CAD tool path mapping.

[Mythical Knights]

I'm looking for some software that I can easily map tool paths with. I'll give an example and try to explain what exactly I'm looking for. Hopefully it makes sense.

For starters this is basically what I'm looking for:

-Determine coordinates on a plane at any point.
-Group points to create an object.
-Export the object's vertices.

 

Imagine a 2d plane; you're normal X and Y. Lets say your origin point is the lower left corner of this plane (0,0). You want to create an object like a box by picking coordinates on the plane to create it's vertices. Then group the vertices together and label it "box1". Lets say you want a circle next to it. Picking 3 points anywhere around this circle and grouping them the same as the box and labeling it "circle1". Now you want to export both objects to a text file. The text file will only contain the object's coordinates/vertices grouped together as labeled.

The text file should look something similar to this:

 

-box1-

10,10

10,20

20,20

20,10

 

-circle1-

30,10

25,15

35,15

 

Now to make things just a bit more complicated, lets say you want to adjust any of the coordinates of "box1" by simply altering any of the line segments between the vertices, the coordinates of the vertices, or the object as a whole in relation to the origin, very similar to using the transform tool in photoshop. Then re-export the text file with the updated mapping. To make my life easier, just having the ability to draw a box or circle or whatever without really needing to pick points on a plane would be nice. Just a matter of getting the coordinates of their vertices out in a text file.

 

To throw yet another wrench into the equation, say you want to overlay the objects onto an image and you want the origin of the plane to be the same as the lower left corner of your image. This is more of a visual aid for the user and is the most important part. Just creating objects on a blank plane is easy. But if you want to create those objects on or around something that already has features without any interference, it seems to be a bit more difficult.

 

My first thought was a CAD software like Fusion 360 or Solid Works but I'm unclear if either of those have what I'm looking for. Otherwise something like Altium. I know that's a PCB design software and has the option of exporting center X and center Y coordinates of any component, but those coordinates can be grouped together in excel after they are exported. I also don't know if you can import an image into Altium and "draw over it". Of course, if that is possible, having to export and re-alter the excel file a whole lot every time you want to make any adjustments could get annoying.

[Real_PhillBert]

What you're looking for is a G-Code editor. There are several free and many paid G-Code editing software options available.

 

I've personally never used any of the stand alone G-code editors, so I cant necessarily tell you what's good and what's not. I have very little experience with G-code, and all that I've done has been an add-in for Creo. 

 

I hope this helps:

 

https://all3dp.com/2/best-g-code-editors-online-offline/

 

[LordVetinari]

AutoCAD will be able to do this with some LISP coding. 

 

Microstation/MX by Bently is probably better though. The older versions especially were pretty much based on doing what you describe with limited GUI - it has its own (pretty simple) coding language to learn but for what you want it really wouldn't be difficult to learn. 

[Mythical Knights]

As stated, the software will need to have the ability to overlay objects on an existing image.

 

The G-code stuff looks promising since the system I already use is very similar to it. I've attached an image of what I'm using right now.

Obviously I can use what I have, however, it doesn't allow me to transform or even move any of the shapes with the mouse or keyboard. I have to edit the "text file" to do that then the shapes update on the image.

 

I also remember seeing an article on using photoshop and illustrator to achieve this. Something like that would be pretty easy to use and would for sure allow me to overlay these objects on an existing image.

 

I'll take some time to research the suggestions above including AutoCAD and Microstation/MX.

 

[Mythical Knights]

Looks like GIMP might have something similar to the photoshop thing. I can look into that as well.

 

[ColinLTT]

This isnt a tool pathing problem as far as you've described it, but a point plotting exercise. Fusion will happily design and spit out points in Gcode or otherwise, but I don't think its the tool you're looking for. You seem to have given us the symptoms without telling us what the intent is. I would probably just manually code this sort of thing. 

[Mythical Knights]

23 hours ago, ColinLTT said:

This isnt a tool pathing problem as far as you've described it, but a point plotting exercise. Fusion will happily design and spit out points in Gcode or otherwise, but I don't think its the tool you're looking for. You seem to have given us the symptoms without telling us what the intent is. I would probably just manually code this sort of thing. 

Each plotted point indicates a direction change for the tool in question. Tool starts at point 1, moves to point 2, then 3, then 4, and finally back to 1 depending on the shape.

 

The software I'm currently using only allows me to manually code the paths which is very time consuming. Something that takes me 4 hours to work on now should only take me 1 or 2 with the ability to draw out the shapes I want over the existing image and export the vertices of the separate shapes. Perhaps more importantly, I don't have a way to determine exactly where the tool is in perfect relation to the image and it's origin. As it is right now, there's a lot of trial and error involved to align things correctly.