Depictor

Depictor is a web app that runs on a Raspberry Pi. It provides a simple and clean web interface to easily generate and draw images with a 2d plotter. It features automatic background removal, custom gcode settings, print time estimates, gallery with previous prints and many more features. It is currently optimized for GRBL plotter, but the basic features should work with most plotter.

The image conversion is based on the Drawbot_image_to_gcode_v2 project.

Table of contents

• Features
• Demo
• Screenshots
• Installation & Setup
  • Material
  • Quick install instructions
  • Detailed install instructions
  • Setup
    • Start gcode
    • Gcode scaling
    • Start gcode
    • Pen down command
    • Enable automatic background removal
• Supported Raspberry Pi models
• Adding Custom Image Converters
• Acknowledgements
• License
• Run Locally
• Support

Features

• Modern and responsive web interface
• Image to gcode converter
• Automatic background removal
• Gallery with all previous drawings
• Live print progress view with time estimates
• One click updates

Demo

Screenshots

Installation & Setup

I couldn't test this guide with a lot of people, so if something isn't clear or doesn't work, please create a new Issue or write an email to juliushussl@gmail.com.

Warning: Currently Depictor isn't designed to work along other programs on your rpi. When installed it will use an apache server on port:80 and an express application on port:3001. So please be carefull when installing Depictor on an already used pie and check that all ports are free!

Material

• Raspberry pi
• min. 4GB micro sd card
• plotter that works with grbl (other non grbl plotter should also work in theory if they support the standard gcode set)
• a cable to connect the plotter and rpi over usb

Quick install instructions:

If you are already familiar with rpis these are the simplified quick install instructions:

• install a raspbian os light image on the rpi.
• ssh into the rpi.
• execute these three commands:

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Iqwertz/Depictor/main/install.sh
  sudo chmod +x install.sh
  sudo ./install.sh

• Connect the plotter with the rpi via USB.
• Open a browser and enter the ip of your rpi in the browser to access the web interface. If everything was successful you should see the Depictor landing page!
• (Before you start your first drawing you should check out the 'Setup' section)

Detailed install instructions:

If you don't have any experience with Raspberry Pi's or have struggles to install Depictor with the quick install instructions, this is a step-by-step guide on how to install it:

Insalling raspbian

To install raspbian on an sd card I recommend using the Raspberry Pi imager. You can download it here: www.raspberrypi.com/software/. After installing Raspberry Pi imager and opening it up choose Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit) as the os. Then select the correct sd-card and set the following settings (of course you have to change the username and password and set the correct wifi credentials):

(The settings are in german and I cant find way to change that but I think it is clear which settings should be used)

Then click on write and wait. After the imager finished the write process remove the micro-sd card and put it into the rpi. You successfully created a raspbian image!

Installing Depictor

To install Depictor on your rpi you have to ssh into it. To do so open a terminal and type in ssh pi@depictor.local (if you changed your username replace pi with your username). There may be some warning... just accept it by typing yes and then enter your password. If every thing was successful the last line in the terminal should be: pi@depictor:~ $ Now paste these three commands:

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Iqwertz/Depictor/main/install.sh
  sudo chmod +x install.sh
  sudo ./install.sh

(Or use this one liner:)

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Iqwertz/Depictor/main/install.sh && sudo chmod +x install.sh && sudo ./install.sh

The installation will take a few minutes. After it finished you successfully have installed Depictor! You can access it by opening this url in the browser: depictor.local.

Setup

Before you try to draw your first image, you probably have to adjust these three settings (all of them can be found in the settings tab in the top right):

Port

To be able to connect the plotter with the rpi you have to select the correct port in the settings. To test if you have selected the correct port you can open the terminal and check if the grbl greeting is displayed.

Start gcode

In this text field you can paste some gcode that gets appended to the gcode file before drawing it. Before starting your first print please adjust the feedrate (default: 4000) and the homing command (default: $H) for your plotter.

Gcode scaling

Depictor will automatically scale your gcode to the size of your drawing area. There are 3 default profiles for A5, A4 and A3 paper sizes (They only work if one edge of the paper is in 0,0 and if your plotter coordinates are in mm). If the default profile doesn't fit your drawing area you can also create a custom profile:

Pen down command / Pen up command

Here you can configure the commands to lift and lower the drawing pen. If these commands are different on your plotter please change them here.

Enable automatic background removal

The background remove function uses the remove.bg api. To enable it you have to get an API key:

• Register on remove.bg
• Go to the api settings: https://www.remove.bg/de/dashboard#api-key
• Click on "Show API key".
• Copy the key and paste it in the settings of Depictor under "BgRemove API key"

(Note: When using the free version of the api you can only convert 50 pictures a month. If you need more you can buy more on the remove.bg website)

Supported Raspberry Pi models

The project was developed and tested with a Raspberry Pi 3B but should work on every official model. However, it is not recommended to use a Raspberry Pi zero due to its limited processing power (the image conversion will take 15+ min).

Adding Custom Image Converters

Currently Depictor supports the following image converters:

• Drawbot_image_to_gcode_converter_v2
• SudokuGcode

There are plans to add more image converters in the future (suggestions are welcome :).

Also in the far future there may be a option to add a custom image converter via the web interface. But for now you have to add a custom image converter manually: More information on how to do this can be found here: CustomConverter.md

Acknowledgements

• Huge thanks to Scott-Cooper, for creating the Drawbot_image_to_gcode_v2 which is used to convert the images to beautiful gcode.
• gcode-cli
• remove.bg

License

GPL-3.0 License

Run Locally

Clone the project

  git clone https://github.com/Iqwertz/Depictor.git

Start the backend server

Go to the project's backend directory:

  cd Depictor/Backend

Install backend dependencies :

  npm i

Start the backend server:

  npm run start

or

  nodemon

Serve frontend

Go to the project's frontend directory:

  cd Depictor/Frontend

Install frontend dependencies:

  npm i

Start frontend live server:

  ng serve

Deployment

To generate a new release run

  ./ generateRelease.sh

Support

For support, email juliushussl@gmail.com .