Thought: Line objects would be extremely useful
I've recently stumbled into several situations where line objects would help
a lot. What I'm talking about is actually polyline, in other words, a
"train" of straight lines. Curved lines would be even cooler, but less
necessary. Lines could be either 2D or 3D objects.
My situations (and I'm sure there are more):
-
I know OpenSCAD is primarily for 3D printing, but it's also very useful
for laser cutting. When cutting, enclosed objects are not always the norm,
sometimes you just need to cut a line. -
It would be a useful tool in creting some complex geometries. Say, for
example, that you want the area enclosed by two slightly phased sine waves
as an object, something that gives me a math headache. If you had lines, you
could first draw the sines as lines, then have some operation where you do a
2D "flood fill" from a specified point to get the enclosed area. -
Linear reference systems. I know most people in the CAD/GIS world love XY.
XY everywhere you look. Talk about anything but XY, and they think you are
insane. But, in many other applications, linear reference systems are used,
and they are extremely useful. Instead of XY, you reference a point as "this
distance from the start of this line". Very often used in infrastructure
databases (road, rail, cables), for example, but also useful if you want to
do stuff like "place objects at equal distance along this non-straight
line". The math to do that is very straightforward in a typical langage,
but, alas, not on OpenSCAD, where it is downright painful. Linear reference
systems, once you realize how magnificient they are, are insanely useful. -
Cutting 2D objects. For example, my laser cutter doesn't have an infinit
working table size. I sometimes need to divide stuff into smaller parts. A
line could, with difference(), cut a 2D part with a zero kerf (cutting
width) cut. As the laser have a certain kerf, you don't want to lose
precision by adding more. -
Laser cutters also engrave. It's nice to be able to include marks on a
design, for example an + where to drill or a line for where to attach some
other part. These are often lines (sometimes unfilled circles).
I'm sure there are many more useful use cases.
Is there any library for this, or anything like it in some plans for the
future?
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The problem with laser cutters / engravers is there is no CAM stage. The
tool path is specified with vector art work. I am designing my own laser
cutter and plan to write a CAM program to use it with OpenSCAD, so that the
model is the finished article, not the tool path.
When you cut a line a laser it isn't a mathematical line, it has a small
but real with. Therefore the OpenSCAD model for that is a thin slot. Just
as when I design for my CNC router, I will pass it through a CAM program
that will add or subtract half the kerf. In the case of a slot, it will
have to create a single line down the centre, although that will be a
tricky special case to handle. The CAM I use for my router doesn't handle
it. I would have to make the slot slightly bigger than the kerf and it
would do a loop going both ways. That would not be good with a laser.
Engraving is a slot that doesn't go all the way through, ie. a pocket and
that is also easy to Model with OpenSCAD. The CAM program would take an STL
and use depth information to control power.
The only thing you can't do with OpenSCAD is embed raster images.
On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 at 06:44, Troberg troberg.anders@gmail.com wrote:
I've recently stumbled into several situations where line objects would
help
a lot. What I'm talking about is actually polyline, in other words, a
"train" of straight lines. Curved lines would be even cooler, but less
necessary. Lines could be either 2D or 3D objects.
My situations (and I'm sure there are more):
-
I know OpenSCAD is primarily for 3D printing, but it's also very useful
for laser cutting. When cutting, enclosed objects are not always the norm,
sometimes you just need to cut a line. -
It would be a useful tool in creting some complex geometries. Say, for
example, that you want the area enclosed by two slightly phased sine waves
as an object, something that gives me a math headache. If you had lines,
you
could first draw the sines as lines, then have some operation where you do
a
2D "flood fill" from a specified point to get the enclosed area. -
Linear reference systems. I know most people in the CAD/GIS world love
XY.
XY everywhere you look. Talk about anything but XY, and they think you are
insane. But, in many other applications, linear reference systems are used,
and they are extremely useful. Instead of XY, you reference a point as
"this
distance from the start of this line". Very often used in infrastructure
databases (road, rail, cables), for example, but also useful if you want to
do stuff like "place objects at equal distance along this non-straight
line". The math to do that is very straightforward in a typical langage,
but, alas, not on OpenSCAD, where it is downright painful. Linear reference
systems, once you realize how magnificient they are, are insanely useful. -
Cutting 2D objects. For example, my laser cutter doesn't have an infinit
working table size. I sometimes need to divide stuff into smaller parts. A
line could, with difference(), cut a 2D part with a zero kerf (cutting
width) cut. As the laser have a certain kerf, you don't want to lose
precision by adding more. -
Laser cutters also engrave. It's nice to be able to include marks on a
design, for example an + where to drill or a line for where to attach some
other part. These are often lines (sometimes unfilled circles).
I'm sure there are many more useful use cases.
Is there any library for this, or anything like it in some plans for the
future?
--
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The cutter software (in my case LightBurn) is the CAM stage.
That said, even if those cases are solved, the power of linear reference
systems and the possibility to make lines a shaping tool still remains. In
those cases, lines wouldn't have any visual representation in the final
model, they are just a very useful tool to build other stuff. Especially
linear reference systems are extremely powerful, and make a lot of otherwise
very difficult things very simple (for example, try to put things at equal
distance along the edge of an oval or a sine wave...).
--
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Does LightBurn offset by half the kerf or does it just use the original
vector artwork as the tool path?
How do you use linear reference, say on an ellipse? I can see how you can
specify in words a distance from say the top but how would you express that
in OpenSCAD? What would the code look like?
On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 at 09:41, Troberg troberg.anders@gmail.com wrote:
The cutter software (in my case LightBurn) is the CAM stage.
That said, even if those cases are solved, the power of linear reference
systems and the possibility to make lines a shaping tool still remains. In
those cases, lines wouldn't have any visual representation in the final
model, they are just a very useful tool to build other stuff. Especially
linear reference systems are extremely powerful, and make a lot of
otherwise
very difficult things very simple (for example, try to put things at equal
distance along the edge of an oval or a sine wave...).
--
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And since there are no curves in OpenSCAD, only straight lines you could
write a function that takes an arbitrary curve represented as a list of
points and return the point a specified distance from the start. It would
keep subtracting the length of each segment until the next segment was
longer and then interpolate along the last segment.
On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 at 10:43, nop head nop.head@gmail.com wrote:
Does LightBurn offset by half the kerf or does it just use the original
vector artwork as the tool path?
How do you use linear reference, say on an ellipse? I can see how you can
specify in words a distance from say the top but how would you express that
in OpenSCAD? What would the code look like?
On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 at 09:41, Troberg troberg.anders@gmail.com wrote:
The cutter software (in my case LightBurn) is the CAM stage.
That said, even if those cases are solved, the power of linear reference
systems and the possibility to make lines a shaping tool still remains. In
those cases, lines wouldn't have any visual representation in the final
model, they are just a very useful tool to build other stuff. Especially
linear reference systems are extremely powerful, and make a lot of
otherwise
very difficult things very simple (for example, try to put things at equal
distance along the edge of an oval or a sine wave...).
--
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Does LightBurn offset by half the kerf or does it just use the original
vector artwork as the tool path?
Don't have it at this computer, but I think it's a setting.
How do you use linear reference, say on an ellipse? I can see how you can
specify in words a distance from say the top but how would you express
that in OpenSCAD? What would the code look like?
The math for generating (a close estimate of) an ellipse as a polygon is
pretty straightforward. In this case, you just don't "tie the ends
together". Now, you have a polyline that starts and ends at the same point.
It has a direction. So, based on that, it would be nice to be able to say
"Give me the coordinates for the point x mm from the start of the line".
Probably a function such as linref(array_of_line_vertices, position), which
returns a coordinate array and maybe a direction array.
In many cases where linear reference systems are used, you can also have an
offset, but that's just a bonus for us here. For example, a street sign
might be on "road X, 30 meter from intersection Y, 5 meter to the left of
the centerline". Fur suck systems, this is where it gets interesting. I
allows me to crossindex data, for example, I could easily find (real example
from one system I've built): "Give me all road sections where there has been
an accident, which also has at least 1000 vehicles a day, 50 km/h or faster
and where we already should have repaved". Trivial in a linear reference
system, a nightmare with only XY. Of course, this isn't the goal of
OpenSCAD, but many times, it's easier to first define a line, and then
relate stuff to that.
To be honest, I don't know how to write a function like my linref example in
OpenSCAD. No offense, but OpenSCAD does not exactly shine with procedural
programming, especially not in functions, as it's a bit "out of scope" for
it. In a procedural language, it's pretty simple, just step segment by
segment, adding up length, and then, when you find the right segment, move
as far as the remaining length.
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Troberg troberg.anders@gmail.com wrote:
To be honest, I don't know how to write a function like my linref example
in
OpenSCAD. No offense, but OpenSCAD does not exactly shine with procedural
programming, especially not in functions, as it's a bit "out of scope" for
it. In a procedural language, it's pretty simple, just step segment by
segment, adding up length, and then, when you find the right segment, move
as far as the remaining length.
function lineref(l,d,i=0,p=0) =
norm(l[i+1]-l[i])+p<d?
lineref(l,d,i+1,p+norm(l[i+1]-l[i])) :
d<0?
undef :
l[i]+ (d-p)*(l[i+1]-l[i])/norm(l[i+1]-l[i]);
l = [ [0,0], [10,0], [10,0], [15,0], [25,25] ];
echo(lineref(l, -10));
echo(lineref(l, 10));
echo(lineref(l, 20));
Thanks! You are now my hero!
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You might find the *
https://github.com/runsun/OpenSCAD_Tips/blob/master/snippets.md#line
Line()* module useful. The following are based on that.
color("red") SineLine(n=5);color("blue") SineLine( [36:3600],
h=3,n=1,base=2, r=0.1);function sinePts(xs=[0:3600],xd=100, n=5, h=5,
base=0, z=0)=( [ for(x=xs) [(x-xs[0])/xd,h*sin(x/n)+base,z] ]);module
SineLine( xs=[0:3600],n=5, h=5, base=0, r=0.2 ){ Line( sinePts( xs=xs, n=n,
h=n, base=base ), r=r); }
http://forum.openscad.org/file/t602/20190108_SineLine.png
SineEdgePlate();module SineEdgePlate(){ function
to2d(pts)=[for(p=pts)[p[0],p[1]]]; pts= concat( [ [36,0], [0,0]]
, to2d(sinePts( h=0.5, n=0.5, base=10 )) ); polygon( pts
);}
http://forum.openscad.org/file/t602/20190108_SineEdgePlate.png
SineEdgeBlock();module SineEdgeBlock(){ z=20; sinepts= sinePts(
xs=[-5:90], xd=5, h=1, n=0.1, base=10 ); Line(sinepts); x= sinepts[
len(sinepts)-1 ].x; pts= concat( [[x,0,0],[0,0,0]] , sinepts
, [[x,0,z],[0,0,z]] , [ for(p=sinepts) [p[0],p[1],z] ]
); faces= [[97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83,
82, 81, 80, 79, 78, 77, 76, 75, 74, 73, 72, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 66, 65, 64,
63, 62, 61, 60, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45,
44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26,
25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0], [98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108,
109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123,
124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138,
139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153,
154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168,
169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183,
184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195], [0, 1, 99, 98],
[1, 2, 100, 99], [2, 3, 101, 100], [3, 4, 102, 101], [4, 5, 103, 102], [5,
6, 104, 103], [6, 7, 105, 104], [7, 8, 106, 105], [8, 9, 107, 106], [9, 10,
108, 107], [10, 11, 109, 108], [11, 12, 110, 109], [12, 13, 111, 110], [13,
14, 112, 111], [14, 15, 113, 112], [15, 16, 114, 113], [16, 17, 115, 114],
[17, 18, 116, 115], [18, 19, 117, 116], [19, 20, 118, 117], [20, 21, 119,
118], [21, 22, 120, 119], [22, 23, 121, 120], [23, 24, 122, 121], [24, 25,
123, 122], [25, 26, 124, 123], [26, 27, 125, 124], [27, 28, 126, 125], [28,
29, 127, 126], [29, 30, 128, 127], [30, 31, 129, 128], [31, 32, 130, 129],
[32, 33, 131, 130], [33, 34, 132, 131], [34, 35, 133, 132], [35, 36, 134,
133], [36, 37, 135, 134], [37, 38, 136, 135], [38, 39, 137, 136], [39, 40,
138, 137], [40, 41, 139, 138], [41, 42, 140, 139], [42, 43, 141, 140], [43,
44, 142, 141], [44, 45, 143, 142], [45, 46, 144, 143], [46, 47, 145, 144],
[47, 48, 146, 145], [48, 49, 147, 146], [49, 50, 148, 147], [50, 51, 149,
148], [51, 52, 150, 149], [52, 53, 151, 150], [53, 54, 152, 151], [54, 55,
153, 152], [55, 56, 154, 153], [56, 57, 155, 154], [57, 58, 156, 155], [58,
59, 157, 156], [59, 60, 158, 157], [60, 61, 159, 158], [61, 62, 160, 159],
[62, 63, 161, 160], [63, 64, 162, 161], [64, 65, 163, 162], [65, 66, 164,
163], [66, 67, 165, 164], [67, 68, 166, 165], [68, 69, 167, 166], [69, 70,
168, 167], [70, 71, 169, 168], [71, 72, 170, 169], [72, 73, 171, 170], [73,
74, 172, 171], [74, 75, 173, 172], [75, 76, 174, 173], [76, 77, 175, 174],
[77, 78, 176, 175], [78, 79, 177, 176], [79, 80, 178, 177], [80, 81, 179,
178], [81, 82, 180, 179], [82, 83, 181, 180], [83, 84, 182, 181], [84, 85,
183, 182], [85, 86, 184, 183], [86, 87, 185, 184], [87, 88, 186, 185], [88,
89, 187, 186], [89, 90, 188, 187], [90, 91, 189, 188], [91, 92, 190, 189],
[92, 93, 191, 190], [93, 94, 192, 191], [94, 95, 193, 192], [95, 96, 194,
193], [96, 97, 195, 194], [97, 0, 98, 195]]; echo(len(faces));
polyhedron ( pts,faces);}
http://forum.openscad.org/file/t602/20190108_SineEdgeBlock.png
$ Runsun Pan, PhD $ libs: scadx , doctest , faces ( git ), offline doc ( git ), runscad.py ( 2 , git ), editor of choice: CudaText ( OpenSCAD lexer ); $ Tips ; $ Snippets
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