While doing a project for the Dutch tax services, we created a nice logo for an interactive installation we are building. A good opportunity to see if I could get the Modela cnc machine to work thru cad.py, the program Neal Gershenfeld wrote to work with all of the fablab machines from one interface.
The program is clearly written by someone who likes programming and coding, but otherwise really nice to work with. This summer a group of coders is actually getting together to make a GUI for the thing, so if you are not into programming at al, just bear with us...
Check out the screenshot of the program, with the logo loaded:
Cad.py is (as the name hints) a program written in the programming language Python.
(Check the site: http://www.python.org for more info.)
There are two options in working with the program. Eiter load an external image (like I did) or script the complete image (or 3D object) in the program intself. This requires quite some programming experience, but gives you much more freedom and, when done correctly, results in extreme precision.
I will post a tutorial later on working with cad.py. Remember: It's not easy to learn, but once you have mastered this program, you can work on all the Fablab machines!
