PrePrintService - deprecated

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Warning This repository is no longer maintained. The functionalities have been moved to Tweaker-3 for the REST API and to Octoprint-PrePrintService for a RESTful Tweaker and Slicer endpoint for the OctoPrint platform.

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This service supports your 3D printing workflow by utilizing auto-rotation and slicing functionality.

The PrePrint Service is based on:

• The auto-rotation software for FDM 3D printing Tweaker-3
• The slicing software Slic3r

Workflow

The full workflow can be deployed either on a single machine or on two separated nodes as described below:

The following steps will be done:

1. Open the basic API of the PrePrint Service or a server GUI that uses it and submit a model file.
2. The model will be auto-rotated for a proper 3D print by the Tweaker-3 software.
3. The optimized model will be sliced using Slic3r.
4. The final machine code will be sent back to the requester.
5. The printing can be started.

Each step can be adjusted as described in the settings.

Requirements

1. A server node with at least 2GHz CPU frequency.
2. Optional: Install Docker version 1.10.0+ and Docker Compose version 1.6.0+ on the more powerful node.

Quickstart

If you don't want to install docker right now, follow run:

cd preprintservice_src
pip install -r requirements.txt
git clone https://github.com/ChristophSchranz/Tweaker-3
python3 tweak-service.py

Deployment in Docker

In order to make the service highly available, it is recommended to deploy the PrePrint Service in docker. If you are not familiar with docker yet, have a quick look at the links in the requirements-section.

Then run the application locally with:

https://github.com/ChristophSchranz/Pre-Print-Service
cd PrePrintService
docker-compose up --build -d
docker-compose logs -f

Optional: The docker-compose.yml is also configured to run in a given docker swarm, just adapt the config in the file docker-compose.yml to your setup and run:

docker-compose build
docker-compose push
docker stack deploy --compose-file docker-compose.yml preprintservice

The service is available on localhost:2304/tweak (from the hosting node), where a simple UI is provided for testing the PrePrint Service. Use docker-compose down to stop the service. (If you ever wish 😉 )

Configuration

Configure the plugin in the settings and make sure the url for the PrePrint service is correct:

To test the setup, do the following steps:

1. Visit localhost:2304/tweak, select a stl model file and make an extended Tweak (auto-rotation) without slicing. The output should be an auto-rotated (binary) STL model. If not, check the logs of the docker-service using docker-compose logs -f in the folder where the docker-compose.yml is located.

2. Now, do the same with slicing, the resulting file should be a gcode file of the model. Else, check the logs of the docker-service using docker-compose logs -f in the same folder.

If you have any troubles in setting this plugin up or tips to improve this instruction, please let me know!

PrePrint-Service API

You can use this API to preprocess your models for 3D printing.

import requests

url = "http://localhost:2304/tweak"
model_path = 'preprintservice_src/uploads/model.stl'
profile_path = 'preprintservice_src/profiles/profile_015mm_brim.profile'
output_path = 'gcode_name.gcode'
        
# Auto-rotate file without slicing
r = requests.post(url, files={'model': open(model_path, 'rb')},
                  data={"tweak_actions": "tweak"})

# Only slice the model to a gcode
r = requests.post(url, files={'model': open(model_path, 'rb'), 'profile': open(profile_path, 'rb')},
                  data={"machinecode_name": output_path, "tweak_actions": "slice"})
# Auto-rotate and slice the model file
r = requests.post(url, files={'model': open(model_path, 'rb'), 'profile': open(profile_path, 'rb')},
                  data={"machinecode_name": output_path, "tweak_actions": "tweak slice"})
print(r.json())

Donation

This service, as well as the auto-rotation module Tweaker-3 was developed in my spare time. If you like it, I am very thankful about a cup of coffee from you! :)

Happy Printing!