I’m picking up my Paper Tools project and have posted the latest release to:
www.papertools.ai
I’d be very grateful to hear your feedback as always. I’m charging for the software now, but drop me a line and I’ll set you up with a free month.
So what’s new?
You can now create your own Paper Tools with GCode and Python. And there’s AI integrated to help. So you can paste GCode from say Vectric or Fusion360 into a Paper Tool. The software will rotate and position your cut based on the points you scan with the camera. With python you can tell the AI to write a Paper Tool and use the code it generates to make a re-usable pattern with parameters (almost like a CAD model). You can share these, and for people who don’t like to write any code—you can use them!
There’s also a greater commitment from me personally, as well as funding, to support the growth of the software. That’s what has taken me so long to put together. I wanted to extend immense thanks to those who have provided such excellent feedback these past few years, especially to @jjneeb. I hope to continue working really closely with everybody to make this thing more awesome.
And what is Paper Tools?
The main idea is to attach a video camera to your spindle that looks down at your material and controls your CNC based on the visual information on your part: drawings, writing, and placing “Paper Tools” with targets that identify cut information. Once you get into this way of visual thinking there’s a lot you can do, and I’ll continue to build my YouTube channel with more videos, but as examples you can cut pre-saved GCode patterns at any position and angle, you can cut easily cut holes, slots, pockets, bores, etc with pre-made Paper Tools that come standard. You can create Paper Tools with GCode and with Python, and now there’s integrated AI to help.
Thanks again, and happy choppin!