The Printer WebUI provides a responsive web interface for controlling a 3D printer (RepRap, Ultimaker, ...). It currently allows
- uploading .gcode files to the server and managing them via the UI
- selecting a file for printing, getting the usual stats regarding filament length etc
- starting, pausing and canceling a print job
- while connected to the printer, gaining information regarding the current temperature of both head and bed (if available) in a nice shiny javascript-y temperature graph
- while printing, gaining information regarding the current progress of the print job (height, percentage etc)
- reading the communication log and send arbitrary codes to be executed by the printer
- moving the X, Y and Z axis (jog controls, although very ugly ones right now)
- changing the speed modifiers for inner & outer wall, fill and support
- optional: visual monitoring of the printer via webcam stream integrated into the UI (using e.g. MJPG-Streamer)
- optional: creation of timelapse recordings of the printjob via webcam stream (using e.g. MJPG-Streamer) -- currently two timelaspe methods are implemented, triggering a shot on z-layer change or every "n" seconds
The intended usecase is to run the Printer WebUI on a single-board computer like the Raspberry Pi and a WiFi module, connect the printer to the server and therefore create a WiFi-enabled 3D printer.
If you want to add a webcam for visual monitoring and timelapse support, you'll need a powered USB hub.
Printer WebUI depends on a couple of python modules to do its job. Those are listed in requirements.txt and can be
installed using pip:
pip install -r requirements.txt
Printer WebUI currently only supports Python 2.7.
Just start the server via
python -m printer_webui.server
By default it binds to all interfaces on port 5000 (so pointing your browser to http://127.0.0.1:5000
will do the trick). If you want to change that, use the additional command line parameters host and port,
which accept the host ip to bind to and the numeric port number respectively. If for example you want to the server
to only listen on the local interface on port 8080, the command line would be
python -m printer_webui.server --host=127.0.0.1 --port=8080
Alternatively, the host and port on which to bind can be defined via the configuration.
The config-file config.ini for Printer WebUI is expected at ~/.printerwebui for Linux, at %APPDATA%/PrinterWebUI
for Windows and at ~/Library/Application Support for MacOS X.
The following example config should explain the available options:
[serial]
# use the following option to define the default serial port, defaults to unset (= AUTO)
port = /dev/ttyACM0
# use the following option to define the default baudrate, defaults to unset (= AUTO)
baudrate = 115200
[server]
# use this option to define the host to which to bind the server, defaults to "0.0.0.0" (= all interfaces)
host = 0.0.0.0
# use this option to define the port to which to bind the server, defaults to 5000
port = 5000
[webcam]
# use this option to enable display of a webcam stream in the UI, e.g. via MJPG-Streamer.
# Webcam support will be disabled if not set
stream = http://<stream host>:<stream port>/?action=stream
# use this option to enable timelapse support via snapshot, e.g. via MJPG-Streamer.
# Timelapse support will be disabled if not set
snapshot = http://<stream host>:<stream port>/?action=snapshot
# path to ffmpeg binary to use for creating timelapse recordings.
# Timelapse support will be disabled if not set
ffmpeg = /path/to/ffmpeg
[folder]
# absolute path where to store gcode uploads. Defaults to the uploads folder in the Printer WebUI settings dir
uploads = /path/to/upload/folder
# absolute path where to store finished timelapse recordings. Defaults to the timelapse folder in the Printer WebUI settings dir
timelapse = /path/to/timelapse/folder
# absolute path where to store temporary timelapse files. Defaults to the timelapse/tmp folder in the Printer WebUI settings dir
timelapse_tmp = /path/timelapse/tmp/folder
I currently run the Printer WebUI on a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian (http://www.raspbian.org/). I recommend to use a maximum baudrate of 115200 baud in your printer firmware, as the used Python serial module does not support 250000 baud in all Linux distributions yet (Raspbian being not one of them, at least according to my experience).
For the basic package you'll need Python 2.7 (should be installed by default), pip and a couple of dependencies listed in requirements.txt:
cd ~
sudo apt-get install python-pip git
git clone https://github.com/foosel/PrinterWebUI.git
cd PrinterWebUI
pip install -r requirements.txt
You should then be able to start the WebUI server:
pi@raspberrypi ~/PrinterWebUI $ python -m printer_webui.server
* Running on http://0.0.0.0:5000/
If you also want webcam and timelapse support, you'll need to download and compile MJPG-Streamer:
cd ~
sudo apt-get install libjpeg8-dev imagemagick libav-tools
wget -Omjpg-streamer.tar.gz http://mjpg-streamer.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/mjpg-streamer/mjpg-streamer/?view=tar
tar xfz mjpg-streamer.tar.gz
cd mjpg-streamer
make
This should hopefully run through without any compilation errors. You should then be able to start the webcam server:
pi@raspberrypi ~/mjpg-streamer $ ./mjpg_streamer -i "./input_uvc.so" -o "./output_http.so"
MJPG Streamer Version: svn rev:
i: Using V4L2 device.: /dev/video0
i: Desired Resolution: 640 x 480
i: Frames Per Second.: 5
i: Format............: MJPEG
[...]
o: www-folder-path...: disabled
o: HTTP TCP port.....: 8080
o: username:password.: disabled
o: commands..........: enabled
If you now point your browser to http://<your Raspi's IP>:8080/?action=stream, you should see a moving picture at 5fps.
Open ~/.printerwebui/config.ini and add the following lines to it:
[webcam]
stream = http://<your Raspi's IP>:8080/?action=stream
snapshot = http://127.0.0.1:8080/?action=snapshot
ffmpeg = /usr/bin/avconv
Restart the WebUI server and reload its frontend. You should now see a Webcam tab with content.
If everything works, add the startup commands to /etc/rc.local.
The Printer WebUI started out as a fork of Cura (https://github.com/daid/Cura) for adding a web interface to its printing functionality. It still uses Cura's communication code for talking to the printer, but has been reorganized to only include those parts of Cura necessary for its targeted usecase.
It also uses the following libraries and frameworks for backend and frontend:
- Flask: http://flask.pocoo.org/
- jQuery: http://jquery.com/
- Bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/
- Knockout.js: http://knockoutjs.com/
- Flot: http://www.flotcharts.org/
- jQuery File Upload: http://blueimp.github.com/jQuery-File-Upload/
The following software is recommended for Webcam support on the Raspberry Pi: