[CHI2025] Draw2Cut: Direct On-Material Annotations for CNC Milling

Official Website: https://apisxia.github.io/Draw2Cut/

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1. Installation

This project uses poetry for environment management. Follow these steps to set up the environment:

1. Create a virtual environment using Anaconda or venv.

2. Install poetry and project dependencies:

   pip install poetry
   poetry install

External Dependencies

The project requires the external library zbar. Install it using the commands below:

• For Ubuntu:

  sudo apt-get install libzbar0

• For Mac:

  brew install zbar

Depth Camera Support

The current pyproject.toml does not include pyrealsense2. If you need depth camera support, install it manually:

• Note: This library is not compatible with macOS.

  pip install pyrealsense2

If depth camera functionality is not required, you can skip this step.

Download Demo Data

• Download Test Data

  • Access the demo data from Google Drive
  • Download the point_cloud.npz file

• Setup Data Directory

  • Create a data folder in the project root if it doesn't exist
  • Create a teatable subfolder inside data
  • Place the downloaded point_cloud.npz file at:

    data/
    └── teatable/
        └── point_cloud.npz
    

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2. Interface

Run the following command to launch the interface:

python main.py

Notes for Ubuntu Users:

• Library Errors: Additional libraries may need to be installed if you encounter errors.

• Display Scaling: Layout issues may arise if the display scaling is not set to 100%.

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3. Steps for Workflow

Step 1: Capture Point Cloud

1. Click Start Capture to simultaneously capture color and depth images.

2. Switch visualization modes using:

   • Show Depth
   • Show Color Image

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Step 2: Separate Cutting Surface

1. Select the relevant case.

2. Click Show Collected Point Cloud to view data from Step 1.

3. Adjust parameters and click Start Separation to segment the cutting surface. The result will appear in the left window.

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Step 3: Mask & Centerline Extraction

1. Select the relevant case.

2. Click Start Mask Extraction to generate color masks. Results will appear in the left window.

3. Review the mask table:

   • Click 💡 to view masks for specific colors.
   • ❌ indicates undetected masks for that color type.

4. Edit parameters in the table:

   • Type, HSV Value, and Action settings will affect future mask extractions.

5. Save the current configuration by clicking Save Current.

6. Click Start Centerline Extraction to detect centerlines:

   • Use the table to inspect results for each type of centerline.

7. If results are unsatisfactory, adjust the color table and repeat the process.

8. Remember to click Save to File.

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Step 4: Trajectory, Visualization, & G-code Generation

1. Select the relevant case.

2. Click Start Trajectory Planning to generate cutting trajectories:

   • View the 2D visualization of coarse trajectories at different cutting levels.

3. Use the visualization options:

   • Original Mesh: Display the pre-cut mesh.
   • Target Mesh: Display the target mesh.

4. Click Start Animation to play the cutting animation:

   • Use Stop to halt the animation.

5. Generate G-code:

   • Click Generate Gcode to create G-code files for CNC execution.

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Additional Notes

Ensure all parameters are fine-tuned during each step for optimal results. Repeat steps as necessary to refine outputs.

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Citation

@inproceedings{gui2025draw2cut,
  title={Draw2Cut: Direct On-Material Annotations for CNC Milling},
  author={Gui, Xinyue and Xia, Ding and Gao, Wang and Doga Dogan, Mustafa and Larsson, Maria and Igarashi, Takeo},
  booktitle={Proceedings of The ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)},
  year={2025},
}