SolidCode/SolidPython

Feature request: any live view of models? (POC project included)

dc740 opened this issue · 2 comments

dc740 commented

Hi, I've been looking for a way to develop and see the changes in real time. Does the project have one?

I wrote a proof of concept that can be extended if needed, but it currently a hack I prepared in a couple of nights (it would have been an hour if it wasn't for python watchdog module). It loads the SolidPython code, takes the model out of the .py file, creates a scad file and finally uses openscad to create an STL that gets previewed. It refreshes the view whenever you change the python code (and save it)

https://github.com/dc740/real-time-mesh-viewer

The only good thing is that it works fine, and it only requires SolidPython + OpenSCAD installed. But I only used it in Ubuntu. I was hoping there was something everyone is using and that I just didn't know about.

etjones-erisyon commented

Nice work, Emilio!

Have you tried just using OpenSCAD as your viewer?
The loop I've always used has been to run a SolidPython program to create a .scad file, then open that in OpenSCAD and make sure Design -> Automatic Reload and Preview is checked. Then any time I run the SolidPython file again, the result appears in OpenSCAD shortly after. Depending on the complexity of the object, this loop may be faster than generating an .stl with OpenSCAD and rendering that. My VSCode setup will save and run a program in one key command, cmd-r, which seems like it's probably just as fast as having an external program monitoring my file for saves (cmd-s) and then running some further transforms on them.

  • You also might take a look at ViewSCAD is a project that puts a live 3D render in a Jupyter notebook. That might be useful if it suits your workflow.

  • Also worth noting: All new development is happening in the SolidPython 2 repository, here

dc740 commented

THANK YOU!!! I knew I was missing something. I'm not a regular OpenSCAD user, and I wanted to try SolidPython instead. So I was not aware this was possible.

Regarding SolidPython 2. I actually thought the development was stalled or something like that. It'd be good to put a notice on the readme or something. Now that you mention it I see the solidpython2 package published in pip too.

Again, thank you, I will close this ticket then.