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Problem with python-script (shellmap)


Fulmen

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I recently came across this page: http://www.pendicular.net/shellmap.php

 

It contains a python-script to generate "flats" for paper hemispheres, problem is I can't get the script to work. I just get a "the system cannot find the path specified". If anyone could run this for 100mm radius, 4 petals, 0 overlap I'd be grateful. I can scale it afterwards to suit my needs.

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Fair warning, I don't know anything about scripts, computer languages, etc. All of what I'm about to say I learned on the internet in the last couple of hours. I have windows 7, which is not super ideal for this sort of thing as well.

 

I got the file to run at least, but still can't make it work. You have to have a python interpreter to run python scripts.

 

http://pythoncentral.io/execute-python-script-file-shell/

https://www.python.org/

 

So, once you have python installed (make you you add it to the PATH directory), you can run it from the command prompt. The first issue is that it's written for python2. I installed python 3 and got it sorta working with that before I tried python2. It looks like it runs in Python3, but then it says there's some issue with some temporary file and it needs to be bytes-type file. Python 2 looks like it runs. I can open the script and it looks like it runs (maybe????), but then it gives me a "system cannot find the path specified" message, but says that map.pdf was created. I think it might be referring to XMGrace, but I haven't the slightest idea how to make the script find it.

 

Also of note, you need to have XMGrace installed as well, which I found out from reading the python script.

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We all got to the same error message. I got grace as a part of my Cygwin install, but...

 

I might try something with a different OS on a virtual machine this weekend.

B!

 

Edit

(Just to be clear, XMgrace is in my path, so i "find" it, it still fails with that message, so it might be an axillary file, or the wrong filename... But i cant find a reference to the file at al in the code. I'm just not up to speed, i guess.)

/Edit

Edited by MrB
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A VM was an excellent idea, I suspect it's been compiled for a *nix machine. I already have VMware on my computer, so I'll give it a try as well.

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I'm in the same boat MrB. I can only open VMGrace through Cygwin, and even then not exactly straight forwardly. I thought that might have been part of it perhaps. I was starting to look into installing Python into Cygwin as well to see if all being under the same umbrella might work, but I got tired of trying after a while.

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Finally success under Ubuntu 14.04.3 with python 2.7, grace and texlive-font-utils (for epstopdf) installed. Thanks for the help guys.

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So in short, it's a python script, that is platform dependent... Due to how XMGrace is used. Cute. If he ever responds, i'll let him know there was a "workaround" found, but that if he gets time, making it more user friendly would make him a hero.

B!

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Idunno if it's platform-dependent, but it has some dependencies to other packages that complicates things a bit.

 

Now I just have to figure out how to utilize this, it would be fun to make a die for this. A lot of work, but that's part of the fun, eh?

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I was playing around with uBuntu 14.04.3LTS, but couldn't find a way to make it work. Seams i'm just to stupid to figure out how to revert to Python 2.7.

So far no response from the swedish dude that made the script.

 

I saved the script, just in case, but odds are i wont get around to it ever again. Good thing you got it working.

B!

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AFAIK you can have both python 2 and 3 installed at once. I also use 14LTS, clean install with python, grace and texlive installed from the default software repository.

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Never thought about a cookie cutter.

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AFAIK you can have both python 2 and 3 installed at once. I also use 14LTS, clean install with python, grace and texlive installed from the default software repository.

 

You should be able to, but i couldn't find 2.7 anywhere. I sort of gave up at that point.

 

 

Never thought about a cookie cutter.

 

If you already have the press, and make enough of a shellsize, it's the only sane way to go. Die cutting 5-25 layers of paper takes just as long. Hand cutting 25 takes more then 25 times the time since you get bored and go do something else...

B!

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It is available through the Ubuntu Software Center, it's called IDLE (or IDLE3 respectively).

 

I got as far as testing the MIG-welder today, still busy setting up shop. Can't say I've done much welding, and certainly not in the last 25 years, but it isn't that hard. All I need is to tack the 4 individual pieces to a backing plate, should be doable. But first I'll need to case harden the cutters as I made them from mild steel sheet metal.

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I saw those, but they said they were the development environment, not just the python bits needed to run the scripts. There is a standalone for 3.4. I guess i should just have tried the development kit. Oh well.

B!

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B

 

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall
sudo apt
-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev

 

cd ~/Downloads/
wget http://python.org/ftp/python/2.7.5/Python-2.7.5.tgz

 

tar -xvf Python-2.7.5.tgz
cd Python-2.7.5

 

./configure
make
sudo checkinstall

 

and then make install or altinstall depending on whether version you want to be default

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Zmuro, it's better, and worse.

Worst of all, since Java is going extinct... Make use of it now, in the "future" you might have to work it a lot to get something useful from it. (Like the python script. Get a OS that supports Java, install it, and Java, if you can find it, on a VM, and run your tool)

 

It's VERY lightweight, and it works, Great upsides.

No option for overlap. Not accounting for the curve of the "edge" on the paper leaves it making shell-halfs you need to work a lot more on once they are glued, dried and stacked.

 

It has it's place, but the python script "is" better, if one can use it. I'm going to try it again this weekend. I think. Hopefully.

B!

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Die cutting is used everywhere where mass-production requires identical shaped flat shapes. Small changes to the "die" for working different materials, but these sorts are far from uncommon.

Which makes perfect sense, since this is also "mass production" even if the scale is a lot less "mass" then, lets say, a shoe factory...

 

While you might be able to get someone else to make the die, and cut your shapes for you, making it your self is going to be, especially in the long run, cheaper.

B!

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B why do you think java is going to be extincte? Even as it is a pain in the ass, it won't vanish in the near future. Specially not with all that pressure that UNIX systems recently put onto the market. Also java is supported by all os, and nearly platform independent (ok not between 32 and 64 bit).
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It is pretty much an established fact that both Java and Flash is getting phased out. Toys like this software is somewhat of a small problem, what is a bigger concern in the industry is the simple fact that everything from backbone-switches to garage doors and refrigerators use Java, and nobody has really come up with a replacement. So unless you keep old hardware around, just to have a Java platform, your going to be screwed. (The main "problem" right now is that the plugin to run Java in your browser is officially dead, and wont get updated. Good for your computer security, a major headache for every bit of hardware that uses it for it's configuration)

Sadly, as browser support declines, the incentive for the platforms in general will decline, to the point that in 5 years, people goes " Java? That is coffee, right? Yeah, i got a cup."

B!

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