Re: Simple way of plotting G-Code

[Will Shackleford <shackle-at-feed.dmz.cme.nist.gov>]

I am not sure that there is any help file for emcplot3D.

To build it:

cd emc/src/emcplot3d
make

The command line arguments you will probably need are -f <g-code-program-filename> -s <scale>

so for example to run it from the top level emc directory

plat/linux_2_4_1/bin/emcplot3d -f program/nist.ngc -s 0.1

(the default scale  will make most of the plot slide off the screen.)


There are 2 important bugs to be aware of.

1. The program will print a long list of text messages and then pause.
You need to hit enter to continue. But it doesn't tell you this.

2. Circular moves are often plotted incorrectly.The arc may go arround the circle the wrong way or not be visible at all.


You will need to know the keyboard controls as you run it. (The mouse has no
effect.)
These are printed each time you run the program but may scroll off
the screen.

********************************************************

EMC 3-D Plotter

Keyboard Controls:
        Translate X:    <LEFT ARROW KEY>/<RIGHT ARROW KEY>
        Translate Y:    <UP ARROW KEY>/<DOWN ARROW KEY>
        Translate Z:    <PAGE UP KEY>/<PAGE DOWN KEY>

        Rotate around X axis:   <SHIFT><LEFT ARROW KEY>/<SHIFT><RIGHT ARROW KEY>
        Rotate around Y axis:   <SHIFT><UP ARROW KEY>/<SHIFT><DOWN ARROW KEY>
        Rotate around Z axis:   <SHIFT><PAGE UP KEY>/<SHIFT><PAGE DOWN KEY>
 
        View from X perspective:                x
        View from Y perspective:                y
        View from Z perspective:                z
        View from 45 degree angle:              k
        Reset view:                             <SPACE KEY>
        Clear live plot(Blue):                  c
        Toggle display of programmed plot(White)        p
        Toggle display of rotation frames               r
        Toggle display of live plot(Blue)               l
        Quit:                                   <ESC KEY>

********************************************************