Comment by aleph_minus_one

12 hours ago

> I can't use words to ask a 3d printer to make something.

You can: the words are in the G-code language.

I mean: you are used to learn foreign languages in school, so you are already used to formulate your request in a different language to make yourself understood. In this case, this language is G-code.

This is a strange take; no one is hand-writing the g-code for their 3d print. There are ways to model objects using code (eg openscad), but that still doesn't replace the actual mechanical design work involved in studying a problem and figuring out what sort of part is required to solve it.

  • Funny you should mention that.

    I spent years writing a geometry and gcode generator in grasshopper. I wasn’t generating every line of gcode (my typical programs are about 500k lines), but I write the entire generator to go from curves to movements and extrusions.

    I used opus to rewrite the entire thing, more cleanly, with fewer bugs and more features, in an afternoon. Admittedly it would have taken a lot longer without the domain expertise from years of staring at geometry and gcode side by side.

  • Produce the g code needed to 3D print the object of the attached illustrations from various angles.

    Produce the 3D images of xxx from various angles.xxx should be able to do yyy.

    • Re: Produce the 3D images of xxx from various angles.xxx should be able to do yyy.

      This is the tricky part. Do you know anything about mechanical engineering?