https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/release/release-note-1-8-2
I just downloaded the 1.8 release. So far the only two things that really stand out as great new features are:
- Better color rendering. They now added much better 3D shading so one can better view the orientation of the model. They don’t mention it in the release notes so perhaps it was in 1.7 and I just never noticed. Either way, models now have better shadows.
- Dovetail join feature. This for me personally is worth me keeping Bambu Studio on my desktop solely to use this tool. Today, the only way to make dovetails is in CAD and that
is matter of trial and error. This cuts that process to a fraction.
What they still didn’t include and many are already in Orca.
C’Mon bambu, just link their libraries into your code!!!
- Still no baked-in calibration features for the P1.
- Still no Home menu by-pass in the preferences.
- Still missing the “Time to Complete Print” that Orca has had since 1.6 (These two features alone will keep Bambu Studio as my backup #2 plan)
- Still no circular cutting tool (Orca is missing this too)
- Still no dimension measurement tool like in other slicers.
- Still no model alignment tool.
Frivolous Junk added to the primitives menu
- We now have a disk primitive. Oh… really? Can some please tell the difference between a disk and a cylinder that was already included since day one? Why did they clutter the menu with a useless article?
- Torus??? Oh goodie, now I can print 3D Donuts… NOT!!! Can anyone cite a use-case for this and why it was thought that this was worth taking up menu space? That space could have been better used as a hollow disk/cylinder feature for cutting holes in models.
Some unexplored possible goodies.
Skip over model
They say that one can skip over a model mid-print. This is worth investigating. There have been many occasions where I was printing multiple models and one broke lose from the plate but I had to cancel the entire print. It would have been nice to just say “Skip over this” and let the remainder continue. However, the implied text states that this feature would only be available through handy and not LAN-only. If that’s true(someone please verify) than that’s a big Uck-Fou for me since that would be an example of bullying us into connecting to the cloud simply to use a feature that is not dependent on the cloud. I hope I am wrong.
SD card reader support for P1 inside of studio
There’s also a new SD reader feature for the P1. They state that one must upgrade to the latest firmware. Hmmmm as a rule, I never upgrade firmware unless it’s to remedy a flaw or to gain access to a cool feature or I am forced to. Is this SD reader feature worth it? Am I forced to go through the cloud or will it work in LAN-only mode? Does it work better than regular FTP?
Improved auto-layout
Yeah, this one has been broken for a while but I’m not sure if they found a fix. They claim that the automatic layout function has been enhanced and fixes the annoying “scatter affect” that previous releases had. We’ve all had this happen where the parts after auto layout were often strewn all over the workspace if the algorithm puked on the placement. Only time will tell if this was truly fixed. I tried a quick test and didn’t see much of a difference. I will try with a more complicated plate later on.
Custom filament
There’s a whole bunch of AMS features that look cool, such as defining one’s own filament that I’m sure will be a hit with AMS users and keep them on the Studio platform and away from Orca. But Orca is still the prettiest girl at the high school prom even with these new Bambu Studio features.
Improved organic tree supports.
This one I do not understand. They site this video from Josef Prusa and said they borrowed the code from Prusa Slicer. It’s obviously a different way to paint supports but I’m not entirely clear where the use-case is. Prusa’s YouTube video didn’t help clear it up. I’ll be playing with it though to be sure.
Anyone else see anything they liked in the new release. I’m hoping there’s more there than what was in the release notes.
Annoyingly, I’ve still had issues where if I chose automatic rotate it wants to put some models at a 45 degree angle compared to the others, which means the top and bottom layer direction ends up straight up-down or across, instead of diagonal. And the spacing for automatic layout seems to always default to 0mm for some reason.
I know exactly what your talking about and your right its is annoying. However, this is one those rare occasions where I will jump to the defense of BL because let’s be candid, most of the underlying algorithmic logic in Bambu Studio is directly ported right out of Prusa Slicer. So if it sucked there, it’s going to suck here. I’ve noticed they’ve also been really conservative in what features they port. In fact, we’ve seen some of the more refined features and quality of life features get added to Orca well before they are seen in Bambu Studio if at all.
BTW: One of the features that I noticed they were hyping as a new innovation was the Best Object Position. It’s mentioned in the release notes but I’m not able to wrap my mind about it’s possible uses given that this presumably is only used when auto-arranging which as we just noted, is blunt instrument.
Analysis of where BL continues to shoot themselves in the foot.
We still don’t have the published source code to BambuSource.dll libraries. If they want to keep their firmware closed, I might forgive that since that is their secret sauce and they have the right to protect it – “Somewhat”. I say somewhat because their firmware is mostly based on open source libraries which stipulate all derivative work must also be published. They even stated this on Bambu’s own wiki for crying out loud. But then they backpedal on the P1 series at the bottom of the wiki stating that the firmware on the P1 was developed using Expressive ESP32 microcontroller’s dev kit so therefore exempt. I call bullshit!!! Then what about the firmware on the X1? 
However, BL cannot make that argument with Bambu Studio because that work is based entirely on varied open source platforms going all the way back to Sli3er. What’s more, I consider this a self-inflicted wound because if we could have access to the source, it would make debugging the frequent networking issues far easier. It would also open up a lot of innovation that is now closed off.
How long can we expect Bambu to keep the walled garden they’ve created, open? By closing off Bambusource.dll we could very well one-day find ourselves locked out of certain features like LAN-only because Big Brother in the PRC decided that they wanted all Chinese made network-enabled devices under direct PRC surveillance. That would put all those hundreds of thousands of cameras in our machines under the PRC’s control.
Think I am being paranoid about Bambusourc.dll
Well, look at what happened to Tech blogger and YouTuber Naomi Wu recently when the PRC censored her because she had the audacity to point out a cyber security flaw from a Chinese company’s software keyboard product used on almost every phone in China. You can hear about it on Teaching Tech’s recent video where he calls out for support of Nancy against the tyranny of the PRC. But if you read the ancillary articles about her situation, she had “her wings clipped” – her words – and if you dig deeper, it was clearly that her calling out this cyber security flaw clearly rubbed someone in the PRC intelligence community’s the wrong way and she got that dreaded “Knock on the door” that every Chinese citizen dreads. Why would the PRC even care? Unless that vulnerability was placed their by their spy agency. There’s an article which points to this vulnerability as linked to the detainment of Chinese dissident students who were using this app on their phones.
So think about it. The more printers out there that are on the Chinese grid, the greater the intelligence prize for their spy agency.
X1C AMS, firmware updated to the last version, I just updated to this new version of Bambu Studio and when I go to the option devices the canextion with the printer is lost intermittently, the wifi network is 2.4 and the PC this on the same network, the bambu handy app works correctly on all devices, I have selected the Europe zone, firewall disabled (to test), after several tests, everything is resolved downgrading to the previous version of bambu studio, if I go back to install new bambu studio the problem reappears.
I’m, happy with the new Custom Filaments
I was even able to “migrate” my existing profiles to the new manufactureres.
I haven’t worked out how to get them sync’ed to the printer yet, lemme try that sync button next to the settings 
That “skip” was already there in the previous release and it is really nice!
If I get a spaghetti warning from the printer, I can check the camera and remotely disable parts of the print.