Screenshot of a new development version of the Monkeyprint DLP software running on Windows

Monkeyprint 3d DLP printer software development for Windows

Another modification of my Monkeyprint 3d DLP printer software towards getting more users is under way! Many people have been asking for a Windows version and my blog’s visitor statistics also show that an astonishing 59% of visitors are running Windows. Fine. Challenge accepted!

Surprisingly (at least for me), many 3d DLP printer users or makers run Windows. Well, while I don’t like very much, that’s still fine with me. I’ve taken some time examining what I need to do to port my Monkeyprint DLP printer software to Windows.

The Windows issue

Turns out one of the fundamental decisions when starting Monkeyprint was made poorly. When I had to decide on which framework to use for the graphical user interface there was a 50/50 choice between GTK and Qt. Well, as my physics teacher in school always used to say, 90% of the 50/50 questions are answered wrong. Of course, I chose GTK as it was closely related to the Gnome desktop environment that many Linux distributions use. It promised to work on different platforms as well. However, as I recently found out, the integration of the 3d view that I use to display the models in the build volume did not work with the rest of the interface on Windows. The small piece of code that connects it to the GUI had been abandoned by the developers in 2007 and was not available in a working version.

The solution

Simply put, this means I will have to convert the whole GUI to Qt. First tests on Windows show that the interface works and the 3d view is already up and running (see the picture above). And while I had some kind of gratuitous aversion against Qt at first, I now found out that it actually is very similar to GTK in its structure and at some points even easier to handle.

Transition time

Until the new Qt version works, the GTK version is of course still available under the release branch of my Github. I’ve updated the instructions page to reflect the change in branch naming.

Well, there’s still a lot to be done to get Monkeyprint DLP to rise and shine again, so stay tuned for new updates…

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Best wishes,
Paul

10 thoughts on “Monkeyprint 3d DLP printer software development for Windows”

  1. Hi Paul,

    Thank you very much! I knew you’ll get it and you are on the right way now. Nothing against LINUX. It’s a great system for devlopers and freaks of course. I’m not familiar with it and I’m very glad to hear that you go to Windows. The first screenshot above shows a very nice graphic. It’s far better than Creation Workshop who’s looking like a old MS DOS version from the 80ies.

    Kind regards

    Bruno

    1. CW was a good software for us until Steve decided to let it drop. It has a few flaws, but the ongoing development back in the time was a good thing.

      I really hope the transition to Windows goes smooth, so more advertisement can be made and more people use it.

      The fact that Monkeyprint can use reduced infill like every other FDM software does, makes me think we are on the right track 🙂

      1. I agree on the Daniel’s comment about CW. The creator was great and he indeed contributed to 3D printing community a lot. I guess there are still many users out there, hoping someone to improve its functionality. Nobody can blame the creator for its designs and functions.

        I asked to Paul before about compilation of Monkeyprint on Windows machine, so hopefully this work will be a nice addition to 3D printing SWs.

        Best,

  2. I am hpoing for the windows version so I can use one computer for fdm printing, cnc routing end dlp printing.
    I wil first try de linux version and wait for the windows version.

    thanks

  3. hello again

    I am trying the linux version and cannot flash to the pro micro.
    I treid several linux distributions.
    Where can I find the windows version, whe want to make a try with some students.
    I was looking on github but I et lost on that page.
    Do you have a short windows instalation file like you have for linux.

    thanks and go on

  4. Similar to the previous commentators – I’m really looking forward to the version.
    I tried to run something that the githab, unsuccessfully.
    Rzanie versions, different modules, plugins – a problem in importing some, then other libraries.
    In general, I did not understand, alas 🙁

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