CAM Toolchains

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This page has been flagged as containing duplicate material that Alternative Software also attempts to cover.
These pages should be merged such that both pages do not attempt to cover the duplicate topics.
Java development of the RepRap Host Software

A RepRap CAM toolchain consists of all the software elements needed to create printed 3d models from CAD models to firmware. It is the software part of the RepRap Toolchains, as opposed to the RepRap_Hardware_Toolchains.

Here we lists the various toolchain components available and provides a comparison of their features, compatible toolchain components and how to get them.

It should be noted that a comparison of CAD modeling programs is outside of the scope of this article however it should be noted that in general CAM toolchains are CAD program agnostic because they can accept standard STL models as input which almost all CAD programs can export directly or through plugins.


Firmware

Firmware Author(s) Compatible electronics dc motor extruder? stepper extruder? extruder speed control? movement speed control? thermocouples? heated build platforms? Documentation Download
RepRap FiveD GCode Interpreter RepRap.org Gen 3 (more?)  ? true true true  ?  ?
MakerBot MakerBot.com Gen 3 (more?) true  ?  ?  ? true true
DavidBuzz DavidBuzz Gen 3 (more?)  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?

RepRap Drivers

Driver Author(s) Compatible firmware(s) Manual movement? Manual extruder control? Manual stepper disable? Manual heated build platform control? Live GCode terminal? SD card upload? GCode input? Step-NC input? Integrated GCode compiler? Documentation Download
RepRap Host Software RepRap.org
  • 5D GCode Interpreter
  • more?
true true false false false ? true false true
RepSnapper Kulitorum
  • 5D GCode Interpreter
  • 3D GCode Interpreter
? ? ? ? true ? true false true
ReplicatorG Replicat.org
  • Makerbot Firmware Fork
true true true true false ? true false false
send.py (bundled with SkeinForge) Bits from Bytes Community?
  • 5D GCode Interpreter
  • 3D GCode Interpreter
false false false false false false true false false


Note: some drivers such as the RepRap Host Software are listed here and under GCode compilers as they serve both functions however for comparison purposes their features have been split into the relevant tables.

GCode, Etc. Compilers

Compiler Author(s) Compatible firmware features STL input? Multiple STL input? Step-NC input? RFO input? GCode output? Step-NC output? RFO output? Compilation Speed Documentation Download
RepRap Host Software RepRap.org ? true ? false false true false ? slow
RepSnapper Kulitorum ? true true false true true false true fast
SkeinForge Bits from Bytes Community? ? true false false ? true false false average
Netfabb Engine Netfabb ? true ? ? ? ? ? ? fast

Related

http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Template:My_Toolchain