Get ready for 3D milling, install blender + blender cam

Dear Golem,

We use Linux CNC for 3D milling. Linux CNC is using so-called Gcode to drive the machine. GCode can be generated from blender using a plugin called blender CAM.

Blender CAM is running inside blender. Blender is open source 3D modelling software. Thus you will have to master Blender and Blender CAM. Setting up blender CAM inside blender using Windows 10 proved to be a challenge. So for this reason we made the  video below.

Make sure you install the latest source code from github for Blender CAM. The standard plugin source code runs to full depth at once and will break your mill !

Our main focus used to be finger joints. Because so many people are looking for non-wood joints on goodlife, and also, because we have many wars going on, the main goodlife/ jointmaster focus shifted to mental health investigations and war prevention. So we asked a few simple questions (with difficult answers):
A) What exactly is a human being ?
B) Why does the human being prefer mental joints above wood joints ?
C) Can we prevent war ?

Take a look here if you are interested in the answers. If not, the former Jointmaster focus is still waiting for you after these important remarks. We urge every visitor to mind the questions above because the identification and thinking processes might destroy us all (including your Jointmaster ;-)).

Note that the complete learning cycle to master 3D milling is long and complex. We are still learning.......

• build your own milling machine ?
• learn Linux CNC
• learn GCode
• learn CAMOTICS (to simulate Gcode, prevent your mill from jamming)
• learn Blender
• learn Blender CAM

All this stuff is far too complex. Thus if you want to finger joint, learn basic CNC/ CAM skills and honor the KISS principle, start with Jointmaster or become a Jointmaster.

It takes a lot of time to draw your finger joints in Blender. You should take a look at this post to use SplineTooth + Linux CNC for box joints, finger joints + dynamic milling/ turning to automate the finger joint process.

We could not get blender + blendercam working anymore (date Sept 2022) using the movies below with blender 3.0, windows 10 64 bit with the latest blender CAM from github. The problem with blender CAM is that it needs some non-standard Blender libraries like opencamlib. This was the main problem to solve in the video's below.

Now, the script below still works with Blender 4.0 in Windows 11. However, windows security will be working against the Golem's availability and in favour of your donuts. Thus, you have to start Blender as administrator, otherwise you end up with access denied errors, right mouse button on the Blender icon, "Run as administrator".

You have to give "FULL control" in windows security settings for the blender folder (right mouse button, security settings). Otherwise it fails because of write permissions. If you protected your progam files folder, there might also be some work to do in your anit-virus software.

Nowadays, blender comes with pip installed. You can run the script below, from within a python console in blender, to install opencamlib via pip. Save the script to a file "golem.py" in a temp folder and run the script in blender from the python console using:
"exec(open("c:/temp/golem.py").read())" + enter

Script might be handy also for people that want to use other modules in blender.

Script in bold:

import subprocess
import sys
import os

python_exe = os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'bin', 'python.exe')
target = os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'lib', 'site-packages')
print(target)

subprocess.call([python_exe, '-m', 'ensurepip'])
subprocess.call([python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'pip'])

#install (wheel):
from subprocess import PIPE, run

command = [python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'wheel', '-t', target]
result = run(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True)
print(result.returncode, result.stdout, result.stderr)

#install (shapely):
from subprocess import PIPE, run

command = [python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'shapely', '-t', target]
result = run(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True)
print(result.returncode, result.stdout, result.stderr)

from subprocess import PIPE, run

command = [python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'Equation', '-t', target]
result = run(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True)
print(result.returncode, result.stdout, result.stderr)

#install (opencamlib):
from subprocess import PIPE, run

command = [python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'ocl', '-t', target]
result = run(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True)
print(result.returncode, result.stdout, result.stderr)

#install (meta):
from subprocess import PIPE, run

command = [python_exe, '-m', 'pip', 'install', '--upgrade', 'meta', '-t', target]
result = run(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True)
print(result.returncode, result.stdout, result.stderr)

print('DONE')

For this reason, note, the movies below are old, old and rotten and almost forgotten !

Dear Golem, do not wast your time on forgotten stuff below, get rid of your donuts, support our mutual effort, buy the only product you really need: Can we prevent war ?

Picture below shows succesfully running the script:

Do not waste our time, dress up properly, prevent war and make this world a better place, support our mutual work by buying something in the Goodlife Gift Shop for your spouse or enemy.