After the last post, where we looked at the first couple of architecture iterations for Jigsawify.com, it’s time to summarise (and perhaps even wrap-up) this series… Here are the posts so far:
- Puzzling over laser cutters
- AutoCAD I/O and custom applications
- Finishing up our laser-cut jigsaw project
- Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 1
- Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 2
- Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 3
- Running custom .NET code in the cloud using AutoCAD I/O – Part 4
- Architecting my first AutoCAD I/O application
I ended up implementing the approach that stores all the engraving data locally and then passes the URL across to AutoCAD I/O, which in turn retrieves it from the URL and adds it to the drawing. This allowed me to match the resolution of the engraving with the image displayed in the browser, which thankfully fixed the edge detection problem I had (it wasn’t due to differences between node-canvas and its browser-based counterpart). Which means I could back out my kludgey attempt to address it. Happy days. :-)
Here’s the modified architecture diagram, showing the additional data transfer between AutoCAD I/O and the Node.js-based service.
Also, Jim Quanci’s tweet inspired me to adjust the colours in – and to remove the grid from – the resultant image (reflected in the above diagram), something Jim had to do manually inside AutoCAD. I’m happy to say it’s now working pretty much as I want it to (aside from me enabling e-commerce and kitting out a room full of laser cutters to generate jigsaws that are picked up automatically by a fleet of delivery drones, of course ;-).
#Jigsaws R Us of Green Buffalo c/o AutoCAD I/O and @keanw Try it yourself with your photo! http://t.co/wJ6wUJnFCP pic.twitter.com/IjVHuyp362
— Jim Quanci (@jimquanci) July 30, 2015
On a related note, I’ve just booked my travel for the Autodesk Cloud Accelerator Extension in Prague in September. I’m really looking forward to seeing what developers can do during that week with Autodesk’s PaaS offerings (primarily the View & Data API and AutoCAD I/O, for now – give them a try yourself via this interactive playground from the Autodesk User Experience team).
