p5.fab: Direct Control of Digital Fabrication Machines from a Creative Coding Environment

TL;DR

p5.fab is a system that integrates digital fabrication machine control into the p5.js creative coding environment, enabling users to explore complex parameters and develop bespoke workflows for innovative 3D printing outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system that allows direct control of fabrication machines from a creative coding environment, supporting custom workflows and material exploration.

Findings

Encourages novel printing workflows and artifacts

Enables creation of prints impossible with traditional software

Facilitates exploration of interdependent machine and material settings

Abstract

Machine settings and tuning are critical for digital fabrication outcomes. However, exploring these parameters is non-trivial. We seek to enable exploration of the full design space of digital fabrication. To identify where we might intervene, we studied how practitioners approach 3D printing. We found that beyond using CAD/CAM, they create bespoke routines and workflows to explore interdependent material and machine settings. We seek to provide a system that supports this workflow development. We identified design goals around material exploration, fine-tuned control, and iteration. Based on these, we present p5.fab, a system for controlling digital fabrication machines from the creative coding environment p5.js. We demonstrate p5.fab with examples of 3D prints that cannot be made with traditional 3D printing software. We evaluate p5.fab in workshops and find that it encourages novel printing workflows and artifacts. Finally, we discuss implications for future digital fabrication systems.