Hi all,
I'm an intermediate arduino user and at the moment I'm trying to build something like a plotter from old computer parts (mainly stepper motors). At the end I would like to send vector graphic data (svg files) to the plotter, so I need some software for that. Processing is a good way to do this, isn't it?
But how?
Can someone only give me a hint, some links or something because I can't find anything that leads me further, maybe because of my lack of processing knowledge. I know programming in general, concepts of objects, vectors, files and all this stuff ... but where can be a starting point for me in this special case?
Thanks!
Christian

Starting a similar project, I'm thinking about an own renderer, so when the line() methode is called I can catch the coords and send them to my arduino and also draw the line in my sketch.

You can create your own renderer like this:
Code:

ppackage plotter;

import processing.core.PGraphics2D;
import processing.serial.Serial;

public class Plotter extends PGraphics2D {

	float currX, currY;
	boolean startLine;
	Serial serial;

	public Plotter() {
		super();
		currX = 0;
		currY = 0;
		startLine = false;
		serial = new Serial(super.parent);
	}

	public void beginShape() {
		super.beginShape();
		startLine = true;
	}

	public void vertex(float x, float y) {
		super.vertex(x, y);
		if (startLine) {
			moveTo(x, y);
			startLine = false;
		} else {
			lineTo(x, y);
		}
	}

	private void lineTo(float x, float y) {
		getLength(x, y);
	}

	private void moveTo(float x, float y) {
		getLength(x, y);
	}

	private float[] getLength(float x, float y) {
		float[] r = { currX - x, currY - y };
		currX = x;
		currX = y;
		return r;
	}
}

 

in processing you can use it like this
Code:

package test;

import processing.core.*;
import plotter.Plotter;

public class Test extends PApplet {

	static public void main(String args[]) {
		PApplet.main(new String[] { /* "--present", */"test.Test" });
	}

	public void setup(){
		size(200, 200, "plotter.Plotter");
		line(0,0,200,200);
		
	}
}
 

Now you can use processing like before but the logic for the printing stuff is inside the renderer. Haven't test it yet with arduino but I hope thats the way to go. If I understand PGraphics, all the vector drawing stuff is done with beginShape(), endShape() and vertex().