OpenSCAD External Editors

[jorwex]

Elliot,

I could have sworn I saw you using OpenSCAD during one of the meetings with a VIM-like editor on the left, and the console on the right in the same window.

Am I dreaming? Were you just switching between a VIM session and the OpenSCAD IDE with the "Hide Editor" option? 

Or perhaps have two windows side by side? 

Thanks,

Jordan W

[Elliot]

You saw two windows side by side: gvim and the render view of openscad, with the editor portion hidden as you guessed.

I use an excellent tiling window manager on Linux called i3:

http://i3wm.org

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[Elliot]

I forgot to mention: the only thing that you need to do is to check
"Automatic reload and compile" under "design" -- that will have
OpenSCAD stat the file(s) and reload on change.

It does have some a "gotcha" or two, mostly around sometimes OpenSCAD
only stats the file it has open, and not its dependents. The quick
solution to that is to `touch` or `write` the file that OpenSCAD is
watching rather than the file you're working on. Usually it's only a
problem when the file being rendered has a syntax error somewhere.

I don't know if that makes any sense, but hopefully it will help.

[jorwex]

That does. Thanks for the tip!

Been reading a lot about OpenSCAD. Haven't tried a whole lot yet. Are there any particularly good online resources that you've found or refer to regularly?

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Jordan W

[Elliot]

Jordan,

I spent a fair amount of my time in college not going to class and
instead learning how to write code/html and use POVray (
http://www.povray.org/ ) which are rather similar, so it was oddly
familiar to me after all the years.

Other than that, I looked through:

* whosawhatsis' (praised be his name) wallace openscad:
https://github.com/whosawhatsis/RepRap-Wallace
* nophead's (praised be his name) mendel90 openscad:
https://github.com/nophead/Mendel90/tree/master/scad

Advice I can give:

* When you can, use module()s. I think that's the best advice that I
can give to avoid a spaghetti mess. If you've done software
development, much of it is applicable to openscad.
* When you can, separate the positive and negative of parts in a
module: https://github.com/elliotf/reprap-cold-end-bowden-retainer/blob/master/retainer.scad#L22
* When you can, separate the positioning of an object (module) from
the object itself.
* For larger projects, use multiple files.
* When you can, pull out most of attributes of an object (size,
position). This makes it easier to make parametric designs, change
the objects, and reposition elements
* If you're making holes, use the whosawhatsis (praised be his name)
technique of sizing them, which I abstracted out into a module:
https://github.com/elliotf/reprap-cold-end-bowden-retainer/blob/master/retainer.scad#L16
OpenSCAD sizes cylinders to fit *inside* the radius that you specify.
This module sizes the cylinder to fit *around* the diameter that you
specify. You'll still probably need a little bit of extra room,
though.
* If you're making holes that will be printed non-vertically, use
hexagonal or octagonal holes and rotate them so the cylinders are
lying on their flats. This minimizes overhang. Example:
https://github.com/elliotf/reprap-guitar-mount/blob/master/hook.scad#L58
To get the amount that you should rotate it, divide 180 by the number
of sides (180/6 = 30, 180/8 = 22.5)
* Be careful to not re-declare variables in the global scope. This
leads to *very* hard to find bugs.

I didn't plan on writing that much. The parametric graber (
https://github.com/elliotf/parametric-graber ) has some of the
learnings I've come across and it's a lot simpler than nophead's
(praised be his name) mendel90 because he's doing a *lot* more than I
am. Much of what i've learned came from the mendel90 and wallace
openscad source.

You could also probably talk to Jim M, as he has a number of projects
using openscad and seems to be a sharp, experienced guy.

Bill R talked at one point about me doing a class on how to openscad,
so maybe that will happen if/when I get back to the reprap meetings if
there is still interest.

If you figure out how to write tests for openscad, please let me know. :)

Elliot

[jorwex]

Wow thanks for the tips. Will look into your links more tonight. 

There are a few projects that I want to modify that aren't in .scad format, namely this guy:

http://www.printrbottalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=5712

I want to update the model's X axis smooth bar distance for our printer. The op on that thread has files in STL, but he adapted the model from another poster's project (http://www.printrbottalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=5080) which has a .scad linked. 

I have installed Sketchup/Wine, Blender, FreeCAD, and OpenSCAD. 

Would anyone be able to suggest what the quickest path to success is?:

1) Edit the STL

2) Make many changes to the original .scad

3) Some combination of a STL/scad format conversion + edits

Jordan 

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Jordan W

[Elliot]

Modify the scad would be my recommendation, but I haven't seen the scad. If it's written portly it might be hard, but it would still be easier than modifying an stl.

[jorwex]

When you are crafting a SCAD, let's say you have performed a number of transformations, differences, rotations, etc ... and you simply want to confirm the length of a specific portion of your model. 

How do you do that? Would you import it to another program and measure it there? 

I know how to do this with Sketchup -- I'm familiar with it for architectural purposes, but Im trying to not rely on it as its Windows/Mac only and may not be the best solution to these types of problems. 

Thanks,

--
Jordan W

[jorwex]

Sort of round about, but I have been exporting to STL format and then measuring with FreeCAD. 

There is also a scad ruler type model on Thingyverse that you can add to openscad projects for reference. 

Maybe there is a simpler way?

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Jordan W

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Jordan W

[Elliot]

I used to complain about not being able to measure things in openscad.
It was one of my only pet peeves about openscad. Now I just don't
worry about it as much. For whatever reason, I'm now better at
positioning and sizing objects based on inputs, so I am able to know
how far/long/wide/tall/etc things are by doing calculations on their
attributes. "How far away are these things? Easy: their position
minus their width."

I don't know if that makes sense, but it's something that I no longer
feel a need for.

If you're importing STLs and trying to modify them in openscad, then
measuring is *definitely* a problem. The time that I did that, I
superimposed the imported STL with the item that I was writing in
openscad, and spent an unpleasantly long amount of time lining them up
and making them the correct size. I don't think I'll do that again.