Draw G-Code by Hand (Interested) ??

[Switcher]

I have been working on a new 2D program, in Visual Basic .NET 2003. The program will let you draw an image with your mouse, it tracks the cursor "X" & "Y" coordinates, the "Z" up/down is controlled with the left mouse button, while the cursor is over the picturebox.

The attached screenshot shows all the rapid moves in Red, all the drawing in light blue, and the green line sends the machine Home (with the click of the "Finish Code" button, at the bottom right side of the screen) Then will finish out the code with things like "M30"

On the right side is all the g-code produced (as you draw your image)
Don't flame me about the g-code you see in the image, I've only just started this project (and about 10 others)
You might notice "N15" that was the starting Point (Left Mouse Button Down = Z=-10.500 F50) of the drawing. By the way the text drawn is supposed to read "Switcher", the Rapid moves make it hard to read.

What I want to know is, would anyone have an interest in a program like this?

I would like to hear what everyone thinks, about this, should I finish it, or forget it?





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[santiniuk]

Switcher,

I love the sound of this concept. In fact I had similar thoughts a couple of weeks ago when something I requiring cutting required a dxf to be generated and then G-Code from this.

My concept is exactly the same as yours except I wanted to use my Wacom A3 Graphics tablet that would 'appear' as a mouse in your program.

post : http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...chmentid=16115

Shows the end result of what I wanted. Another great program under development (CamBam!)

I had an old bashed up trophy - Shield. It would fit on my graphics tablet and using the pen I could simply run the pen around the shield on the tablet and hopefully create the g-code. Maybe some manual editing also.

I'm reasonably profficient in VB6 and recently purchased Studio 2005 .Net for work use although I have not had time to play with it in detail yet.

If you would like to post your .exe I'm willing to try the tablet idea out and post the results. If the code is open I'd love to take a look at it in .Net and see it progress.

Thank you.

Shaun

[ger21]

I have a tablet as well I coud try. An older Wacom ArtZ II 12x12. It should work MUCH better than a mouse.

[Switcher]

Thanks santiniuk & ger21 for your input.

I agree with both of you about the drawing with the mouse, the end result is not good enough. I have been thinking about that while working on this project. I don't have a Tablet or Pen, so for now I'll have to deal with my lame old mouse for the drawing.

I have been googling for something else other than a Tablet to draw with, (a Pen only) no tablet. They do exist, though some limitations., like you can't draw on a white surface, and most are very bulky around the point. The Tablet idea is great, for items smaller than the tablet drawing area. What I want is to make a parameter in my program that the end user can adjust his own working area limitions, this would define the drawing area (Picturebox) on the monitor. I'm thinking that If the user had a very large object example: 4x8 sheet of plywood with irregular shapes, he could just trace any part of it and produce the code (maybe he only wants a certain object out of the whole 4x8 sheet) of course the pen would have to be wireless, for an object that large.

The program does not produce any usable code (YET) I'm still working on that. Like most folks here, I have so much going on, I try and code as often as I can, which is not as often as I would like.

I'll be out of town till Monday, so It will be next week before I can wrap this up enough for you guys to try on your tablets, again I may not have the g-code side of this finished by then, still you can try it out and let me know what you think.

santiniuk, the program isn't open source yet, I might consider that later on. If it does go open, I'll post it here on the zone.

Here is a link to something I found that is very close to what I would like to use for the drawing pen http://www.zyonshop.com/product/ipen.htm

Here is another screen shot, with the (Red) Rapid moves made transparent, so you can see what the image looks like a little better. It took about 10 seconds to sketch in the program. Look at the top right side of the screenshot (above "Checkbox1") the "901" is the number of g-code lines produced while drawing.

Again thank you both for your input, it really does help.

[dertsap]

that would be really cool to be able to free hand like that , it could come in handy for a number of things , but the first thing that came to my mind is my two boys , ive been trying to explain to the cad/cam ,and they seem interested but aren t getting the concept , but if they can free hand and create code that would be cool ,they can see their creations being made ,
free hand designs for cabinetry would be nice also

when i tell my friends who are machinists that im teaching the boys cnc , they all laugh and say "don t like your kids much do you"

great idea dude i say finish it

[rippersoft]

This could could be real interesting when combined with gcode-to-dxf. There have been a number of times I have wanted to convert a graphic into something I can use to cut as an outline instead having to carve the whole image. Wintopo and other edge detectors just really don't cut it.

I also program and would be interested in helping out where I can.

Thanks,
RipperSoftware

[Donald]

Switcher,
Do us a favor and don't drop this project, I have many woodworking friends that have thousands of templets, I've been attempting to trace them on paper, scanning and using Inkscape to conevert to vectors. And then piecing the 8 x 11 tracings back together in cad software.
I can see where this program will be very useful, providing that it can also save to a dxf for editing and tweaking.

Keep up the good work.
Don

[Switcher]

Just an update,
I havn't dropped this, I'm still working on the GDI+, and scaling the drawing.

Thanks for the interest, all.

I think I've decided to, hack my optical mouse for the input, (build my own pen).

Maybe go with a bluetooth wireless optical mouse (hack, into a pen) later on.

Later...

[rippersoft]

Back in the late 80's I used a drawing pad that had a magnetic "mouse" and it had a crosshair for spotting XY. The device also had buttons to start and stop the drawing.

Instead of hacking a mouse, why not make a crosshair and mount to the front or side of the mouse. Mill out of the clear plastic CD that is usually on top of a CD spindle stack.

With a laser mouse (ball-less mouse), you could make a mount that would be the outline of the mouse body and has a bumpout semicircle at the front for the crosshair. Mill a hole for the laser to look thru. Crazy glue the mouse to the mount.

RipperSoftware

[CJL5585]

Originally Posted by rippersoft Back in the late 80's I used a drawing pad that had a magnetic "mouse" and it had a crosshair for spotting XY. The device also had buttons to start and stop the drawing. Instead of hacking a mouse, why not make a crosshair and mount to the front or side of the mouse. Mill out of the clear plastic CD that is usually on top of a CD spindle stack. With a laser mouse (ball-less mouse), you could make a mount that would be the outline of the mouse body and has a bumpout semicircle at the front for the crosshair. Mill a hole for the laser to look thru. Crazy glue the mouse to the mount. RipperSoftware

My Microsoft Mouse has 3 laser LED's and are arranged in a specific pattern in order to work. Don't think this would work on the mouse I have.

Jerry

[Switcher]

This is just a sample of my program.

The g-code isn't correct, so you can't save as a text file yet, don't want machines crashing!

The thing I'm working on is the GDI+, I need the screen to re-paint the image faster than it is, now. When you first start the program all it will do is draw to the screen, If you check the "Add G-Code", it will add the "X" & "Y" locations to the textbox. Then you will see that the drawing isn't painting fast enough.

To clear everything out (Image, Text) click on "File|Clear All"






.

[CJL5585]

I get a runtime error (initialization error) when I try to run the file.

Jerry