Troubleshooting

Having trouble getting Octolapse to work? I'm sure you aren't alone, and I'm working hard to make the setup process faster and easier. Hopefully these steps can help get you on your way. If not, please create an issue here. Be sure to fill out the entire ticket! This will help me respond quickly and keep me from pestering you for more info.

Octolapse isn't taking any picture at all

For the most part this problem is usually related to either the start GCode in your slicer, or your printer profile in Octolapse. I recommend turning on the position state info panel (can be done after opening the 'current settings' from the main Octolapse tab) and checking to make sure all axes get homed after you start a print, and that there are no question marks next to 'XYZ Relative' or 'Extruder Relative' (An X is fine, and means your Axes are in absolute mode). If you see a question mark here you have two options for XYZ and E:

For XYZ, choose one of the following options:

1. Set your XYZ axis mode in your start gcode. This usually involves adding a G90(Absolute) or a G91(Relative) command to the start GCode. Which code you need depends on your slicer settings, but typically this is set to Absolute (g90). See 'Modifying your start gcode' below for more information.
2. Set your XYZ mode within Octolapse to 'Absolute' or 'Relative' within the Octolapse printer profile. If you are SURE that your printer's XYZ axis will always be in either relative or absolute mode, you can set this here without adding G90/G91 to your start gcode. I don't recommend this option and believe that requiring an explicit gcode to set the mode and adding the proper GCode to the start GCode is a better and safer option.

For Extruder (E), choose one of the following options:

1. Set your extruder axis mode in your start gcode. This usually involves adding a M82(Absolute) or M83(Relative) command to the start GCode. Which code you need depends on your slicer settings. See 'Modifying your start gcode' below for more information.
2. Set your E axis mode to 'Absolute' or 'Relative' within the Octolapse printer profile. If you are SURE that your printer's E axis will always be in either relative or absolute mode, you can set this here without adding M82/M83 to your start gcode. I don't recommend this option and believe that requiring an explicit gcode to set the mode and adding the proper GCode to the start GCode is a better and safer option.

Modifying your start gcode

When adding these gcodes, it's important that you understand what is happening. If you change the start XYZ or E axis coordinate system incorrectly, your printhead might rampage around to unexpected locations (which is why Octolapse defaults to requiring and explicit command to set the coordinate system).

Example start gcode WITHOUT G90/G91 and M84/M83:

; Start G-Code sequence START
T? ; Select the proper tool
M104 S[first_layer_temperature]
M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature]
M109 S[first_layer_temperature]
M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature]
G21 ; set units to millimeters
G28 W ; Home without mesh leveling
G80 ; Prusa specific mesh bed leveling command
G92 E0.0 ; force E to 0.0

Example after adding gcodes for Absolute XYZ and Relative extrusion:

; Start G-Code sequence START
T? ; Select the proper tool
M104 S[first_layer_temperature]
M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature]
M109 S[first_layer_temperature]
M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature]
G21 ; set units to millimeters
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M83 ; use relative distances for extrusion
G28 W ; Home without mesh leveling
G80 ; Prusa specific mesh bed leveling command
G92 E0.0 ; force E to 0.0

I STRONGLY recommend running a short test print with Octolapse DISABLED once you change your start gcode. This is to ensure that the GCode is working properly. Be ready to stop the print in case it goes haywire! Using the wrong coordinate system might crash your nozzle into the bed, so be ready! Once you are sure the print has started properly with the new codes added (maybe after the first layer completes), turn Octolapse back on and give it a go!

If that doesn't help, you can try restoring the default settings, especially if you had a previous version of Octolapse installed. It's a good idea to start with the 'Layer Trigger' snapshot profile without making any modifications since this makes it easier to debug.

If you continue to have problems, please fill out an issue here. I try to respond quickly.

Octolapse only takes a single image right at the start of my print

This is usually caused by the printer's priming routine. Some printers prime quite high from the bed (15mm is common), which can trick Octolapse into thinking that the first layer is at a height of 15mm.

To fix this issue go into the Octolapse settings for your printer profile and set the 'priming height' option. This height must be ABOVE the height of your first layer and AT OR BELOW the height at which your printer primes. In version 0.3.1 all of the default printer profiles have the priming height set to 0.75mm by default (you may have to restore the default settings if you were using an earlier version to see these changes).

If you continue to have problems, please fill out an issue here.

I only see 'Welcome to Octolapse' when I go to the Octolapse tab, what gives?

This image is a placeholder, and will be replaced with the most recent snapshot that Octolapse takes. In other words, start a print with Octolapse enabled, and as soon as Octolapse takes a snapshot, this image will be updated.

If you NEVER see any snapshot here, even after running a print, please look at the Octolapse isn't taking any picture at all section

How do I get rid of that annoying navbar button

Some people don't like the quick link in the navbar, and I totally understand! Go to Settings->Octolapse and click on the main tab to control the navbar options. You can disable it when Octolapse isn't running, or turn it off entirely!

Why is my webcam image rotated/flipped/mirrored, but my webcam stream is not?

Octolapse by default grabs an unaltered image from the snapshot url. It does NOT honor the OctoPrint stream settings (Settings->Webcam & Timelapse-> Flip/Rotate)! This is done because multi-camera support is coming, and OctoPrint has no built in mechanism to control orientation for multiple streams. It's easy to fix, though! Go into your camera profile (Settings->Octolapse->Camera tab) and look for 'Snapshot Transposition Options'. Select the proper option here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 'latest snapshot image' on the Octolapse tab will NOT update right away. The new setting will take effect starting with you NEXT print and should be visible immediately after Octolapse takes its next snapshot.

Why can't I change contrast, zoom, focus, etc?

In recent versions of Octopi, the default mjpegstreamer control.htm page is disabled. In order to automatically adjust camera settings, Octolapse needs access to control.htm. To enable access you must manually edit boot/octopi.txt and change the following lines:

#camera_http_webroot="./www-octopi"

#camera_http_options="-n"

to this:

camera_http_webroot="./www"

camera_http_options=""

MAKE SURE you remove the #s from the beginning of those lines, else this step will NOT work.

Then reboot your pi. You should be able to test the changes by opening a browser window to your camera's stream (the OctoPrint control panel works well for this), and open your Octolapse camera profile in another browser window. In the camera profile make sure Custom Image Preferences are enabled. Next, Change a few of the camera preferences and click 'Apply Now'. If your camera stream image changes within about 10 seconds you should be good to go! Not all settings will work with all cameras, so I recommend starting with a more common setting, like brightness or contrast, for testing purposes.

Warning: If your instance of Octopi is accessible from the internet and you have enabled control.htm, unauthorized users WILL be able to change your camera settings (focus, white balance, zoom, pan, etc...). Consider this before implementing the above changes.

Unfortunately at the moment I have only one webcam to test (a Logitech C920), and have been testing with mjpegstreamer (not yawcam yet). Octolapse may be able to support your camera, but I'll need some details and someone willing to use the browser's debugger to help me determine what needs to be done.

1. Make sure your webcam works by clicking the 'Test' button inside of the camera profile.
2. First make sure you have 'Custom Image Preferences' enabled.
3. Test your settings via the 'Apply Now' button inside of the camera profiles. You should (hopefully) see a change in your camera stream in 10-15 seconds. I usually set contrast and brightness to 1 in order to test to make the change as obvious as possible (very dark image).
4. If that doesn't work you can go into Settings->Octolapse->Debug, edit the current profile, enable 'Log Additional Information' and check the 'Log Camera Settings Changes' box. This will create log entries in plugin_octolapse.log that might help to debug the problem. You can download the log from Settings->Logs right from Octoprint! Just be sure to disable 'Log Additional Info' when you are done since excess logging can cause performance problems.

Please create an issue here if you can help me get other cameras working!

Cancelling/emergency stop is not working right with Octolapse

First, try to cancel/emergency stop without Octolapse enabled to make sure it isn't some other issue. There are a few known issues within OctoPrint involving cancel and disconnect, and I'm not 100% sure if any of these problems are related to that. I am actively debugging this at the moment and apologize for any inconvenience. Disconnecting and reconnecting the printer should fix the problem if it occurs for now, but look for an update soon, either for OctoPrint or Octolapse!

I just updated Octolapse, but nothing has changed

Octoprint may cache the old javascript and other things that will keep Octolapse UI from working properly. Please try flushing your browser's cache. This can usually be done in the following ways:

Windows/Linux - Press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" Mac - Press "Command + Shift + R"

If that doesn't help, please submit an issue here.

I can't enable custom image preferences

This guide is not complete. If you have this problem, please create a new issue here.

I can enable custom image preferences, but my camera stream will not load

This guide is not complete. If you have this problem, please create a new issue here.