Cylindrical Functions Script

thingiverse

This Python script generates cylindrical coordinate functions as OpenSCAD scripts. Specify parameters such as height, radial and vertical resolution, wall thickness, and a twist parameter at the top of the script. Define radius as a function of theta and height in the "fun" function. The archive includes files like cylindrical.py (the script), spin.sh (an example of using inotify to auto-regenerate .scad files on .py updates), various STL outputs, and some gcode. This script addresses issues like generating a surface from a cylindrical function, producing a constant-thickness wall for reasonable curves, and plotting polygons in polar coordinates (which can be used to interpolate between shapes). It's useful for interpolating different shapes along a rotating cylinder, creating procedurally generated forms faster than in OpenSCAD, writing STLs directly, and generating solid objects or objects with a solid base. If an STL filename is given as the first command line argument, the script saves to that file; otherwise, it prints to standard output. Additionally, Python tries to automatically launch Meshlab for display if installed, but only writes OpenSCAD scripts if a .scad filename is provided in the command line arguments. The script requires OpenSCAD, Python, Numpy, and a Linux-like environment; inotify-tools are optional.