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Step 12Controller software - Primer
Ok, in the controller window there are three main elements.
Move the mouse over the machine and you'll see some lines overlaid that represent the hanging cords. You can zoom in and out from the machine using the mouse scroll wheel, and "grab" it and move it around using the middle mouse button drag.
If a command is issued to the machine, it's held in a queue until the machine signals to say it's ready to do something. The command queue is shown on the far right of the app window. When you first start it up, it's in paused mode, and is pre-loaded with a couple of default settings. You can start it and stop it by clicking on the queue header (where it says COMMAND QUEUE: Paused - click to start). The queue can be emptied with the reset queue button. While the queue is paused, individual commands can be removed from it by clicking on them.
The interface is separated into three tabs, switch between them using the labels at the very top. Each tab has a different set of buttons in it's panel.
- The control panel with all the buttons down the far-left,
- The grey rectangle in the middle that represents the machine itself,
- The command queue down the right-hand side of the machine.
Move the mouse over the machine and you'll see some lines overlaid that represent the hanging cords. You can zoom in and out from the machine using the mouse scroll wheel, and "grab" it and move it around using the middle mouse button drag.
If a command is issued to the machine, it's held in a queue until the machine signals to say it's ready to do something. The command queue is shown on the far right of the app window. When you first start it up, it's in paused mode, and is pre-loaded with a couple of default settings. You can start it and stop it by clicking on the queue header (where it says COMMAND QUEUE: Paused - click to start). The queue can be emptied with the reset queue button. While the queue is paused, individual commands can be removed from it by clicking on them.
The interface is separated into three tabs, switch between them using the labels at the very top. Each tab has a different set of buttons in it's panel.
- Input. Used for loading images, moving, resizing, selecting an area to draw, as well as issuing the drawing commands. Click on load image and browse to an image, (png or jpg), then move image and resize image to place it on the page.
- Setup. Used for defining the machine hardware. Change the machine size, the page size and position and the home point position. Also change the motor speeds and pen size. Once you've changed the machine on-screen to reflect the real size of your own machine, press upload machine spec to send it to the machine.
- Queue. Used for exporting and importing the queue to and from a text file. They are in plain text, so it's easy enough to hack them.
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When I open the program and select Load Image File on the input screen, I try to open a JPG and nothing shows up on the screen.
What are the limitations for this program? ie....the directions in this Instructable say to open a bitmap. When I click on Load Image File, the open dialog box shows that it wants either a JPG or a PNG file. I tried opening a bitmap 256 color, as well as 24 bit too....nothing shows.
Also, I have Show Image checked in bottom left hand corner of the program, still nothing.
OK, just so we're on the same level.....now I'm talking about the new version of your program.
Both ways I run it (manually via Processing or thru the binary) I can not load an image file into the program.
I mentioned it in another comment, but I CAN load images into your Old Version of the program. So it's either a config problem, or a software problem, I don't know.
I tried loading same image I loaded into Old Version, into new version and it does not display. Looking at the console in Processing and it says loading from filename: .....
There are no error messages in the Processing console
I'm hoping to get some work done on the controller over the weekend.
In the Old Version, I get a box the size of the image. When I move that box and click, the image moves to that new location
Is the old version on your Google Code page under trunk? polargraphcontroller.pde, is that the file for the old version?
I'll still want to get the newer version running, and will probably need a little guidance on that, but I just want to see this in action! I'm going to start ordering stuff to build this today.
I'll probably actually import some stepper motors to the United States from the eBay seller you linked. They have them cheaper than I can get here in the States, and I would like to order quite a few of them for use with other projects in the future.