The viewer would have to do the render calculations so it wont be any
faster apart from you do not have to say "open" and F5.

I suggest you use the cmd-line method to make a png of every file. (I'm
sitting in the bus so I cant verify or send example)

M²

man. 15. jan. 2024 10.53 skrev Karl Exler via Discuss <
discuss@lists.openscad.org>:

I suggest you use the cmd-line method to make a png of every file.

I've used openscad commandline for generating a series of png from
different angles and combining those into an mp4 files. Works like a
charm.

Groet Matthieu

Michael Möller via Discuss schreef op 2024-01-15 11:40:

hmmm ?

Under Linux mint I am using OpenScad as AppImage... and don´t know how
to use it on command line in that case ??

BR
Karl

Am 15.01.24 um 13:08 schrieb Matthieu Hendriks via Discuss:

Are you able to start openscad (with the correct AppImage name) from a
terminal (commandline). If yes, you should be fine. (should be possible)

If no: you have several other options:

1 install thru apt-get or yum.

2 download source code and compile it.

Groet Matthieu

Karl Exler via Discuss schreef op 2024-01-15 16:52:

I am not at home at the moment but I am sure I can run the appimage from
the command line on my Ubuntu box.

On Mon, 15 Jan 2024 at 16:04, Matthieu Hendriks via Discuss <
discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote:

On Mon, 2024-01-15 at 16:52 +0100, Karl Exler via Discuss wrote:

I am running Ubuntu MATE, and can definitely run it from the command
line.

I have my appimage in ~/bin, and call it 'scad'.

larry@Whizz:~$ scad -v
OpenSCAD version 2023.11.21.ai17125
larry@Whizz:~$

A UI option: At least on macOS I can run “open *.scad” on the cmd-line and all scad files will open in different windows. Combined with setting “Design->Automatic Reload And Compile” and hiding the editor, I’ve used this to visually browse files in the past.

-Marius

On Mac, I give my .scad files custom Finder icons by: opening the .scad
file in OpenSCAD, positioning the camera to the best angle, using ⌘⇧4 then
the mouse to sweep out a rectangle for a screenshot, opening the
screenshot, and doing a select all, copy, then ⌘i on the .scad file to open
a Get Info window, using the mouse to click on the icon in the upper left
of the window, and paste. It sounds tedious written out in text, but it is
only a few seconds in practice.

i.e.:

$OACIV - all with the command key held down.

But: the custom icon doesn't survive a second edit and save with OpenSCAD.

To fix this, I'm writing a pair of utilities: one extends Finder to read
thumbnails from the .scad file like my ThumbHost3mf
https://github.com/DavidPhillipOster/ThumbHost3mf does for .gcode and
.3mf files and the second utility writes .png thumbnails into the .scad
file similar to the way PrusaSlicer writes .png thumbnails into .gcode
files. (.gcode files are plain text files like .scad files.) by base64
encoding the thumbnail inside a block comment.

/*

thumbnail_PNG begin 160x120 15272

…

thumbnail end

*/

for OpenSCAD.

where 160x120 is the size of the image and 15272 is the size of the ascii
text of the base64 encoded data.

On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 1:53 AM Karl Exler via Discuss <
discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote:

Correction: where 160x120 is the size of the image and 15272 is the size of
the decoded embedded image file.

On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 9:54 AM David Phillip Oster <
davidphilliposter@gmail.com> wrote: