OpenSCAD 2018 Command line

Question

First, I'm using Linux Mint 18.3 (Sylvia). Until now, I've been using OpenSCAD with the GUI and never experienced issues. Now I try to start OpenSCAD from the command line, but it always opens an empty file, even if a file with the specified name exists.

Since I have a rather big script, I'd like to generate the STL's via the CLI. Due to this error, I can not even do any tests for parameter passing.

What I'd like to do is to issue a command (flom the command line or in a shell script) that says "Set objectID to 1, render and export the result to stl".

Here is my M(N)WE:

// test.scad

objectID = 2;


if (objectID == 1)  
difference(){  
    cylinder(d=20, h=50, center=true);  
    cylinder(d=16, h=50.2, center=true);      
}

else if (objectID == 2)  
difference(){  
    cube(50, center=true);  
    cube([35,35,70], center=true);  
}

Any help will greatly be appreciated.

If I understand the question right, we are right at the edge of where it is 3D printing and starts to be programming, but still inside: getting the STL is clearly on the OK side imho — Trish, Feb 19 '19 at 11:51
Did you run a full cmd-line, e.g. `openscad test.scad -o test.stl` ? — kintel, Feb 19 '19 at 14:45
Yes, I ran a full command line and got an error "could not open file" although the specified SCAD source file exists (copied file name from ls output). — Hermann Gebhard, Feb 19 '19 at 15:33

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 19 '19 at 19:15

4

You can specify variable values from command line using:

openscad     ...\
             ... \
             [ -D var=val [..] ] \
             ... \
             ... \
             filename

See the OpenSCAD Manual.

edited Feb 19 '19 at 19:15

0scar

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answered Feb 19 '19 at 17:45

Bouc

41
1

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 19 '19 at 10:11

3

I could finally solve the issue. Calling openscad from command line with parameters does NOT work with the AppImage I used. It works fine with a "standard" installation, though.

Thanks for your support.

edited Mar 19 '19 at 10:11

0scar

32,029
10
59
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answered Mar 17 '19 at 10:48

Hermann Gebhard

61
4

did you ever figure out how to do this with the AppImage or just abandoned it and went to a different installation type? – kjones Nov 19 '22 at 02:01

OpenSCAD 2018 Command line

2 Answers2