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Getting started

Experimental

Paintress has not been fully validated end to end on hardware. What follows is a development workflow, not a finished product. Read Safety first.

This guide takes you from an image file to a print. It assumes the controller board already runs the Paintress firmware, which is not published yet. Clone the module repositories side by side; the commands below run from the folder that holds them.

1. RIP an image into halftoned passes

Writes rip.json + rip.bin.

python paintress-rip-encoder/rip/rip.py image.png -o rip.json \
    --head c6n90 --dpi 630

Set --head to the printhead fitted to your machine. DPI must be a multiple of its nozzle pitch. Use --list-dpi --head <name> to list valid values.

2. Encode into a printer-ready job

Writes job.json + job.bin.

python paintress-rip-encoder/encoder/encoder.py rip.json -o job.json

3. Inspect what came out (optional)

Renders the RIP payload back to a preview image.

python paintress-rip-encoder/rip/viewer.py rip.json

4. Start the daemon

Run the daemon on the host connected to the controller board. It listens on TCP port 9000 by default and opens the serial port on request.

cd paintress-daemon && python -m paintress_daemon --head c6n90

Set --head to the fitted printhead so the daemon can reject jobs made for another head. The firmware cannot detect the physical head: both supported profiles use the same firmware binary.

5. Run the print from Klipper

With paintress-klipper-extras installed and a [paintress] section configured:

PAINTRESS_CONNECT_SOCKET
PAINTRESS_CONNECT_SERIAL

PAINTRESS_OPEN_PAYLOAD FILENAME=job.json
PAINTRESS_PRINT                                ; uses exclude_object bounds
; or:
; PAINTRESS_PRINT ORIGIN_X=20 ORIGIN_Y=30      ; explicit origin
PAINTRESS_CLOSE_PAYLOAD

PAINTRESS_DISCONNECT_SERIAL
PAINTRESS_DISCONNECT_SOCKET

Without an explicit origin, the plugin uses Klipper's exclude_object polygons to position the image over a 3D-printed object.

Next steps