MultiPlate for Cura

WORK IN PROGRESS: MANY FEATURES MAY BE BROKEN (0.4.1-wip, proof of concept) Source-available · Non-commercial. Licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0, no warranty, no liability. Not affiliated with UltiMaker or Bambu Lab. 📘 The whole manual and research notes as one PDF: docs/MultiPlate-manual.pdf Bambu-Studio-style multi-plate projects for Cura: a floating plate bar (one small stacked-plates button that opens into the bar; drag it, flip it vertical) with a + button and one button per plate that you can label (P1 mechanism, P2 body...), a slice queue, per-plate sliced flags, per-plate print settings (the ⚙ button), autosave, and a resume prompt when Cura starts. Project started 2026-11-10 12:55. The real PlateBar.qml, drawn with a stand-in for Cura's theme (this picture was NOT taken inside Cura). Green dot = sliced, yellow = changed since slicing, orange = not sliced yet, red = failed, grey = empty. The tick box adds a plate to the queue. Use it You want to Do this Open / fold the bar The stacked-plates button (top left, under the printer name) opens the bar; – folds it back. A pulsing green dot on the button means the queue is running Move the bar Drag the ⠿ grip (or drag the folded button). It stays inside the window and remembers where you left it Vertical or horizontal Press ⇅ / ⇄ in the bar Add a plate Press + in the bar Switch plate Click its button. Only that plate's objects are in Cura; the others wait off to the side and come back when you click their button Label a plate Double-click it (or right-click > Label) and type e.g. mechanism Put objects on a plate Select them, right-click the plate button > Move selected objects here Give a plate its own settings Press ⚙, pick a setting (e.g. Infill Density, Generate Support), type a value, Add. It is written into every object on that plate; a badge like ⚙2 shows on the plate button. Remove it with × and the objects go back to the print profile Queue plates Tick the small box on each plate button Slice the queue Slice queue (N). Plates are sliced one after another, in plate order, with progress and elapsed time shown. Already-sliced plates are skipped Mark a plate sliced by hand Right-click > Mark as sliced (useful if you sliced it elsewhere) Reorder plates Right-click > Move plate left / right (the queue follows plate order) Get the G-code The queue writes one file per plate into the autosave folder MultiPlate/autosave/gcode/ (e.g. 01-mechanism.gcode); Cura's normal Save also works on the active plate Save a named project ⋯ > Save project as... makes one .multiplate file (plates, labels, objects, flags, G-code) Come back after a crash or restart Autosave runs every minute when something changed. At startup, if your last session had two or more plates, Cura shows Resume / Start fresh A plate turns yellow (changed since slicing) automatically when you move or edit an object on it or change the print profile. What exists and what does not Feature Status Floating plate bar (button, drag, flip, fold), labels, + button, switching Written in 0.3; drawn, clicked and dragged in a Qt test, not yet in real Cura (the 0.2 bar was seen working in real Cura on a screenshot) Slice queue with sliced / changed / failed flags Written; tested against a stand-in for Cura's slicing back-end, not the real engine Per-plate G-code files Written; same caveat Autosave + resume prompt + .multiplate projects Written; round trip tested with stand-in scene nodes Per-plate print settings (supports on plate 1, off on plate 2) Written in 0.2 on top of Cura's per-object settings; tested against stand-ins only. 300 of Cura's ~740 settings allow it (see Known limitations) Sending the queue to a printer (Bambu LAN etc.) Not built Per-plate preview thumbnails Not built Source code: The-Dorkknight/cura-multiplate on GitHub