A library to decorate your models with patterns

[sgenoud]

I built BlingMyThing to make it easy to add some decorative patterns to models manually. But what if you want to do that, but within the studio viewer.

So I created a library that can be both imported in a software project (like BlingMyThing), but also used directly in the viewer.

So here is replicad-decorate. You can read (slightly more) on the readme there, but the gist is that you can create this

with this code:

export const defaultParams = {
  cellCount: 10,
};
import { addVoronoi } from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/replicad-decorate/dist/studio/replicad-decorate.js";

const { drawCircle } = replicad;

export default function main({ cellCount }) {
  const shape = drawCircle(20).sketchOnPlane().extrude(52);
  return addVoronoi(shape, { faceIndex: 1, depth: -2, cellCount });
}

You can even have a look on a live preview

The library needs some work to offer a nice API (and some documentation) - it is now just an extraction from the code in bling my thing. Tell me if you try it and have issues (or see improvements!).

[NodeGuy]

So cool!

[raydeleu]

As I wanted to create a honeycomb pattern in my model for a GPS holder, I tried different approaches:

• using a modifier in PrusaSlicer
• using the blingmything app
• using the library presented above

The modifier approach worked fine but did not allow me to achieve a nice symmetrical pattern. Furthermore it allowed only limited control over the geometry of the pattern. The pattern just replicates what would otherwise be the fill pattern for the 3D print.
The app at blingmything creates a nice symmetrical pattern and also allows to adjust the dimensions of the pattern. But it works on complete faces. The library presented above has the same drawback.
As I was not able to figure out how I could modify the library, I went the hard way:

This model is created by using a hexagonal column to create a hole, each time intersecting this column with a retangular volume before subtracing it from the shape. The result is as I wanted, but it takes some time to calculate. Using the method of the library the result appears much faster, so there is probably a way to combine the shapes first and then subtracting it in a single operation.

The code to the shape above is:

// Experiment to create a holder for GPS Receiver
// added code to create honeycomb pattern 
// within a rectangular shape

const r = replicad

const main = () => {

  // Dimensions of the GPS receiver
  let lx = 45.25;      // width of gns receiver
  let ly = 79.25;      // length of gns receiver
  let lz = 11.4;       // thickness of gns receiver
  let lt = 0.5 ;       // tolerance for fit around the receiver    
  
  let th = 2   ;       // thickness of holder around the receiver
  let wholder = 20  ;    // width of lanyard holder
  let yholder = 10  ;    // amount that holder sticks out of body

  let rlanhol = 2   ;    // radius of lanyard hole
  let ycut    = 0.6  ; // portion of side length to be cut

  let rlandist = 0  ; // distance between two holes for lanyard, set to 0 for single hole  
  
  // code to create a hexagon face 
  function Hexagon(size)
  { 
    let sketchHexagon 
    for(let i = 0 ; i <= 5 ; i += 1)
    {
        const angle = i * 2 * Math.PI / 6
        const xvalue = size * Math.cos(angle);
        const yvalue = size * Math.sin(angle);
        const point = [xvalue,yvalue];

        if (i === 0){
            sketchHexagon = new r.Sketcher("XY",-1).movePointerTo(point)
        }
        else {
            sketchHexagon.lineTo(point)
        }    
    }
    return sketchHexagon.close()
    }

    // code to create a hexagonal column, adding height to hexagon face
    function hexColumn(size,height)
    {
      return Hexagon(size).extrude(height);
    }

  // add tolerances to the dimensions of object to be held
  lx = lx + lt; 
  ly = ly + lt;
  lz = lz + lt; 

  // shape of GNS receiver
  let receiver = r.makeBaseBox(lx,ly,lz)
  .fillet(((lz-lt)/2),(e)=>e.inDirection("Y"))
  .translate([0,0,th])

  // shape of object to be held, length increased to cut upper part
  let hollow = r.makeBaseBox(lx,ly+2*th,lz)
  .fillet(((lz-lt)/2),(e)=>e.inDirection("Y"))
  .translate([0,th,th])

  // shape of holder, selected only top edges for filleting
  // so that the bottom is flat, which is better for 3D printing without supports
  let shape = r.makeBaseBox(lx+2*th,ly+2*th,lz+2*th)
  .fillet((lz+2*th-lt)/2,(e)=>e.inDirection("Y").inPlane("XY",lz+2*th))

  // create a lip on the holder to attach it to a lanyard
  let lanyardholder = r.makeBaseBox(wholder,ly+(2*th),th).translate([0,yholder,0])
  shape = shape.fuse(lanyardholder)
  
  // define two objects to cut away parts of the holder
  let cutter = r.makeBaseBox(lx*1.2,ly*ycut,lz*2).translate([0,0,2*th])
  cutter = cutter.fillet(5,(e)=>e.inDirection("X"))
  let cutterTop = r.makeBaseBox(lx*1.2,ly*1.2,lz).translate([0,0,(lz+2*th)*0.87])

  // create hollow holder with cutout on side
  let shape1 = shape.cut(hollow)
  let shapeUnrounded = shape1.cut(cutter)

  // now round the outer edge of the cutout
  // do this first as in this state you can select a complete loop with one point
  let shapeRounded = shapeUnrounded
  .fillet(1.0,(e)=>e.containsPoint([0, ly*ycut/2 , lz+2*th]))

  // to round the lip for the lanyard we combine two finders 
  // selecting first the edges in the z direction,  out of 
  // these only select the ones at the proper distance
  shapeRounded = shapeRounded.fillet(8,(e)=>e.inDirection("Z").inPlane("XZ",-(((ly+2*th)/2)+yholder)))
 
  // punch two holes in the lip, with distance rlanhol 0 it becomes one hole
  let lanyardCutterL = r.makeCylinder(rlanhol,th*4,[rlandist/2,ly/2+yholder/2+th,-2*th],[0,0,1])
  let lanyardCutterR = r.makeCylinder(rlanhol,th*4,[-rlandist/2,ly/2+yholder/2+th,-2*th],[0,0,1])
  shapeRounded = shapeRounded.cut(lanyardCutterL)
  shapeRounded = shapeRounded.cut(lanyardCutterR)

  // now cut the top part of the holder 
  // as a closed shape is difficult for the 3D printer,
  // then  round all remaining edges with a smaller radius
  // used a chamfer(0.4) instead of fillet(0.6)
  shapeRounded = shapeRounded.cut(cutterTop).fillet(0.6)

  // dimensions of honeycomb grid 
  let hc_width  = 35;
  let hc_length = 65;
  let hc_depth  = 10;  
  // note that hexagons are defined at plane XY, -1

  // number of rows and columns from center of rectangle 
  let rowNumber = 5;
  let colNumber = 2;
  // cellsize and wallthickness of honeycomb 
  let wallThickness = 1;
  let cellSize = 5;
    
  let deg30 = Math.PI / 6
  let delta_x = (1+Math.sin(deg30)) * cellSize + wallThickness*Math.cos(deg30)
  let delta_y = 0.5*wallThickness + Math.cos(deg30)*cellSize

 
  let point = [];
  let cutColumn;
  
  for(let rowCount = 1 ; rowCount <= rowNumber; rowCount += 1)
    {
      for (let colCount = 1 ;  colCount <= colNumber ; colCount += 1)
          {
          // two cells are defined and then replicated in each quadrant 
          // around the center of the grid, so 8 holes are defined each time 
          // This way the grid is always nicely symmetrical. 
          point[1] = [(colCount-1) * 2 * delta_x,(rowCount-1) * delta_y * 2 ,0];
          point[2] = [-(colCount-1) * 2 * delta_x,(rowCount-1) * delta_y * 2 ,0];
          point[3]= [(colCount-1) * 2 * delta_x,-(rowCount-1) * delta_y * 2 ,0];
          point[4] = [-(colCount-1) * 2 * delta_x,-(rowCount-1) * delta_y * 2 ,0];
          point[5] = [(((colCount-1)*2)+1) * delta_x, (rowCount-1)*delta_y*2+delta_y,0];  
          point[6] = [(((colCount-1)*2)+1) * -delta_x, (rowCount-1)*delta_y*2+delta_y,0];
          point[7] = [(((colCount-1)*2)+1) * delta_x, -(rowCount-1)*delta_y*2+delta_y,0];
          point[8] = [(((colCount-1)*2)+1) * -delta_x, -(rowCount-1)*delta_y*2+delta_y,0];
          for (let j=1; j<=8; j+=1)
            { 
              cutColumn = hexColumn(cellSize,5*th).translate(point[j]);
              // the defined column is intersected with a box to limit the grid 
              // within a rectangular shape
              cutColumn = cutColumn.intersect(r.makeBaseBox(hc_width,hc_length,hc_depth)) 
              shapeRounded = shapeRounded.cut(cutColumn);
            }
          }
    }
  
  let shapeArray = 
  [ 
  {shape: receiver, name: "receiver", color: "dimgrey", opacity: 0.8},   
  {shape: shapeRounded, name: "holder", color: "steelblue", opacity: 1.0}
  ]
    
return shapeArray
  
}

[BarbourSmith]

I'm running into some issues with using this as an NPM package, I'm not able to install it automatically for some reason. I'm seeing:

npm install
npm ERR! code ERESOLVE
npm ERR! ERESOLVE could not resolve
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! While resolving: [email protected]
npm ERR! Found: [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/replicad
npm ERR!   replicad@"^0.16.1" from the root project
npm ERR!   peer replicad@"^0.16.1" from [email protected]
npm ERR!   node_modules/replicad-shrink-wrap
npm ERR!     replicad-shrink-wrap@"^0.1.0" from the root project
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Could not resolve dependency:
npm ERR! peer replicad@"^0.14.3" from [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/replicad-decorate
npm ERR!   replicad-decorate@"^0.1.0" from the root project
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Conflicting peer dependency: [email protected]
npm ERR! node_modules/replicad
npm ERR!   peer replicad@"^0.14.3" from [email protected]
npm ERR!   node_modules/replicad-decorate
npm ERR!     replicad-decorate@"^0.1.0" from the root project

[BarbourSmith]

How much work is required to updated decorate to use the latest version of Replicad? Is it something that I could take on?

[sgenoud]

sorry, I have not been very responsive. I guess it should just work as is -but you need to npm install --force for now (as the dependencies are not ideal as this is still a 0.x.x version) or npm install --legacy-peer-deps. Tell me if there is still an issue!

[BarbourSmith]

That's OK, I know you have other things that you are working on too and that this is a side project. I appreciate your time. npm install --legacy-peer-deps fixes it 😀