctoPrint插件。(OctoPrint)它要求您拥有像BLTouch这样的自动床调平工具。
2.外壳(Enclosure)
将 3D 打印机放在外壳内有助于控制打印机的环境，从而获得更好的打印质量。如果您有外壳，安装此插件，您将能够控制灯、开关、电源或任何其他可以插入Raspberry Pi的传感器。
您可以查看温度传感器、灯丝耗尽传感器、打开和关闭LED灯，甚至更改LED灯的颜色。这个插件非常灵活，几乎可以控制您可以想象的外壳环境的任何方面。
3.意大利面侦探(The Spaghetti Detective)
当打印出错时，结果可能看起来像一盘意大利面。此外，如果您的打印机无人看管，在您检查之前您甚至不会知道您的打印失败。
输入(Enter)The Spaghetti Detective，这是一个OctoPrint插件，它通过分析来自网络摄像头的图像来使用 AI 深度学习，以找出打印失败的任何迹象。换句话说，The Spaghetti Detective将检测失败的打印并向您发送消息，以便您做出相应的反应。
4.漂亮的G代码(Pretty GCode)
Pretty GCode插件是一款出色的3D 模型查看器。单击(Click)您的GCode文件并观看它在您眼前呈现。在打印之前旋转(Rotate)、放大并检测GCode文件的问题。(GCode)Pretty GCode甚至可以渲染 arc 命令。
5.固件更新程序(Firmware Updater)
所有软件都应定期更新。更新打印机的固件可能会很痛苦，需要您将更新下载到 SD 卡，然后在本地安装到打印机上。
Firmware Updater插件允许您从OctoPrint中刷新打印机的固件。只需(Just)放入更新文件或URL，单击一个按钮，您的打印机很快就会运行最新的固件。
6.弧焊机(Arc Welder)*
(Faulty)电源故障、 USB电缆损坏、串行连接速度慢和切片机问题都可能使您的打印机不堪重负GCode。如果发送的命令过多或连接速度变慢，可能会导致打印机停止运行，您可能会看到打印部件上出现每次停止运行的迹象。整个论坛都致力于解决这个问题，并且很多建议都涉及重新编译固件或其他可能会或可能不会解决问题的困难操作。
Arc Weder(Arc Welder)插件可能是最简单的修复方法。它通过将一些 GCode 压缩成弧形命令来减少发送到您的打印机的GCode(GCodes)的(GCodes)数量——有时是显着的。在许多情况下，安装Arc Weder(Arc Welder)将完全消除卡顿和停滞，并提高您的打印时间和质量。并非所有固件都支持 arc 命令，但如果您支持，这应该在您的必须安装列表中。
Toys：最有趣(Fun)的 Octoprint 插件
上面的插件将帮助您提高 3D 打印的质量。下面列出的插件将有助于改善您与OctoPrint的交互方式并增加您的乐趣。
7.八折(Octolapse)*
你看过(seen)视频吗(videos)？精美的 3D 打印件像魔术一样从打印机床上升起。不过，这不是魔术。是八卦(Octolapse)。这个OctoPrint插件可以为您的 3D 打印创建稳定的延时摄影视频。它通过在拍摄每个快照之前将打印机的挤出机移开并将打印机床移到最佳位置来做到这一点，因此您最终会获得非常流畅的游戏中时光倒流。
换句话说，你不会看到你的打印头在游戏中时光倒流中四处移动，只是你的打印件从打印机床上长出来。您可以为快照设置特定触发器，例如在每次图层更改时、在预设时间或高度增量时，或者在将特定 GCode 发送到您的打印机时。
8.主题化(Themeify)
如果可以选择，许多人会为他们最常使用的应用程序和网页选择深色主题。Themeify插件允许您将主题应用到(Themeify)OctoPrint。选择(Choose)深色模式或从各种其他预设主题中选择。如果您了解CSS ，您几乎可以自定义(CSS)OctoPrint界面的任何元素。
9.全屏网络摄像头(Fullscreen Webcam)
您(Are)是否厌倦了在 OctoPrint 的小控制窗口中观看网络摄像头？使用全屏网络摄像头(Fullscreen Webcam)插件将其最大化。它完全按照你的想法去做。
10.自定义背景(CustomBackground)
最后，谁不想在他们的温度输出选项卡的背景上放一张Picard 船长的照片？(Captain Picard)放入(Drop)任何图片，它会显示在背景中。乐趣！
*完全(Full)披露：Arc Welder和OctoLapse插件是由我丈夫FormerLurker在阁楼上创建的。
The 10 Best OctoPrint Plugins
Back in 2012, German software developer, maker, and excellent tour guide, Gina Häußge, got hеr first 3D printer. She subsequently wrote and released a free, open source 3D printer host controller application called OctoPrint which allows users to remotely control and monitor prints from a web browser.
“That’s nice,” you might say, “but what makes OctoPrint any different from all the other 3D printer host apps out there?” The thing that sets OctoPrint apart is its extremely versatile, pluggable framework.
The framework Häußge designed has attracted a community of developers who, in turn, continually extend OctoPrint’s features and functionality through plugins. There are currently 277 plugins in OctoPrint’s repository. Häußge says, “All in all 194 plugin authors have spent time and effort to bring you these plugins.”
Below, we’ll take a look at some of the best tools and toys for OctoPrint—plugins that will help you create better prints as well as a few that are just for fun. All these plugins can be installed for free via the OctoPrint interface.
Tools: Best Octoprint Plugins for Better Prints
Predictably, most plugins for OctoPrint are tools to help you make better prints. Installing and using the plugins below will help you improve your 3D printing game.
To get good prints on your 3D printer, the first thing you need to do is make sure your printer’s bed is level. It’s a difficult, time-consuming process that uses up a lot of filament and can be very frustrating.
Bed Level Visualizer takes the guesswork out of that process by showing you a topographical map of your bed so you know which areas are high and which are low. If you want your bed to be perfectly level (hint: you do), this is the first OctoPrint plugin you should install. It requires that you have an auto-bed-leveling tool like BLTouch.
Putting your 3D printer inside an enclosure helps you control the printer’s environment, which leads to better quality prints. If you have an enclosure, install this plugin, and you’ll be able to control lights, switches, power, or any other sensor you can plug into your Raspberry Pi.
You can view temp sensors, filament run-out sensors, turn your LED lights on and off, or even change the color of your LED lights. This plugin is super-flexible and can control almost any aspect of your enclosure environment that you can imagine.
When a print goes wrong, the result can look like a plateful of spaghetti. Moreover, if you’ve left your printer unattended, you won’t even know your print has failed until you check.
Enter The Spaghetti Detective, an OctoPrint plugin that puts AI deep learning to use by analyzing the images from your webcam for any indication that your print is failing. In other words, The Spaghetti Detective will detect failed prints and send you a message so you can react accordingly.
The Pretty GCode plugin is an excellent 3D model viewer. Click on your GCode file and watch it render before your eyes. Rotate, zoom in on, and detect problems with your GCode files before you print. Pretty GCode even renders arc commands.
All software should be updated regularly. Updating your printer’s firmware can be a pain, requiring you to download the update to an SD card and then installing it locally on your printer.
The Firmware Updater plugin allows you to flash your printer’s firmware from within OctoPrint. Just drop in the update file or URL, click a button, and soon your printer will be running the latest firmware.
Faulty power supplies, bad USB cables, slow serial connections, and slicer problems can all conspire to overwhelm your printer with GCode. If too many commands are sent or if your connection is slowed down, that can cause your printer to stall, and you’ll probably see evidence of every stall on your printed part. Entire forums are dedicated to solving this problem, and a lot of the advice involves recompiling firmware or other difficult operations that may or may not solve the problem.
The Arc Welder plugin is perhaps the simplest fix. It reduces the number of GCodes sent to your printer— sometimes dramatically—by compressing some GCodes into arc commands. In many cases, installing Arc Welder will completely eliminate stuttering and stalling and improve your print times and quality. Not all firmware supports arc commands, but if yours does, this should be on your must-install list.
Toys: Best Octoprint Plugins for Fun
The plugins above will help you improve the quality of your 3D prints. The plugins listed below will help improve how you interact with OctoPrint and increase how much fun you have.
Have you seen the videos? A beautiful 3D print arises from the printer bed like magic. It’s not magic, though. It’s Octolapse. This OctoPrint plugin creates stabilized timelapse videos of your 3D prints. It does this by moving your printer’s extruder out of the way and your printer bed into optimal position before it takes each snapshot so you end up with a really smooth timelapse.
Put another way, you won’t see your printhead moving around in the timelapse, just your print growing from the printer bed. You can set specific triggers for snapshots such as at each layer change, at preset time or height increments, or when particular GCodes are sent to your printer.
Given the option, many people will choose a dark theme for the apps and web pages they use most. The Themeify plugin allows you to apply themes to OctoPrint. Choose dark mode or from a variety of other pre-set themes. If you know CSS, you can customize virtually any element of the OctoPrint interface.
Are you tired of watching your webcam in OctoPrint’s tiny control window? Maximize it with the Fullscreen Webcam plugin. It does exactly what you think it will do.
Lastly, who doesn’t want a picture of Captain Picard on the background of their temperature output tab? Drop in any pic, and it’ll show up in the background. Fun!
*Full disclosure: The Arc Welder and OctoLapse plugins were created in the attic by my husband, FormerLurker.
