Relief-Carver: Convert elevation data into G-code

Simple and slow, just using Ruby. Generates a big file with lots of G-code codes.

This version allows the carving direction to be flipped, so that the cutting tool "bites" into the material. This should make for a better cut.

This version also outputs the various slices into individual files (is this really useful?).

Installation:

First, make sure you have a decent ruby:

$ ruby --version

You should see something around 1.9.3 or higher.

Get Bundler:

$ gem install bundler

Let Bundler get the required gems

$ bundle install

And finally, edit carver.rb top section and adjust the parameters as needed:

$ emacs carver.rb

Generate the data by running the script:

$ ./carver.rb

There we go, Bob's your uncle.

Things to do:

Use less global variables and write better Ruby code (this code is far from 'nice').

The images

In the 'ned' subdirectory, you'll find a Rakefile, which can be used to create the PNGs of San Francisco and Yosemite.

To create them, use the following command line:

rake yosemite

and

rake sanfrancisco

The rakefile requires a bunch of dependencies, amongst others:

• Data is downloaded using curl.

• The zipped data is unpacked using the rubyzip gem.

• The unzipped data is converted and processed using the Gdal suite. (see http://www.gdal.org)