GearHeads Corner

Hi All:

  I know its been awhile since Ive done an update, figured Id let you know how its
going in the development department. The cad program to be included in Gearotic
is named Vexx. Its coming along well, can draw, import/export in dxf and has
bezier capability. Its quite pleasant to edit with, and is building up a supply of
tools.
 There was a time in the programming world where everyone was writing compilers,
so much so that the name of a popular one was yacc. This stood for
"Yet another C compiler. ". Vexx could probably have been named Yacp , "Yet
another CAD program." Its one reason I resisted writing a cad program for so
long, the other was that there are so many great ones out there, from Libre, to
Vectric (my favorite) to Fusion, Cambam etc..

  In the end I decided to write one because I was experimenting so much with
cad like things and was very unhappy with the Auggie base I was using. It is
a horrible cad base to work in as Auggie was meant only to have a very simple
drawing capability to augment is cnc motions. Its why the drawing is so bad
in kinetics and such.

  Vexx is intended to give me a manageable platform to add toys. Its taken
about a year so far to code. Cad programs are complex demons to tame. Its
a real trick to allow easy editing and deal with polylines, arcs and beziers
in a way that facilitates a friendly interface. Its getting closer to a release state
and I'm thinking you'll see it released in a month or two.

 Vexx has no Polyline class, while its capable internally of using polylines,
I wanted a base where such things are typically translated to arcs/ beziers and
lines. This really helps in editing and drawing routines. If it imports a polyline
DXF ( such as gearotics output or curvature form other program, its translates
it to arcs and lines to simplify the incoming data to more easily handled line
types.
  In the end Vexx will pull gear outlines from Gearotic, allow you to modify them
with things such as slots or mounting holes, and send them back to gearotic
for stl creating and cnc machining. This means any drawing will be able to
be sent to the cnc facility for machining.

 My aim here isnt to replace the above mentioned CAD programs, but to add
another tool ( as powerfull as I can make it) into your toolbox of dxf and
cad editors. I frequently experiment in all areas of graphics and things like
AI bots, and in order to release toys and modules in those areas I needed
a good cad platform to build around. Vexx , I think, will fit that desire.

  I also wanted an ability to allow the user to modify shapes like pallets in
clocks and send them back in to gearotic so your grasshopper could look
like an actual grasshopper for example.

  So I apologize for the long delay in updates, this Vexx program is more
complex internally than any update since Gearotic 2.0's release, so its
taking far longer than usual. It will of course be a free program included
in Gearotics release. The only functions needing your gearotic license
will be any that transfer data between itself and Gearotic.

 Ill post of course when its ready for release, just wanted to post that Im
still here, still buried in code and things are happening.

Art


   

Thank you Art.  Looking forward to the update!  BTW. In response to your comment about augmenting the drawings to create a live-looking grasshopper: I've cheated in the sense that I design gears in gearotic, and sometimes over the past few years have exported the dxf created in gearotic and build on that using other programs (e.g., Vectric v-carve pro) to add relief models to the gears (in my world, sheep and sheepdogs - my wife is an avid knitter).

Again, thanks!

Thanks Art
I?m sure there will be a lot to learn, and I look forward to trying it out

John

Art,
That's going to be a great addition to the program. I currently export Gearotic DXF files to CamBam for editing and G-Code generation but having everything tied together will be much more convenient.

BMeyers,
Ha! Another man who plays with Gearotic and has a wife that knits. You must both pay us a visit in the unlikely event you ever visit Western Australia's North West Cape  8)

Kit

PS Does she do podcasts? It seems half the knitters in the world do podcasts these days.

Hi Art,

I knew you had been up to something  ;)

Sounds most interesting.

Tweakie.

Tweaky:

  One of those project where you realize you bit off more then you like to chew.
Its soming along well though now after many false turns and headaches. I hope
to add a few toys for my lasers as outputs, so you may find it handy in the end.
  Ill be happy if it makes a usefull addition to toolboxes.. :)

Art

Looking forward to the Vexx update!  Life seems to wobble around with hobbies and projects around here.  I tend to spend a lot of time playing with Gearotic and making projects and then get pulled away for a few months....and then for whatever reason the bug hits again and I'm back making gears and crazy things.  Well, as summer fades and winter approaches I'm finding a little more time to tinker in the shop.  Thanks for all of your hard work, Art.  Cool stuff.