Plug-in Support (Will revolutionize your slicer!!)
Is there an existing issue for this feature request?
- I have searched the existing issues
Is your feature request related to a problem?
First off, I just want to say thank you for everything you do. You guys are really something special in the 3D printing world and I appreciate your work.
Something I feel should be one of the main priorities of the program is the ability to integrate Plugins. Almost all open-source projects that really gain a massive amount of traction are the ones that allow the community to provide support as easily as possible while not changing the main structure of the main project. Some examples of easy integration:
- Visual Studio Code Plug-ins Tab
- Sudo apt install commands
- Raspberry Pi OS installer
- Arduino Library Manager
- Arduino Board Manager
- Runlite Plug-in store
- Pip install
- VLC Media Player
- OBS Studio
Which printers will be beneficial to this feature?
All
Describe the solution you'd like
Those were just a few of the major users on the market that may be known. I would assume most of you at least know of VS codes plugin system. Something like this could quite literally revolutionize the slicer. You already have some people like Tentech on Youtube who is attempting to integrate through back door means. It seems like a lot of this is possible to be integrated. If this was done, a lot of the requests you see day to day will completely tank. There are dozens of features I would love to make but I am simply not willing to go out of my way to interface with how it is right now.
Link to Tentech:
Describe alternatives you've considered
The only way to perform most of these actions is by possibly editing these options. Again, a lot of this is filler and isnt really that good for modularity or if you want to manage the installed packages.
- Post-processing scripts box in Others Tab
- Begining/end/extruder gcode editing
Additional context
The idea is that it would work like VS code almost. You would have a tab for a marketplace and you can search for various plugins which allow new features to be added.
Image of the VS marketplace as an example:
How it could be integrated:
Source: OrcaSlicer/OrcaSlicer