Pantograph 0.5 is out.

Coding Python Support
41

well, i successfully installed polygon, but pycairo seems to need cairo which can be installed only with fink or macports, which i do not want :frowning:

42

Using these instructions I couldn’t get it to run on Vista32. Should I run pantograph.py from the text editor? I’ve tried that a few times and I get the error: This application has failed to start because libcairo-2.dll was not found.

I’ve downloaded the file but have no idea what directory I’d place it it (I also get this error with zlib2.dll)

43

So, I actually downloaded pycairo and that error got fixed, but now when I try to run it from the text editor it gives me an error and highlights the text on line 2 (""")

44

Hi,
First to people that want to run it on windows, I was able to install and run the script on window, using this article:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~rd6t-kjym/tmp/pantograph.htmland using the bleeding edge version (the 0.4 version mentioned in this article had some problems)
But I have few problem, first it’s not every time the script actually running- by the error massages, I guess it’s because not every time the GTK+ runtime components (or .dll, or whatever it’s called) was found (I fix this by restarting windows and the ‘Gimp’)

Now it was running fine for a while,but now again it’s ‘stuck’ in the ‘Frustum culling’ phase, does someone can direct me to what the problem can be:

  • it’s not crushed, and won’t give any error on the console
  • It’s happen in the blender default scene {cube+camera+lamp} as well as in complicated scene,
  • I also let it run for more then 12 hours (before I understand it’s have nothing with the complicity of the scene)

When it’s worked it’s really a cool script, and as graphic designer I found many uses for exporting vector from blender

Thanks 4 all

45

hi hellocadfood, i am not on vista32. cant reproduce the error.

hi e-tek, i would tip for complicity of scene, indeed one cube is not complicate, strange. Note: bleeding edge version is wip, do you have the same problem with older version?

46

i followed the instructions for installing it on windows, but it gives me a syntax error here

print “drag event”

47

more details please

48

Hi,
I took migius and replace with the 0.5 script, but I think I the problem is not depended on the version, I noticed that when I run the script there is a file named ‘pantographLib.pyc’ have been created, I don’t know if this file suppose to be deleted after the process is done or it’s never deleted after ‘first run’, anyway when I manually delete this file, I’m able to process the default screen, but acomplicated scene is still stuck at ‘Frustum culling’, it’s seems it is something with the scene set up, so any advices regarding that will be appriciated?
(my scene have abit of comlicated mesh and a default camere)

Another thing (maybe abit of a noob question), after I finish exporting my file, how I exit the the script, or re process the scene, for now I just reload the file or exit blender :o

@ Craterz: I got the same error, I don’t know which of the following fix it:

  • In where you define the Home dir path (in pantographLib.py) I use the last slash as back slash

HOMEDIR = “.….…\scripts/”

  • After that, I restart blender and reload the Script

I don’t know this is the solution, but it works :rolleyes:

49

E-tek,

A .pyc file is created when a Python script is run - its a sort of “semi-compiled” version of the script that allows it to run faster after the first time. You should not delete it!

To clarify - you have gotten it working but sometimes it hangs up on “Frustum Culling”?

RS

50

@ rocketship
My specific scene hangs up on “Frustum Culling”, if I don’t delete the .pyc file, every other scene will hangs up on “Frustum Culling”…
Is this .pyc suppose to be deleted automatic after the script complete?

51

E-tek,

What’s your polygon count in the scene, out of curiousity?

Does restarting Blender work instead of deleting the .pyc file? I suppose there could be some persistent data, but that’s definitely odd behaviour…

RS

52

Hi, just to let you know I got it working. I usually put all of my own scripts in a separate folder (myscripts) and that might’ve had something to do with why it wasn’t loading pantographLib.py. Also, I don’t think I had the rendering image that came with the script as well.

It’s a great script, works like a charm!

53

@ rocketship
The polygon count is 3556.
Restarting blender (that I need to do any way because it’s ‘stuck rendering’)will not delete the .pyc
@ hellocatfood
My Scripts is also on separate folder, but the problem I have is on a specific file, it worked ‘like a charm’ on other files…

54

E-tek,

What is in your problem scene? Can you describe the blend file, or, better yet, post it somewhere?

RS

55

I’m trying to render the default model from Makehuman to vector and it gets stuck at Frustrum Cullings. I’ve put the file online so you can try rendering it yourself to see the problems http://kotuha.com/file/JZIlR-default.html

Also, whenever I try to start the Pantograph script in the 3D view panel a duplicate of the object is shown as well as the original one. Not sure what could be causign that

56

rocketship,
I Wish I would know what is the problem, it’s contain 1 mesh and a camera, any way I uploaded it here, and will be happy if you could give it a try
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/196122/Motif.blend

Best regards, and great holidays

57

I made an installation script for Pantograph on Ubuntu (tested on Intrepid). It takes care of everything, so no more fiddling with PYTHONPATH or HOMEDIR. You can find the script on my blog: here.

Is it possible that Pantograph goes crazy on text objects? If yes, maybe it would be good to have an option to exclude text.

Bug report: progress image is missing in the bleeding edge version. (However my script takes care of it.)

58

Stani,

This is fantastic! Do you mind if I distribute your script with the rest of the code? Its been needing this for a long time…

Thanks for the tip about the progress image - I’ll fix that right away.

cheers,
RS

59

Of course you can distribute the script! It is my pleasure. We should look at these two points:

  • you add the progress image and then I fix the script (just let me know)
  • answer the question: will the script be in the zip? If yes it should not download the zip file, but use the sources of the zip file (probably the best). Or you provide it for download outside the zip file and it downloads the zip file.

It would be nice to state on your website that installing on Ubuntu now goes automagically. This will attract more people and won’t steal their valuable time. Also the script could be turned in a general linux script, if we make apt-get optional with a question.

Can your plugin handle text? If not it could be nice to provide an option to filter that out.

I see you use Cairo. Great! I am preparing a nice surprise which I hope to reveal in the not so distant future.

60

Stani,

The progress image is back - that was easy!

I like the idea of an install script - I hadn’t even thought of having it download the most recent version, but that does save people a step. I would love to make this a Python script to make it more cross-platform (it could detect the platform, and respond accordingly). Unfortunately, Windows users need the most hand-holding (though I hear Mac OSX install is even harder - I think people on those platforms just aren’t used to having to do more than click on an .exe file.

Have you had any experience in creating .deb files? This might be easier, and would lock in with the apt system better.

It should handle text - basically, it just converts everything to meshes before rendering, so anything that comes out of the typical “alt-C” is what you get.

Cairo is fantastic - I would love to find a really good GPL 2D clipping library to pair with it! This version does away with the Polygon library (not GPL, quite a memory hog for larger meshes), but I must say I miss it.

RS