Every element in a design is part of a group.
Groups help structure a design by organising elements into a hierarchy.
They can also simplify the code by allowing elements to be added relative to (0, 0) in a group, with the group created in the desired location.
In addition, groups can aid design validation.
After some some initial un-grouping (Shift-Ctrl-G) to break up the heirarchy, larger grouped structures, like an enclosure plate, can be moved around, rotated etc, to check the fit with other structures.
After calling setup(), the inksnek method top_group() provides a parent group. Things can be added directly into this, but it is probably better to create subgroups. For example
box_group = inksnek.add_group(inksnek.top_group(), inksnek.translate_group(10.0, 10.0))
This creates box_group as a child of the top group, located at (10.0, 10.0).
Most elements in a design are paths. Paths have two important attributes, the group they are in and their style.
The path’s coordinates are relative to the group. Usually the style defines a stroked line, but can also be a fill (or even both).
The pattern for a simple path is something like this:
box_path = inksnek.path_start() # Note: box_path is a string
box_path += inksnek.path_move_to(10.0, 10.0)
box_path += inksnek.path_horz_by(5.0)
box_path += inksnek.path_vert_by(5.0)
box_path += inksnek.path_horz_by(-5.0)
inksnek.path_add(box_group, box_path, inknek.cut_style)
This creates a 5x5 square at (10, 10) within box_group, to be laser-cut.
Based on the creation of box_group above, the box will be at (20, 20) from the design origin (the origin of top_group).
The class creates three predefined styles, for line cutting and etching and for area etches:
cut_style
etch_style
fill_style
In addition
ignore_style
creates linework which is visible in DEVEL mode but is omitted from the SVG in FINAL mode.