Hello! No there isn't a comprehensive guide to the controller anywhere. The site you point to is still accurate more-or-less, and there's been fewer updates than you'd think, given the time since that was written.
I am very happy to open the wiki (https://github.com/euphy/polargraph/wiki) to folks who are interested in building something, but one significant problem with that is it means I have to be more circumspect about making changes to the app so that I don't destroy everyone's hard work every time I get rid of a button, or add another one.
I can be controlled.
sn
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Re: Controller Documentation
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Connection to L293D Motor Drive Shield Expansion Board
What will be the connections (cables) for these motors and the motor drive shield?
Thank you so much for your help
![Image]()
![Image]()
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Re: Connection to L293D Motor Drive Shield Expansion Board
For the motor shield, each "M" is for one coil. So M1 is for one coil of the stepper (for instance, black and green) and M2 is for another coil (red and blue).
Any stepper circuit won't be damaged by mis-wiring, so just give it a go. Either it won't work or it'll work weirdly (backwards), or it'll be fine.
Little bit of discussion about this at https://github.com/euphy/polargraph/wiki/It's-going-the-wrong-way!
Good luck!
Sn
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Controller Software doesnt start up
Hey there,
I'm running Windows 64bit, and installed the latest version of Arduino and Polargraph (I already had the latest version of Processing 3 installed before). When I first connected the hardware to my laptop via USB, Windows automatically installed the relevant driver.
My problem: When executing application.windows64/polargraphcontroller.exe, the app never visually opens up. It does however create the default.properties.txt file.
Did I miss installing some other software? Anything obvious?
Thanks for all support!
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
Hi Chris, what happens when you try running the 32 bit version?
Also you need to have java installed! Not obvious.
sn
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
32 bit version acted identical, forgot to mention that.
Java: will check that tomorrow - it's installed, but definitely not in an updated version.
Also, I'll try to open the .pde files in the processing IDE - curious to get more info from that.
Thanks for the quick reply, will get back once I have news ;)
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
Hey Sandy,
I updated to the latest java version (mine was like a month old), but i still can't start up any of the two windows versions.
Also, i opened up the polargraphcontroller.pde project, hoping to get out more info/better error messages when starting the app myself - alas, i'm running the latest Processing 3 version - could it be that your app requires an older version of Processing, for development? If so, i could install it if you tell me which, to get more info.
Is there anything else i could try? enable debug output etc?
thanks for your help (and the super quick arrival of the polargraph)
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
I read over the forum here, and found this highly similar issue - http://www.polargraph.co.uk/forum/polargraphs-group2/troubleshooting-forum5/polargraph-controller-will-not-start-on-win-7-thread276/
will do as OP did -
After much wafting of incense, arcane incantations, a complete removal of the java sdk from my machine, and a (almost) complete re-install of the sdk, the Polargraph controller starts and responds. I'm not sure where the conflict was but I'm a happier camper. I did not include the 64 bit jre on re-install, just the sdk with and the 32 bit jre. I had to edit some batch files that start other java projects as they now need to point to 32 bit java libraries.
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
I read over the forum here, and found this highly similar issue - http://www.polargraph.co.uk/forum/polargraphs-group2/troubleshooting-forum5/polargraph-controller-will-not-start-on-win-7-thread276/
will do as OP did -
After much wafting of incense, arcane incantations, a complete removal of the java sdk from my machine, and a (almost) complete re-install of the sdk, the Polargraph controller starts and responds. I'm not sure where the conflict was but I'm a happier camper. I did not include the 64 bit jre on re-install, just the sdk with and the 32 bit jre. I had to edit some batch files that start other java projects as they now need to point to 32 bit java libraries.
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
Thanks to the post mentioned just now, the problem was solved quickly.
I uninstalled Java (which was installed as 32bit and 64bit versions), then downloaded the latest Java 32bit version only.
Afterwards polargraphcontroller.exe starts up.
Awesome, will probably be back soon with new questions =)
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Re: Controller Documentation
OK, Why don't we start with what is available on gontarcyk.org and fill in the blanks.
I've tried to reach the author of the page but the contact form always returns "The messge failed to send please try again later."
I'll try to fill in the blanks. You might have to answer a few things for me though as I'm new to this.
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Re: Inverted colour plotting
I've been trying to use brown packing paper and drawing with black and white on it.![Image]()
Pioneer Plakette![Image]()
Pioneer Plakette
The problem I have is to align both files. Is there a PAUSE command in GCode that would pause the machine, let me change the pen and then continue? Or a detection in color change in the original SVG?
That doesn't seem hard to implement and would help a lot.
Pioneer Plakette
Pioneer Plakette
The problem I have is to align both files. Is there a PAUSE command in GCode that would pause the machine, let me change the pen and then continue? Or a detection in color change in the original SVG?
That doesn't seem hard to implement and would help a lot.
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Re: Inverted colour plotting
These drawings onto brown paper look really great. That's a good mix of subject matter, technique and material. But why do you think that line sorting, colour detection, pausing and restarting wouldn't be hard to implement? A queue of commands could incorporate a new command that causes an indefinite pause, but how would you restart it?
The solution is to use your SVG generation tool to layout separations, so you'd have your "fill" paths (white lines). Load the whites into the controller app, generate the commands and draw out your lines. Then change the pen, load your outlines (black lines), generate the commands and draw _those_ lines.
A second is to just use the "pause" button on the touchscreen to pause the motors, but you'll have to keep your eyes open and recognise when the lines are about to change!
sn
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
Och trying to get java versions straightened out is such a carry-on. Glad you got it sorted out eventually - sorry you had to smash your machine so much to get it done!
sn
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
Sorry totally skipped over one of your previous messages - Yes, the code is written and tested in Processing 2.2.1. I know it doesn't work in Processing 3.
The good news is it's easy to have different processing versions on the same machine.
(There's a note about it at https://github.com/euphy/polargraph/wiki/Code and in the readmes in the code bundle, but it is _not_ very easy to find!)
sn
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Re: Controller Software doesnt start up
it wasn't a big issue, mainly because of the other forum post on the same issue.
shows again that public discussions are what's best for a community..!
enjoy the rest of your sunday ;)
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No canvas to click in - grey background instead
Hey!
I'm missing the "canvas" view when starting up the polargraph controller software - instead, the background simply stays grey when in the "input" tab.
I do see all controlp5 elements, and can execute e.g. "pen lift" and "pen drop", but operations like "move pen to point" do not work, since there is no area to click in - the entire application simply has a grey background.
(note that in the "trace" tab, i can load an image and it does render that image on screen then).
As usual, I take it there's something obvious i'm missing out =)
thanks for all help!
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Re: Inverted colour plotting
What I thought was that the controller comes to the pause command and pauses the command queue. Just like it would when I press pause. I then could change the pen and resume by pressing onto the line above the queue, just like I would have to when I had pressed for pause myself. So the controller would have to watch out for such a pause command before sending it to the Arduino. That seemed fairly simple to me. But I'm not a programmer...
Loading two files makes it hard to align. It didn't load into the same position as the other one. That's why it is off by a mm or so.
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Re: No canvas to click in - grey background instead
i forgot to mention that i can set the red area ("select area"), as shown in the screenshot.![Image]()
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Re: No canvas to click in - grey background instead
I've seen this once or twice - but couldn't replicate it! The new behaviour of the controller is to scale the machine preview to fit into the window when you startup. Sometimes it gets confused and ends up with a negative size! So you can see in the top left of your window, underneath the tabs, there's the machine! Tiny!
You might be able to drag it around with the middle mouse click-n-drag, and rescale it using the mouse wheel.
Does it always start up like that?
sn
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