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I am one of the creators of Cuttle. It stems from my research building direct manipulation + programming environments like http://recursivedrawing.com/ http://r

by tqs 2y ago

I am one of the creators of Cuttle. It stems from my research building direct manipulation + programming environments like http://recursivedrawing.com/ http://recursivedrawing.com/ and http://aprt.us/ http://aprt.us/ From a programmer's perspective, you can think of Cuttle as a direct manipulation vector editor (like Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator) that can be driven with parameters and JS code where you need it. Unlike my previous research projects, this is a commercial startup mostly catering to laser cutting small businesses, though you can use it for anything where you want a 2D vector editor + some programmatic capabilities. I'll try to answer questions that come up in this HN thread. Thank you for sharing your work Hannah! Very cool stuff!

dekhn 2y ago
I'm mainly curious whether the concepts in Cuttle could be exposed as plugins in Inkscape, or as a standalone application written in Qt-Python.
- tqs 2y ago
  A Cuttle project is — behind the scenes — a program. Each “component” is a function. “Modifiers” are functions that take input geometry (and parameters) and use JS code to create arbitrary output geometry. All of this code can be live edited. At the same time you can do arbitrary “drawing” with a bezier pen tool and move/transform shapes. In this case you are essentially using the canvas drag-and-drop to manipulate literals in the program. But fundamentally a Cuttle project is a program and the Cuttle Editor is an IDE that looks like a vector editor on the surface. Because of this I’m not sure how much of Cuttle could be grafted onto a program whose architecture is more rooted as an editor of static vector graphics. I do know that Inkscape has some “live effects” which are similar to Cuttle’s “live” modifiers. If you are interested in Cuttle’s architecture, I did a one hour walkthrough on this interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2el-85vG-IU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2el-85vG-IU
  - ferfumarma 2y ago
    Very cool work. FWIW the aparatus site says > Apparatus is under active development. Discuss how Apparatus should evolve on the Apparatus Google Group. Which seems like it's no longer accurate. Has it moved to a different repo?
    - tqs 2y ago
      Hmmm.. I would say Apparatus is no longer under active development. Researcher Joshua Horowitz was doing some work on it for a bit, but yeah I don’t think it’s changed much in several years. It should be regarded as a research project that scouted out several areas of the “programming experience” world that others can build on.
pbronez 2y ago
It would be neat to have STL and STEP output for 3D printers.
- tqs 2y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, we should do this. I've been seeing more and more people use Cuttle for 3D printing (exporting a DXF, then bringing that into another program to extrude and output a STL).
- 1oooqooq 2y ago
  there's openscad
- phkahler 2y ago
  See Solvespace for that.
throwaway2562 2y ago
Cuttle is v cool, congratulations! I had previously seen Apparatus and liked it, so I can clearly see the genetic resemblance now ;) I’m wondering how many of you are on the team, and does it actually support you as a business yet? Even for a quite niche-y app Cuttle deserves to be better known, and higher-priced, imo.
- tqs 2y ago
  Thanks! There are 5 of us on the team. Yes, the business is profitable.
mft_ 2y ago
Hey, I've just spent an hour creating my first design with Cuttle - and I'm very impressed! You're right that it has a very short learning curve, especially coming from a hobbyist CAD and programming background. A few random thoughts/questions/suggestions (and apologies if I've missed options or existing functions): * Would it be possible to add edge snapping? * Could there be a slicker way to switch from the central origin for shapes? (Central is frustrating as it means having to change position every time I tweak the size.) Being able to easily select an arbitrary corner as the origin with a click would be great; maybe even auto-selecting the origin based on snapping two shapes together - i.e. 'anchoring' the shape based on snapping it to another one? * Any way of exporting multiple components in one go, without clicking through for each one? * Being able to set custom rounded corners with a list is great, but it's not easily discoverable! * It might be neat to have a pop-up offering boolean options when snapping or overlapping shapes? * Given the (I think?) JS under the surface, is it possible to import data, either as a CSV or an image from which pixel values can be read? * Lastly, any thoughts on offering an intermediate 'hobbyist' paid tier? I'd be strongly tempted to support you and access some of the paywalled features, but $19/month is honestly too high for an occasional/fun hobby product.
- tqs 2y ago
  Cuttle’s snapping is very good (imo). But you have to drag from the snap point to the snap point. So if you want to snap a particular midpoint (say) to a particular corner, you need to drag from that midpoint to that corner. That is, your drag is explicit about the from and to snap points. To export multiple components, we usually create a component (called “Cut Layout” for example), then drag out each of the other components (the pieces) into that component. There is a modifier called Flatten which might be useful for you for doing lots of Boolean operations at once. I think this video shows the workflow, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHKRfIC6QA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHKRfIC6QA Yes it’s all JS. You could copy and paste your data in and then process it and create geometry. (Sorry we don’t have any data import other than copy and paste at the moment.) Our scripting documentation is pretty good: https://cuttle.xyz/learn/scripting/getting-started-with-scripting https://cuttle.xyz/learn/scripting/getting-started-with-scri... We are experimenting with being able to read pixel values of raster images. Coming soon likely. Perhaps some kind of middle tier that gives full access to the Editor but does not give full access to the Pro templates makes sense. Many of our customers subscribe for access to those templates rather than the Editor! You are also free to subscribe when working on a project and need the Pro features, then cancel when you’re dormant. We don’t delete your projects when you downgrade to free, you can still access/edit/download them. I appreciate the feedback and the questions!

by tqs 2y ago

dekhn 2y ago

I'm mainly curious whether the concepts in Cuttle could be exposed as plugins in Inkscape, or as a standalone application written in Qt-Python.

tqs 2y ago
A Cuttle project is — behind the scenes — a program. Each “component” is a function. “Modifiers” are functions that take input geometry (and parameters) and use JS code to create arbitrary output geometry. All of this code can be live edited. At the same time you can do arbitrary “drawing” with a bezier pen tool and move/transform shapes. In this case you are essentially using the canvas drag-and-drop to manipulate literals in the program. But fundamentally a Cuttle project is a program and the Cuttle Editor is an IDE that looks like a vector editor on the surface. Because of this I’m not sure how much of Cuttle could be grafted onto a program whose architecture is more rooted as an editor of static vector graphics. I do know that Inkscape has some “live effects” which are similar to Cuttle’s “live” modifiers. If you are interested in Cuttle’s architecture, I did a one hour walkthrough on this interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2el-85vG-IU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2el-85vG-IU
- ferfumarma 2y ago
  Very cool work. FWIW the aparatus site says > Apparatus is under active development. Discuss how Apparatus should evolve on the Apparatus Google Group. Which seems like it's no longer accurate. Has it moved to a different repo?
  - tqs 2y ago
    Hmmm.. I would say Apparatus is no longer under active development. Researcher Joshua Horowitz was doing some work on it for a bit, but yeah I don’t think it’s changed much in several years. It should be regarded as a research project that scouted out several areas of the “programming experience” world that others can build on.

pbronez 2y ago

It would be neat to have STL and STEP output for 3D printers.

tqs 2y ago
Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, we should do this. I've been seeing more and more people use Cuttle for 3D printing (exporting a DXF, then bringing that into another program to extrude and output a STL).
1oooqooq 2y ago
there's openscad
phkahler 2y ago
See Solvespace for that.

throwaway2562 2y ago

Cuttle is v cool, congratulations! I had previously seen Apparatus and liked it, so I can clearly see the genetic resemblance now ;) I’m wondering how many of you are on the team, and does it actually support you as a business yet? Even for a quite niche-y app Cuttle deserves to be better known, and higher-priced, imo.

tqs 2y ago
Thanks! There are 5 of us on the team. Yes, the business is profitable.

mft_ 2y ago

Hey, I've just spent an hour creating my first design with Cuttle - and I'm very impressed! You're right that it has a very short learning curve, especially coming from a hobbyist CAD and programming background. A few random thoughts/questions/suggestions (and apologies if I've missed options or existing functions): * Would it be possible to add edge snapping? * Could there be a slicker way to switch from the central origin for shapes? (Central is frustrating as it means having to change position every time I tweak the size.) Being able to easily select an arbitrary corner as the origin with a click would be great; maybe even auto-selecting the origin based on snapping two shapes together - i.e. 'anchoring' the shape based on snapping it to another one? * Any way of exporting multiple components in one go, without clicking through for each one? * Being able to set custom rounded corners with a list is great, but it's not easily discoverable! * It might be neat to have a pop-up offering boolean options when snapping or overlapping shapes? * Given the (I think?) JS under the surface, is it possible to import data, either as a CSV or an image from which pixel values can be read? * Lastly, any thoughts on offering an intermediate 'hobbyist' paid tier? I'd be strongly tempted to support you and access some of the paywalled features, but $19/month is honestly too high for an occasional/fun hobby product.

tqs 2y ago
Cuttle’s snapping is very good (imo). But you have to drag from the snap point to the snap point. So if you want to snap a particular midpoint (say) to a particular corner, you need to drag from that midpoint to that corner. That is, your drag is explicit about the from and to snap points. To export multiple components, we usually create a component (called “Cut Layout” for example), then drag out each of the other components (the pieces) into that component. There is a modifier called Flatten which might be useful for you for doing lots of Boolean operations at once. I think this video shows the workflow, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHKRfIC6QA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHKRfIC6QA Yes it’s all JS. You could copy and paste your data in and then process it and create geometry. (Sorry we don’t have any data import other than copy and paste at the moment.) Our scripting documentation is pretty good: https://cuttle.xyz/learn/scripting/getting-started-with-scripting https://cuttle.xyz/learn/scripting/getting-started-with-scri... We are experimenting with being able to read pixel values of raster images. Coming soon likely. Perhaps some kind of middle tier that gives full access to the Editor but does not give full access to the Pro templates makes sense. Many of our customers subscribe for access to those templates rather than the Editor! You are also free to subscribe when working on a project and need the Pro features, then cancel when you’re dormant. We don’t delete your projects when you downgrade to free, you can still access/edit/download them. I appreciate the feedback and the questions!