SolidPython VS BOSL2

https://github.com/SolidCode/SolidPython --- apparently there's a fork as a v2 which is to be preferred

Then use SolidPython to generate the scad files. ;)

I wonder how many OpenSCAD wrappers now exist? I know of scad-clj [0], openpyscad [1], and solidpython [2].

I particularly like scad-clj, because of `lein auto generate`. It watches source files, and regenerates the OpenSCAD files automatically, which OpenSCAD then also picks up. Although I'm not well versed in Clojure, and find debugging Clojure tricky, the workflow is just so good.

[0] https://github.com/farrellm/scad-clj

[1] https://github.com/taxpon/openpyscad

[2] https://github.com/SolidCode/SolidPython

Check out SolidPython, a front-end to OpenSCAD in Python that generates OpenSCAD code. It's actively developed (latest commit was 16 days ago) and has some excellent features, including first-class negative spaces - once you declare something to be a hole, the library makes sure that, no matter what, you will get a hole in the final model.

The mesh is already generated. I'm using a library (https://github.com/SolidCode/SolidPython) that generates OpenSCAD code which can be exported to pretty much any 3D format you want.

If you share an Excel (or, better yet, CSV) file, I can put up some Python code that outputs the OpenSCAD you want. I wrote SolidPython for exactly situations like this-- when you want to interface with other kinds of programs than just modeling.

In addition to first-class negative space (a hole like OP asked for), the SolidPython OpenSCAD binding also includes +, -, and * operators for union, difference, and intersection. (Disclosure; I’m the author)

Also, if it’s screw threads you’re after, there may just be some faster (== non-minkowski) ways to do that. OpenSCAD calculates polyhedrons much faster than big unions of parts. Buut, OpenSCAD also kinda sucks for doing vector math. I wrote SolidPython to get around some of the constrictions of OpenSCAD, and the screw_thread utility method should render decently detailed threads (120 segments per revolution, say) in a few seconds.

The BOSL2 equivalent is https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/wiki/CheatSheet

I used the BOSL2 library for the threads. Much easier that way!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5905001 - Thanks to BOSL2, once I've defined a few constant, the entire source code is one (long) line:

I was heading down this path, but stumbled across this library that has a TON of really great functions: BOSL2. Lot's of useful stuff here and not just strings and math. I used format_fixed() to solve my problem. It doesn't seem to accept math functions in the call, but that is easily solved with an intermediate variable.

It won't be easy, but try using this: https://github.com/revarbat/BOSL2/wiki/beziers.scad

BOSL2 has a function for bending a polyhedron around a given radius but it's one of those functions that are super powerful but not very clear about how to use effectively (maybe that's just me).