Virtual Filament + External Spool

[hexsmith]

I posted something like this on the Bambu Lab forums, but I think perhaps it's more appropriate to put it here.

I would like to see better multi-material handling WITHOUT an AMS to manage the process of changing filament. Specifically, I would like to add two features to OrcaSlicer:

• Multi-material prints using exclusively the external spool holder (no AMS present) by pausing for user intervention.
• Multi-material prints using more filaments than AMS slots by pausing and waiting for user intervention when switching to a material not loaded into the AMS.

Once a rudimentary solution is presented, an optimization that can be performed is to inform the user at print submission time which four filaments are swapped to/from most in a given build plate (or eight or however many automated filament slots are present) in order to minimize user intervention for a given print.

Another optimization that may be considered is to batch AMS filaments into groups that may be changed mid-print. Without Bambu spools, the AMS will not know which filament is in which slot, so if four filaments are used 99% of the time in the first half of a print and a different four are used 99% of the time in the second half of a print, it would be useful to change all four filaments in the AMS at a certain point and then just keep going after that.

If it's possible to display a message on the printer screen to inform the user which filament type and color to load into each AMS slot or onto the external spool, that would be fantastic but not 100% essential. Doing it in the app should suffice.