14
votes
Accepted
How to prevent z-fighting in OpenSCAD?
The general advice in the OpenSCAD community is to "extend your cuts and embed your joins" (source). The rendering artifacts are one thing but rather just an annoyance; however z-fighting can also ...
- 413
11
votes
Accepted
OpenSCAD can't render union of two polyhedrons, but can preview just fine
This is a case of "Mis-ordered faces".
That means the order in which the vertices making up one or more faces aren't in the correct order.
The vertices of a face should be listed in ...
- 281
10
votes
Can the `render` function be used to speed up rendering?
First a disclaimer: I am far from an expert on the subject, I'm just a regular Joe who happens to use OpenSCAD and have done some experimentation with it. I believe the answer below to be correct, ...
- 4,775
8
votes
Is there an easy way to split models in OpenSCAD?
Rather than differencing a copy of the object from itself, which is subject to numerical instability, choose a box ("cube" in OpenSCAD terminology), and intersect it with one copy of the object, then ...
8
votes
Accepted
Why is 2 / -2 / 2 equal to -2 in OpenSCAD? (Mathematical Order of Operations)
I suspect the behavior you are seeing is an undocumented feature (aka, bug) of OpenSCAD. I've found in the latest stable release that if the - is placed on either end, the result is -0.5, but in the ...
- 12k
7
votes
Are there any "best" or at least "common" practices to handle allowances in OpenSCAD code?
It helps to understand the different aspects of dimensions, so you can use the terminology correctly. This will help you define your variables in OpenSCAD with correct names. (Tolerance is the wrong ...
- 553
7
votes
Accepted
OpenSCAD ERROR: Current top level object is not a 2D object
Use the projection() feature of OpenSCAD to effectively generate a plane cut. Position the cube structure in such a manner that the x/y plane intersects the desired shape to be exported. Rendering the ...
- 12k
6
votes
OpenSCAD linear_extrude from multiple path svg import
Lame solution: creating stepped pyramid with offset. I realized that scale will not worked for motives with holes inside. Offset seems then more appropriate than scale for my application (creation of ...
- 211
6
votes
Accepted
What is the operator precedence in OpenSCAD?
Within OpenSCAD expressions, the order of precedence is:
Operators
Description
() []
group, vector, or range
() [] .
function call, indexing, member lookup
^
exponentiation
! + -
unary operations
...
- 176
5
votes
OpenSCAD library for empty space/holes
I'm not aware of libraries that do that for you (but you can create your own, see end of the answer), but creating a relieve hole pattern is not that difficult or tedious using iterator functions (e.g....
- 37.1k
4
votes
Why is 2 / -2 / 2 equal to -2 in OpenSCAD? (Mathematical Order of Operations)
I filed this issue as a bug with the OpenSCAD project, and there is now a fix merged into master, as well as a test case to prevent regression. The latest nightly builds should handle this correctly ...
- 2,530
4
votes
OpenSCAD 2018 Command line
You can specify variable values from command line using:
openscad ...\
... \
[ -D var=val [..] ] \
... \
... \
filename
See the ...
- 41
4
votes
Creating "pie slice" in OpenSCAD?
This is what I use:
module pieSlice(a, r, h){
// a:angle, r:radius, h:height
rotate_extrude(angle=a) square([r,h]);
}
pieSlice(110,20,3);
- 141
4
votes
OpenSCAD weirdness with imported STL
I see you've accepted cmm's answer, but I'd still like to take a stab at the mechanism of the failure based on your comment on it:
Excellent explanation, thanks. The "WTH" cylinder is centered on ...
4
votes
Accepted
OpenSCAD not rendering polyhedron
Usually when there's an overlap in two objects during a difference action, F6 render will resolve the problem. There's something more than that involved here, as reducing the height of the cube ...
- 12k
4
votes
Accepted
Why does OpenSCAD fail to cut holes in polygon sides that are exactly the width of the wall?
openSCAD simply allows having surface solutions that result in a wall of 0 thickness. The walls appear to clip in those areas and can at times be seen from both sides, like in your example:
A 0 ...
- 22.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Can OpenSCAD bend text (project it on curved surface)?
another way may be a simple intersection()
(inspired by this discussion: How to a make a curved sheet (cube) in OpenSCAD?)
...
- 56
3
votes
Spiral bevel gears in OpenSCAD
I read this question a few months ago, and thought I knew what you wanted. Re-reading it now confuses me a little.
But, I think you may be asking for a large, flat surface with a spiral in it, like ...
- 4,591
3
votes
Accepted
How to remove internal part of a hex grid
I ended up finding a reasonable solution myself:
Basically, I diffed two identical, non-hollow geometries, in which the first one had the cells larger than they needed to be (so overlapping with ...
- 4,775
3
votes
OpenSCAD "not valid 2-manifold" useful information
Occasionally, a model created in OpenSCAD will have, as you suggest, overlapping segments. Often enough, this will generate the message you receive. OpenSCAD has an implied union function when it ...
- 12k
3
votes
Accepted
OpenSCAD 2018 Command line
I could finally solve the issue. Calling openscad from command line with parameters does NOT work with the AppImage I used. It works fine with a "standard" ...
3
votes
Accepted
Is there a technique for turning an image into a 2d model?
As you are already familiar with OpenSCAD, consider to use the projection() function to accomplish your goal.
If you allow for an interpretation that one can cast a shadow of the part on a surface ...
- 12k
3
votes
Accepted
.STEP/.F3D to .SCAD file?
Even though OpenSCAD can import a variety of formats, the file structure will not be accepted by Thingiverse in the manner presented by the OP.
OpenSCAD is a text-based description language. One ...
- 12k
3
votes
.STEP/.F3D to .SCAD file?
Actually there's a solution, albeit not directly from within openscad.
I've just found this:
https://github.com/agordon/openscad-step-reader/tree/master
You will need to install or build yourself ...
- 131
3
votes
Accepted
3
votes
OpenSCAD render (F6) fails with "ERROR: CGAL error in CGAL_Nef_polyhedron3()"
Reading between the lines on other forums, I found that the GCAL renderer will render a malformed object, but it will fail when a binary operator, such as union or intersection, is applied to that ...
- 4,591
3
votes
Can OpenSCAD bend text (project it on curved surface)?
I can't say if this is better than your method, but it is a library resource specific to your requirements.
Text_on OpenSCAD
The library covers various shapes, including cylindrical:
Image from ...
- 12k
3
votes
Print Object Without Top Layer But With Intermediate Layers
I just confirmed it works flawlessly in PrusaSlicer as it did in Slic3r, the software from which PrusaSlicer is forked. Just use the solution provided in "Different infill in the same part", ...
- 37.1k
3
votes
Cut a Möbius strip in four parts with interlocking
Cutting to pieces
To cut the ring into pieces you can take the intersection() of the object and the quadrant of interest (e.g. using a cube, but a wedge would have worked as well).
...
- 37.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Handing OpenSCAD module parameters derived from other variables
This seems to be a limitation of the language. One workaround that's only moderately ugly is, in the body of the module:
...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible