Installation

Scaffolder supports the command-line usage by standalone program, python scripting via PyPI, and blender by python-wrapped plugin.

Standalone program

The binary programs for various platforms are automatically built and deposited on the public repository: Github and Anaconda.

Github

1. Download bin64.zip from Github Releases page
2. Extract bin64.zip which contains the following files:

   ├───macos
   │       PyScaffolder.cpython-39-darwin.so
   │       Scaffolder
   │       Scaffolder.SliceTest
   │
   ├───ubuntu
   │       PyScaffolder.cpython-36m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
   │       Scaffolder
   │       Scaffolder.SliceTest
   │
   └───windows
       └───Release
               PyScaffolder.cp37-win_amd64.pyd
               PyScaffolder.exp
               PyScaffolder.lib
               Scaffolder.exe
               Scaffolder.SliceTest.exe
   

3. Open command line at the directory according to your platform, such as windows/Release for window.
4. Test the program with --help

   Scaffolder --help
   Scaffolder.SliceTest --help
   

Note

PyScaffolder.cpython-<python_version>-<platform> is a compiled python bytecode that can import to a python script as a module (see Python supports).

Anaconda

1. Install Anaconda or miniconda
2. Conda can manage the environments and revisions, then:
   • If you want to install Scaffolder into current environment, use:

     conda install -c nodtem66 scaffolder
     

   • If you want to install Scaffolder into a new environment due to the conflicted from some dependencies, use:

     conda install -n new_env -c nodtem66 scaffolder
     conda activate new_env
     

3. Test the program with --help

   Scaffolder --help
   Scaffolder.SliceTest --help
   

Python supports

The current version of Scaffolder supports python 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9 with only x86_64 platform on:

• Window 10 (didn't test with the older version)
• Linux
• OSX 10

Note

see the list of available version at PyPI

Then install via pip

pip install PyScaffolder

The following script is an example usage of PyScaffolder.

import PyScaffolder

# Load vertices and faces of a 20mm cube
v = [
    [0.0, 0.0, 0.0],
    [20.0, 0.0, 0.0],
    [0.0, -20.0, 0.0],
    [20.0, -20.0, 0.0],
    [0.0, 0.0, 20.0],
    [20.0, 0.0, 20.0],
    [0.0, -20.0, 20.0],
    [20.0, -20.0, 20.0]
]

f = [
    [1, 2, 0],
    [2, 1, 3],
    [7, 2, 3],
    [2, 7, 6],
    [1, 7, 3],
    [7, 1, 5],
    [7, 4, 6],
    [4, 7, 5],
    [4, 2, 6],
    [2, 4, 0],
    [4, 1, 0],
    [1, 4, 5]
]
print("Vertices: ", len(v))
print("Faces: ", len(f))

# Test Slice test with all direction
a = PyScaffolder.slice_test(v, f, direction=3)
print(len(a.minFeret))

# Set default parameter
params = PyScaffolder.Parameter()
params.coff = 1.0

# Test the mesh generation from v,f
a = PyScaffolder.generate_scaffold(v, f, params)
print(a.porosity)
print(a.surface_area_ratio)
print(len(a.v), len(a.f))

See Python API for details.

Blender addon

1. Download Scaffolder-blender.zip from Github, which contains following files (see also /blender):

   └───Scaffolder
       SCAFFOLDER_OP_generate_mesh.py
       SCAFFOLDER_OP_slice_test.py
       SCAFFOLDER_PT_generate_mesh.py
       SCAFFOLDER_PT_slice_test.py
       SCAFFOLDER_settings.py
       utils.py
       __init__.py
   

2. Open Blender > Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Install, select Scaffolder-blender.zip, and check the box to enable it.
3. Press N or View > Sidebar. Then Scaffolder will be found in one tab of a sidebar.

See Blender plugin for video and more information.