Welcome to mecode_viewer

Installation

pip install mecode_viewer

Getting Started

Example: simplest case

All that is needed to run mecode_viewer is to provide a path to your gcode file. By default, mecode_viewer assumes you're using a Nordson pressure controller to control ink extrusion.

from  mecode_viewer import mecode_viewer

mecode_viewer(file_name='gcode_file.pgm')

Example: custom extrusion command

Linear actuators are also often used to control ink extrusion during printing. This example shows how we can provide a custom extrude_cmd to specify when extrusion starts and stops. E.g., if linear actuator #5 is typically run using FREERUN PDISP5 2.5 and stopped using FREERUN PDISP5 STOP, we can simply set extrude_cmd='FREERUN PDISP5'.

from  mecode_viewer import mecode_viewer

mecode_viewer(file_name='gcode_file.pgm', extrude_cmd='FREERUN PDISP5')

Note

If more than one extrusion source is present in the gcode this approach will not work. In this case a list of extrude_cmd's and extrude_stop_cmd's should be used. See e.g., multimaterial example below

Example: animated visualization

By default mecode_viewer will display a 3D figure of your gcode toolpath. If you would like to view an animated version, set animate=True.

from  mecode_viewer import mecode_viewer

mecode_viewer(file_name='gcode_file.pgm', animate=True)

Example: mixing, multimaterial printing

If extrude_cmd is provided with a list or tuple with more than one entry, mecode_viewer will generate a figure color coded for each extrusion source.

from mecode_viewer import mecode_viewer
mecode_viewer('gcode_example.pgm',
              extrude_cmd=('PDISP1', 'PDISP2'),
              extrude_stop_cmd=('PDISP1 STOP', 'PDISP2 STOP'))

Warning

This currently only work for two extrusion sources. We plan to add support for more extruders / more colors.

Want to learn more?

Full documenation of mecode_viewer available at API Reference.

License

mecode_viewer is distributed under the terms of the MIT license.