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axi

Unofficial Python library for working with the AxiDraw v3 pen plotter.

Features

  • control AxiDraw v3 directly from Python with a simple API
  • convenient command-line utility
  • constant acceleration (trapezoidal velocity) motion planning
  • path drawing order optimization
  • drawing transformations
    • translate, scale, rotate
    • scale and/or rotate to fit page
    • move to origin or center of page
  • preview drawing (render to png)
  • turtle graphics

Command Line Utility

Once pip install'd, you can run the axi command-line utility. Here are the supported commands:

axi on         # enable the motors
axi off        # disable the motors
axi up         # move the pen up
axi down       # move the pen down
axi zero       # set current position as (0, 0)
axi home       # return to the (0, 0) position
axi move DX DY # move (DX, DY) inches, relative
axi goto X Y   # move to the (X, Y) absolute position

TODO

  • primitives
    • circles, arcs, beziers
  • svg support

Installation

axi is not yet available on PyPI, so installation works like this:

git clone https://github.com/fogleman/axi.git
cd axi
pip install -e .

Of course, installing in a virtualenv is always a good idea.

Then you can try the examples...

python examples/dragon_curve.py

Example

Use the turtle to draw a dragon curve, filling a standard US letter page.

import axi

def main(iteration):
    turtle = axi.Turtle()
    for i in range(1, 2 ** iteration):
        turtle.forward(1)
        if (((i & -i) << 1) & i) != 0:
            turtle.circle(-1, 90, 36)
        else:
            turtle.circle(1, 90, 36)
    drawing = turtle.drawing.rotate_and_scale_to_fit(11, 8.5, step=90)
    axi.draw(drawing)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main(12)