« Archives in April, 2012

New CS1 Host version out- Fullscreen Printing!

I just realeased a new version: 0.3.0!

This one is the first one with proper fullscreen printing!! That’s right… Full screen display, respecting the exposition time, and in-between null RED frames during Axis movement.

The Axis movement is still the same from the previous 0.2.0.

http://code.google.com/p/chemshapes/downloads/list

First test of the print movement…

The first test of the print movement with realtime slicing!!! (no “blank” frame between slices yet)

Haha!! Just load and print!!! no pre-processing!! (without support structure!)

This test is running the official firmware on our CS1 Shield for arduino.

I’m now working on the vat-release control and we’re ready for the first REAL PRINT TEST!! UHUU!!

Haa… I also need to make the host disable the screen-saver, as you see in the middle of the video!!! LOL

If you want to try it yourself: http://chemshapes.googlecode.com/files/CS1_Host_v0.2.0.zip

Although, without our firmware it will probably freeze after the first slice, since a normal ramps firmware have no concept of feedback when an axis movement is finished.

Right now our firmware only works with our shield, since the pinage is different. I’ll see if I can add a ramps version, but unfortunately,  our firmware will be imcompatible with ramps very soon since we have a dc motor controller and opto-switch for a simple encoder that controls the vat-release tilt.

I suppose we could even keep a simpler RAMPS version of the firmware, if necessary, but without vat-release. Will see!

New update to Windows version of CS1 Host software

New beta version 0.1.2 out which brings the following:

  • a fix for a issue 3 that was preventing the software from load up correctly in some Windows installations.
  • when loading geometry it now shows up a progress bar in the bottom part of the viewport.

As before, just unzip and run!

Please report any problems in the “Issues” section of our google code project.

CS1 Host software – Windows binary!

I finally got a windows binary for download, using pyinstaler now… much better than py2exe!

CS1 Host for windows

Just unzip and run! no install required!

Please report any problems using our issue tracker:

http://code.google.com/p/chemshapes/issues/list

Don’t forget to attach the log_<computerName>.html file!

New video testing the Host software in Windows!

This video was done by Henrique Muringa, another Brazilian who is starting to help on the Host software development. He recorded this test video on his Windows 7, were he tests the host comunication layer by connecting to his Prusa printer.

He also demonstrates the slicing speed on his  AMD HD 3200 Video Board, which has a GPU unit compatible with OpenGL 2.2. Also, the HD 3200 is a fairly low-end GPU of the AMD line, which demonstrate that the host software doesn’t  require too much GPU power to achieve really good results.

Thanks Henrique!!

CS1 Host software – GPU Realtime slicer in action!

Unfortunately, the recorder software couldn’t capture as fast as the host software can slice it! 🙂

Windows and OSX executables are not ready yet, but if you’re running Linux, just download the latest TRUNK from the svn depot at google code and type “make” in a shell!

Load “happy.stl” and simulate a slice!

The Host software requires a video board with a GPU that supports OpenGL version 2.0 at least, at the moment. Make sure to update the video drivers in case the host software fails to run on the first try.

Make sure you have these packages installed in your linux distro:

  • PyQt4
  • PyOpenGL
  • PIL (if you want to save slices as PNG)

Keep in mind that when saving PNG images it won’t be as fast as just simulating due to the I/O time it takes to save the image buffer to disk!

In case you run into trouble, please report any issues through google code issue tracker, and please make sure you do the following to speed up the support:

  • always attaching the log_<computer name>.html file created by the host software. I’ll find that file in the same folder after trying to run it.
  • specify your system specs, including:
    1. OS name and version
    2. video board name and brand
    3. video driver version

We’ll do our best to give as much support is possible. Keep in mind that, as this is an open source software, we only have our spare time to work on it, as well as to give support, so please be patient!

🙂