Crate scad

Source
Expand description

This crate is used to generate openscad models using rust.

§Usage

First, let’s look at a simple example of the crate being used.

//"Import" the module along with the macros
#[macro_use]
extern crate scad;

//Avoid having to write scad:: everywhere
use scad::*;

pub fn main() {
    //Create an scad file object for storing the scad objects. This
    //allows us to set things like the detail level ($fn) for the models.
    let mut scad_file = ScadFile::new();

    //Sets the $fn variable in scad which controls the detail level of things
    //like spheres. Look at the scad wiki for details
    scad_file.set_detail(50);

    //Create an scad object
    let mut cube = scad!(Translate(vec3(2.0, 2.0, 3.0)); {
        scad!(Cube(vec3(2.0,1.0,4.0)))
    });

    //Create a cylinder with a height of 10 and a diameter of 3 mm
    let cylinder = scad!(Cylinder(10., Diameter(3.)));

    //Add the cylinder to the cubes translation.
    cube.add_child(cylinder);

    //Add the cube object to the file
    scad_file.add_object(cube.clone());

    //Save the scad code to a file
    scad_file.write_to_file(String::from("out.scad"));

    //You can also print the code for the object manually since it's just a string
    println!("{}", scad!(Cube(vec3(5., 3.,  2.))).get_code());
}

Which will print the following openscad code

translate([2,2,3])
{
    cube([2,1,4]);
    Cylinder(h=10, r=3);
}

§The scad! macro

The most important part of the crate is the scad! macro. The first parameter of the macro is the element type of the object we want to create which should be an instance of the ScadElement enum. If you only want to create a single scad object, you can simply end the macro invocation after the parent like this:


    scad!(Cube(vec3(10., 10., 10.)));

A lot of times, you want to add more elements as children to an scad object. For example when translating a cube. If you want to add children to the object, add a ; after the element type and surround all the children in {}. The children should be instances of the ScadObject. The children should be separated by ;.


    let child = scad!(Cylinder(10., Radius(3.)));

    scad!(Difference;{
        //A child can be another call to the scad! macro
        scad!(Cube(vec3(1., 2., 3.))),
        //or a variable that is an scad object
        child,
        //Or even a function that returns an scad object
        get_child(),
    });

    fn get_child() -> ScadObject
    {
    //...
    }

§Object parameters

Almost all ScadElements take additional parameters that describe them. They are enum parameters so you specify them as you would with enums. Some parameters are regular built in types like f32 but there are some special ones which are described below.

§Vectors

The most common parameter is a vector. This library uses the nalgebra crate for vectors but writing na::Vector3::new(x, y, z) each time you want a vector is tedious which is why the library contains the functions vec3(x, y, z) and vec2(x, y). They are simply functions that call the equivalent nalgebra constructor.

§Circle radii and diameters.

Just like regular OpenSCAD, you can create round objects by either specifying the diameter or radius of the circle. This is done using the CircleType enum which is either Diameter(d) or Radius(r).

§Creating objects in loops

In most cases, the scad! macro should be good enoough to create objects, but one case where it is not, is when you want to create several objects in a loop and add them as children to a specific object. In this case, you have to use the add_child method of the ScadObject struct manually


    //Create the parent and make sure its mutable
    let mut parent = scad!(Union);

    for i in 0..3 {
        parent.add_child(scad!(Cube(vec3(0., i as f32, 0.))));
    }

Re-exports§

Modules§

Macros§

  • Used to create structs with ::new functions that set default values without having to write an impl for new.
  • Creates an scad object with optional children

Structs§

  • Parameters for the linear extrude function.
  • Parameters for the rotate extrude function
  • Object that stores scad objects along with global parameters for the objects. Also has methods for writing the data to files.
  • An scad object which is a single scad element and can have zero or more child objects

Enums§

  • Since scad allows creation of circle like objects using either radius or diameter, this enum specifies which format to use
  • Different kinds of scad modules and function. These are parameters for ScadObjects.

Traits§

  • Trait for converting from rust types to strings compatible with openscad