Tiling and the path workbench

[Russ4262]

Afternoon,
Here is version 6.0 of the Tile Job Utility macro.
The major improvement is the addition of tile previews in the viewport to assist users with sizing tiles. Other minor improvements were made to structure of code, internal documentation additions, and improved icon for the integrated branch version. I also updated the branch linked in the previous thread with version 6.0 of this utility.

The red squares icon to the upper right of the screenshot is the original icon. This upgrade to version 6.0 includes a new icon not pictured here, based on the current new Job icon.

Cheers,
Russell

[Joneb]

Good morning

To get this macro to work do I just need to down load the macro and put it in my macro folder.

At what stage do i need to run the macro before or after creating the path.

Sorry for basic questions but I would like to give it a try.

Regards John

OS: Windows 10 (10.0)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.24693 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: e01f0d25d5f3ef9ceb66aa087212121e9f2f2e8b
Python version: 3.8.8
Qt version: 5.12.9
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.5.1
Locale: English/United Kingdom (en_GB)

[Russ4262]

Good morning

To get this macro to work do I just need to down load the macro and put it in my macro folder.

At what stage do i need to run the macro before or after creating the path.
...

Top o' the morning to you, sir.
Yes, download and place the macro in your macro folder.

Usage:
* Create your Path Job as you desire with all operations, dressups, tool controllers, etc...
* Within the desired Job, de-activate any operations you do not want included in the tiling operation results.
* Run the macro.
* Select the desired job from the list, if more than one job object exists.
* Set the X and Y values as desired. A zero value for either will use the full stock length for that axis.
* Set the other two option checkboxes as desired for changing processing direction and creating one job per tile.
* Click OK.
* A popup window will appear asking to select a job. It will likely be the last entry. Choose the one with the "Tile_" prefix followed by the job label for the job you selected initially.
* A Custom Operation task panel will open. Simply click OK to proceed. The Tile Job Utility will finish with some errors in the report view; these are GUI-related errors.
* The new Tile Job(s) will appear in the object tree, but not nice and self contained as your original job. It(They) is(are) still valid job(s) and may be edited as such.

Deleting the Tile Job(s) created requires two deletion actions rather than one. It is what it is as the macro.

The new PR that contains this new Tile Job Utility does not come with the non-essential popup windows and task panel interactions, nor does it have any errors as does this macro. I made a few minor changes to the Path code to make for cleaner and more flexible scripting with GUI/view-provider support. The PR also has a few minor improvements as it is version 6.1 that I have yet to post here in the forum.

May your skies by sunny and breezes ever so light.

Russell

[onekk]

Hello @Russ4262, Fron the discussion above, I have see that you have a "personal" branch of FreeCAD.

Your github repo seems to not reflect the changes you have posted as PR, I wonder if you have some hints to gave me to use an AppImage, expand and modify the relevant part to test your proposed modifications to make scripting Path easier?

Sadly my machine could not afford to compile FreeCAD, it almost slow, so some suggestion on doing some testing with an AppImage will be welcomed.

TIA and Regards

Carlo D.

[Russ4262]

... Your github repo seems to not reflect the changes you have posted as PR, I wonder if you have some hints to gave me to use an AppImage, expand and modify the relevant part to test your proposed modifications to make scripting Path easier?
...

Evening sir.
True, I rarely merge my own branches into my master branch of my repo. Perhaps I will begin doing so. I might start research for instructions on how to create an appimage file from FreeCAD built from source. A while back, I successfully installed Ubuntu along side my Windows 10, so I might attempt to learn how to package an appimage file after compiling FreeCAD from source. Then I would be able to share branches with those whom are interested in trying features with which I dabble without the requirement that they compile from source. The appimage pursuit will not likely be soon.

So, I need to know if you are using a weekly appimage or the 0.19 official release appimage. I think I can put together a compressed Path folder with the scripting changes and send to you so that you can substitute it in the appimage file structure for experimentation. I think ChrisB or a few other forum users have posted instructions on how to unpack an appimage file, make changes, and then repack or run it.

Thanks for expressing interest and for your involvement in the project.

Russell

[onekk]

I will be pleased to contribute to your work, let me see if i found some directions, on how to do this thing, maybe i could ask to @sliptonic, from what I know he is using Linux.

if you could put togheter a "patch" or a ./Mod/Path zip file I will pleased to try it with some scripting test (I have a full "program" already develop that use Job generation a lot).

Regards

Carlo D.

[Russ4262]

... if you could put togheter a "patch" or a ./Mod/Path zip file I will pleased to try it with some scripting test ...

Morning sir.
I compressed my Path build folder using 7Zip to achieve greater compression for attachment size limitations here in the forum. It was compiled on Windows, so I don't know how that will affect everything, other than give Linux users a sour taste in their mouths. You will need to backup your original Path folder for later restoration. I don't think copying and renaming within the Mod folder will work - I think FreeCAD will attempt to parse and load it as another workbench. FYI, the attached file has no parent Path folder, it is simply all the contents of the Path folder. So, make sure you decompress within a newly created Path folder.

This particular Path combination has the current Tile Job Utility PR, a set of new unit tests in progress, the Extensions PR code, and a Part Align feature I initiated over a year ago and recently rebased to prepare for more work it needs. I don't mind sharing these. I don't have a build with just the Tile Job Utility PR that contains the scripting improvements.

Let me know when you get the Path folder transplant complete and running. I will walk you through how to create new GUI-supported ops without an initial task panel and with a pre-assigned job. You will also be able to create GUI-supported jobs without the initial task-panel support. Although, I don't recall if you are running GUI or strictly command line without the GUI.

Have a great day.
Russell

[onekk]

Thanks you have a gitter account so we can talk directly there?

I'm going to resize a partition on my HD as space is almost finished do maybe later I could do some test.

What timezone you are in?

Regards

Carlo D.