how to compile a JsCad script from string instead of file?

Robert Olson

Hello everyone! I've been enjoying JsCad, but have found myself unable to move forward in my project that uses it.

First some background:

For my own learning I've been working on a project where I can write JsCad code in half of a window and display its output in the other half of the same window. I was using the @jscad/openjscad npm module which was working well, but I wanted it to respond faster when drawing the same solid multiple times.

Therefore my primary goal is to compile This caused me to run across https://www.npmjs.com/package/@jscad/vtree which looked like it would provide some speed ups. It wasn't entirely clear to me how to make use of this module with my setup. I came across the @jscad/desktop module (https://www.npmjs.com/package/@jscad/desktop) which described how to use the @jscad/vtree module in a way that didn't match my intended implementation.

I'm compiling the output from strings, not files using jscad.compile(script, params). I noticed on this forum that V2 is now available on npm, so I've tried using it as well, as it appears I can enable the use of vtree. However I cannot figure out how I can compile a script that is contained within a string in the manner that I was before. I believe the @jscad/core's code-evaluation.rebuildGeometryCli.js is the intended method, but I am not certain if I am going down the correct path with this as I cannot get that to work either.

My primary issue that I want to address is speed. I've been testing with the following script:

function main () {
	return getLogos();
}

function getLogos() {
	let size = 1;
	let space = 0.65;

	let arr = [];

	for(let i = 0; i < size; i++) {
		for(let j = 0; j < size; j++) {
			for(let k = 0; k < size; k++) {
				arr.push(getLogo().translate([i * space, j * space, k * space]));
			}
		}
	}

	return union(arr);
}

function getLogo() {
	return union(
		difference(
			cube({size: 3, center: true}),
			sphere({r: 2, center: true})
		),
			intersection(
			sphere({r: 1.3, center: true}),
			cube({size: 2.1, center: true})
		)
	).scale(0.2).translate([0, 0.3, 0]);
}

As I increase the size variable in the getLogos() function, it takes exponentially longer to compile something that I can draw.

My questions are:
Am I correct in my interpretation that the @jscad/vtree module would help with this when used correctly?
Given that I want to load jscad scripts from strings and not files, how can I do this with the @jscad/vtree module used correctly in both V1 and V2?

Thank you!

z3dev

@hrgdavor nice reply.

that was my first thought after looking at the example from @Robert-Olson

transforms (translation, rotation, scale, center, etc) are very fast, as only the matrix part of the geometry is modified. so, create a 'part' once and translate many times.

here's a example from one of my designs.

const makeRow = (h, p) => {
    let i = 0
    let x = 0
    let y = 0
    let c = circle({radius: p.case_b_v_h, segments: p.segments})
    let holes = [c]
    for (i = 1; i < h; i++) {
        y = y + (p.case_b_v_h * 2) + p.case_b_v_g
        holes.push(translate([x, y], c))
    }
    return translate([0, -(y / 2)], holes)
}

hrgdavor

Well, I doubt you can avoid exponential slowdown as size increase increases number of objects exponentially.

you could possibly gain some performance if you store the object in a variable outside of the loops,

var logo = getLogo();

then inside the loop

arr.push(logo.translate([i * space, j * space, k * space]));

I am not 100% sure if it will work or help with perf, but try it anyway