MeshMixer Scripting for repetive task

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

i get from a 3rd party software several STL-Files which i have to modify in MM.

Always the same steps:

1) open file 🙂

2) hollow with wall thickness 2.5 mm

3) horizontal plane cut about 1/3 of the model height from the bottom (model is plane and horizontaly aligned)

4) save/export to another directory

Takes a lot of time and is boring, too!

I think there should be a solution that a task will take all files from the import directory one by one, performing the operations with MM and finally save the new STLs in my output dir.

Is such a repetive task makeable with AppleScript or only with the MM API (python or C++) ?

We have iMacs as well as Windows-PCs

And, i would pay for that script of course if a solution is to time consuming.

Best regards and thanks in advance

Karim

[prazmjou]

I tried using this code from mmapi on github, but I have windows 10 in which I download and used  hfcandrew updated files for it to work on windows 10. Anyway we can make this work with hfcandrew updated files? Thank you

[Anonymous]

Yes, one can use mmApi on WIN10. What happens on your side if you're running code? Which errors do you get in the Python Shell?

[prazmjou]

Hello, here is an example when I used the code you placed in this thread:

Exception in Tkinter callback
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Python27\lib\lib-tk\Tkinter.py", line 1547, in __call__
return self.func(*args)
File "C:/Users/prazm/Downloads/Win 10 mmapi Python2-20211017T225337Z-001/Win 10 mmapi Python2/hollowask.py", line 23, in Load_File
mm.append_objects_from_file(remote,input_dir+'/'+i)
File "C:/Users/prazm/Downloads/Win 10 mmapi Python2-20211017T225337Z-001/Win 10 mmapi Python2\mm\scene.py", line 26, in append_objects_from_file
key = cmd.AppendSceneCommand_AppendMeshFile(filename);
File "C:/Users/prazm/Downloads/Win 10 mmapi Python2-20211017T225337Z-001/Win 10 mmapi Python2\mmapi.py", line 690, in AppendSceneCommand_AppendMeshFile
def AppendSceneCommand_AppendMeshFile(self, *args): return _mmapi.StoredCommands_AppendSceneCommand_AppendMeshFile(self, *args)
TypeError: in method 'StoredCommands_AppendSceneCommand_AppendMeshFile', argument 2 of type 'char const *'

[Anonymous]

Seems you are on WIN

On WIN one needs to convert OS paths to a string explicitly. One doesn't need to do this on MAC.

So you need to replace line 23:

mm.append_objects_from_file(remote,input_dir+'/'+i)

with:

mm.append_objects_from_file(remote,str(input_dir+'/'+i))

AND to replace line 51:

mm.export_mesh(remote,save_path)

with:

mm.export_mesh(remote,str(save_path))

[nmhoogeweg]

Hi! Is there a way to autmatically select a boundary of an object? So without having to click on it myself. I have automated a lot of steps with the mm api, however I cannot find a way to do this. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

yep, there's select_hole:

import mmapi
from mmRemote import *
import mm

remote = mmRemote()
remote.connect()

# get number of holes
holes = mm.list_number_of_holes(remote)

# launch SELECT
mm.begin_tool(remote, "select")

# select all boundary loops
## replace an existing selection for the first hole index
i=0
mm.select_hole(remote, i, mode = 0) # The modes are 0=Replace 1=Append 2=Remove
## append selections for further holes
i+=1
while i < holes:
    mm.select_hole(remote, i, mode = 1) 
    i+=1

remote.shutdown()

[nmhoogeweg]

Thank you so much!! It worked perfectly.