Multi-profile & Holding Tag Updates

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Russ4262
Posts: 941
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:22 pm
Location: Oklahoma
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Multi-profile & Holding Tag Updates

Post by Russ4262 »

Greetings FreeCADers.
I have been working on some projects related to the Path_Profile operation and related Path_DressupTag dressup.

Here are some related topics I have found:
Topic: Holding tag issue on multiple sketches
Topic: Stepover on Profile Op?
Topic: Milling the profile, but with some extra width?
Topic: Wide cut
Topic: Profile ... with a finishing pass
Topic: Feature request: Multiple horizontal passes on Profile/Contour?

Synonymous references for the widening of the Profile operation might be: kerf widening, compound profile, multi-profile, expanded profile, and multiple profile.
Solutions for the profile need currently include PR #6680 [Path] Kerf widening for profiles and a downloadable multi-profile dressup.

I am attaching an alpha version solution for the holding tag problem, based on 0.21 newer code structure.
Decompress the attached file in your Macro folder.
Run FreeCAD, open your file, and select the base operation (likely a Profile op, or Multi-Profile dressup) you wish to dress-up.
Run the 'multitags.FCMacro' macro and it will create a dressup on the selected base op, if able.

The modified dressup has the following added option/property:
- Multitags: Set true to enable multi-profile tags support (GUI task panel has corresponding 'Enable multi-profile tags' checkbox.)

The modified dressup has some known issues:
- The cut direction of the base operation can introduce some erroneous paths that will be visible in the viewport. My solution at times is to increase the tag count.
- Certain numbers of tags can produce broken paths or missing bottom layers, as visible in the viewport. My solution is to increase the tag count.
- Likely other bugs yet to be discovered due to limited testing.
- In the GUI task panel, you must enter the number of tags you want per region, not total. For example, if your base operation has three separate profile regions and you want four tags each, enter a value of 4 for the Auto Generate feature, then click 'Replace All.'

The modified dressup has some improvements:
- This version supports compound, or multi, profile base operations. (screenshot attached)
- This version supports base operations with multiple profile regions.

Be it known:
This macro has very little testing. Use at your own risk as it carries no warranties or guarantees. Verify accuracy and safety of all paths created with this dressup utility.

Even with the known issues, I have been able to produce usable multi-tag dressups on multi-profile operations. May you find this tool beneficial as well.

Jehovah's peace and blessings,
Russell

Code: Select all

OS: Windows 10 build 19045
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.21.0.33345 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: a3c4f4bb01f5201daf666852444a8f9c5adbda8d
Python 3.10.11, Qt 5.15.8, Coin 4.0.0, Vtk 9.1.0, OCC 7.6.3
Locale: English/United States (en_US)
Installed mods: 
  * FC_SU
  * freecad.gears 1.0.0
  * PathExp
  * Z_MacroStartup
Attachments
Screenshot of successful multi-tag support on multi-profile dressup.
Screenshot of successful multi-tag support on multi-profile dressup.
Snip macro screenshot-41aa40.png (157.18 KiB) Viewed 2893 times
MultiTagsMacro_V5.7z
Multi-tag support dressup
(27.93 KiB) Downloaded 31 times
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