cnc-pattern-gen

This project is a modern C++ library and application designed to generate complex, clipped 2D geometry patterns (such as honeycombs, spirals, and grids) and translate them into production-ready CNC G-code.

It utilizes the Clipper2 library for robust polygon clipping and boolean operations.

This project was done as part of the interview process for a software engineering position at Makby.

Prerequisites

To build and run this project, you will need the following installed on your system:

• C++23 Compatible Compiler: (e.g., GCC 13+, Clang 16+, or MSVC 19.36+)
• CMake: Version 4.1 or higher.
• Clipper2 Source: The project expects the Clipper2 library source code to be located locally at libs/Clipper2_2.0.1/CPP. Ensure this directory is present before building.

Build Instructions

This project uses CMake for cross-platform building. It is recommended to use an out-of-source build to keep the project directory clean from generated artifacts.

1. Open your terminal and navigate to the root directory of this project.
2. Create a build directory and navigate into it:

   mkdir build
   cd build

3. Generate the build files using CMake:

   cmake ..

4. Compile the project:

   cmake --build .

Running the Application

Once compiled, the executable named ClipperPractice will be located in the build directory (or build/Debug / build/Release depending on your OS and generator).

Run the executable from the terminal:

./ClipperPractice  # On Linux/Mac/PowerShell
# OR
.\Debug\ClipperPractice.exe  # On Windows Command Line

Upon successful execution, the program will generate the hardcoded demonstration geometry and output the resulting G-code file to: ../output/instructions.nc