Bulk export via OpenSCAD command line & PowerShell (Windows & Linux)

• Script Functions
• Command Line Parameters
• CSV Format
• JSON Format
• How to run PowerShell scripts

Script Functions

Name	Description
CSV to EXPORT	Import a CSV file and export each item (to STL, OFF, AMF, 3MF, DXF, SVG or PNG)
CSV to JSON	Create a customizer parameter set JSON file from a CSV file
JSON to EXPORT	Export all parameter sets from a JSON file
SCAD to CSV	Generate a CSV from a SCAD file (currently requires the latest dev build of OpenSCAD)

Command Line Parameters

If you run the script without any parameters, you'll be prompted to enter the values, otherwise you can set them when calling the script:

• scadPath - Path to the .SCAD file
• inputType - Select an input type. Valid options are: CSV, JSON or SCAD
• fileExtension - Extension of the output files. Valid options are: STL, OFF, AMF, 3MF, DXF, SVG, PNG, CSV or JSON
• csvPath - Path to the .CSV file (Only required if exporting to/from .CSV)
• outputFolder - Path to export the files (Must end with a forward slash on linux. Not required if exporting to .JSON or .CSV)
• camArgs - Camera arguments for PNG export (Only required if exporting to .PNG)
• overwriteFiles - Existing files will not be overwritten unless set to true. Valid options are: True or False
• processCount - Number of exports to run at a time (Defaults to 3. Must be using PowerShell V7 or later)

CSV Format

The CSV file only requires one field (exported_filename), all other fields should relate to values in the .SCAD script. Any varibles that are not specified in the CSV will use the default values from the SCAD file.

Example .SCAD File:

message = "Some Text";
myfont = "Stencil";
textsize = 20;
height = 10;

linear_extrude(height){
    text(message, font=myfont, size=textsize);
}

Example .CSV File

exported_filename	message	myfont
Hi-cali	Hi	Calibri
Hello-cali	Hello	Calibri
Howdy-Stencil	Howdy	Stencil

Example Output

JSON Format

The script uses the OpenSCAD customizer function to run the exports, so the JSON file matches the format of this - https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/Customizer#Saving_Parameters_value_in_JSON_file

This allows you to create/save many different configurations using the OpenSCAD customizer GUI, then easily export them all to your desired file format.

If you're exporting from CSV and you already have a JSON file with the same name as the chosen .SCAD file, it will be renamed with a timestamp at the start (OpenSCAD needs the JSON file to have the same filename as the .SCAD file, or it will export the files with default parameters)

More info on parameter sets, etc: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/Customizer

Examples:

CSV TO JSON

.\OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1 -scadPath Example.scad -inputType CSV -csvPath Example_CSV.csv -fileExtension JSON

JSON TO EXPORT

.\OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1 -scadPath Example.scad -inputType JSON -outputFolder 'Output' -fileExtension STL -overwriteFiles $True

CSV TO EXPORT

.\OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1 -scadPath Example.scad -inputType CSV -csvPath Example_CSV.csv -outputFolder 'Output' -fileExtension STL

How to run PowerShell scripts

On Windows:

• Right-click the file
• Select Run With PowerShell

Or

Run it from command line:

.\OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1 -scadPath Example.scad -inputType CSV -csvPath Example_CSV.csv -outputFolder 'Output' -fileExtension STL

On Linux:

• Install PowerShell

From Terminal:

pwsh -file OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1

Or start a session by running pwsh and then enter a dot followed by the full script path in quotes, for example:

."/home/localuser/Downloads/OpenSCAD_Bulk_Exporter.ps1" -scadPath Example.scad -inputType CSV -csvPath Example_CSV.csv -outputFolder 'Output/' -fileExtension STL

Note

PowerShell 5 is already installed on Windows 10, however if using linux or if you want to run multiple exports in parallel, you'll need to install PowerShell 7

• Install on Windows
• Install on Linux