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Getting started with PythonSCAD

Enabling Python support

For Python support to be enabled, this must be met:

The extension of the file you're editing MUST be .py.

If this is met, then the file will be interpreted as a Python file.

Differences with regular OpenSCAD

If you're familiar with regular OpenSCAD, then the synthax will be fairly obvious, as the names of functions and classes are the same.

The major difference is that you need to use the show() function for a shape to be displayed, as opposed to it being displayed automatically in regular OpenSCAD. As for every python library, you need to import the functions with 'import'. Put this in the beginning of each script.

PythonSCAD ships two equivalent top-level modules:

  • pythonscad - the recommended import for new PythonSCAD designs.
  • openscad - kept for designs that should also be runnable by upstream OpenSCAD's Python integration.

pythonscad is a strict superset of openscad, so switching between from pythonscad import * and from openscad import * requires no other code change.

Creating a basic shape

Lets create a 5x5x5 cube.

# getting PythonSCAD functions into the namespace
from pythonscad import *

# Create the cube object, and store it in variable "c"
c = cube(5)
# Or, more explicitely
c = cube([5,5,5])

# Display the cube
show(c)

// Create the cube object
cube(5);
// Or, more explicitely
cube([5,5,5]);

// The cube is displayed implicitely

That was pretty easy! Next, let's see how to combine multiple shapes.