Track Awesome Plotters Updates Daily
A curated list of code and resources for computer-controlled drawing machines and other visual art robots.
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Sep 26, 2023
Hardware / Accessories and Adapters
- PlotAdapter (⭐13) - "Serial-GPIB converter for HP Plotters", uses an Arduino microcontroller to convert serial HPGL to the GPIB/HP-IB expected by some older HP plotters.
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Tech Tangents: Gold Standard Plotter - HP 7475A - Video with some HPGL and plotter history, plus operating an HP 7475A from an IBM 5160 microcomputer.
- curiousmarc.com: HP 7475A Plotter - A great collection of info, ephemera, plot files, three YouTube videos, and a 3d-printable replacement part for the HP 7475A.
Aug 31, 2023
Software / Vector Creation
- LineDream - A generative art library for Python that can export SVGs.
Jul 25, 2023
Software / Vector Creation
- plotter.vision - Interactive website for hidden line removal of STL files to generate plottable SVG. Also supports Red/Blue 3D glasses.
Jul 18, 2023
Software / Plotter Control
- Inkcut (⭐267) - Application for controlling 2D plotters, cutters, engravers, and CNC machines.
Apr 22, 2023
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
- Hewlett-Packard Journal Volume 32 Number 10 - Multiple articles about the development of the HP Model 7580A plotter.
Apr 19, 2023
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
Apr 08, 2023
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Mar 24, 2023
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
- [Unknown Brand] LP 2002 Photo Plotter Attachment Operating Manual (German) - Also see Martin Bircher's thread with pictures of this device.
Feb 22, 2023
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- CuriousMarc: HP 7475A Plotter and HPGL Demo - Video of an HP 7475A plotting some demos.
- CuriousMarc: Refilling or Replacing Vintage HP Plotter Pens - Video showing how to open, clean, and refill vintage HP plotter pens.
- Commodore 1520 Plotter Demonstration - Video of the Commodore 1520 plotter in action, including a cover-off shot of the mechanism.
Feb 21, 2023
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Feb 05, 2023
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Jan 04, 2023
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- An Introduction to Pen Plotting - Another getting started article with modern pen plotters.
Dec 23, 2022
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Tech Tangents: Plotting For The First Time - HP 7470A - Nice video showing an HP 7470A operated from an HP 85 computer.
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Nov 19, 2022
Community / Ephemera
- #PenPlotter - Mastodon/ActivityPub hashtag that plotter folks are mostly congregating under.
Oct 04, 2022
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Orbis Tertius - An immersive digital installation with plotter output of Martian topography.
Sep 29, 2022
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
Aug 17, 2022
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Aug 11, 2022
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Tools, Tricks, and Hacks: Exploring Novel Digital Fabrication Workflows on #PlotterTwitter - Research paper on the novel workflows of the plotter community (Video Summary).
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
Jul 11, 2022
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- What is a pen plotter 2022? - Nice video introduction to modern plotters in 2022.
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
- CalComp Plotters in 1968 - Promotional video showing a flatbed CalComp plotter and its output.
Jun 10, 2022
Hardware / Motor Controllers
- EBB Driver Board - USB-based dual stepper motor controller board, originally designed for the EggBot.
Hardware / Pens
- Parametric 3d-Printable Plotter Pen Adapter - Adjustable model to print adapters for various pens.
Jun 07, 2022
Hardware / Plotters
- AxiDraw - Pen plotter from Evil Mad Scientist, very popular on #plottertwitter.
- Drawing Robot - 3d-Printable AxiDraw clone w/ Arduino CNC Shield controller running grbl firmware.
- 4xiDraw - Yet another 3d-printable AxiDraw clone w/ Arduino CNC Shield controller running grbl firmware.
Hardware / Motor Controllers
- Arduino CNC Shield - Grbl-compatible stepper motor control shield for Arduino, similar to the grblShield.
Hardware / Pens
- Sharpie Fine Point Plotter Adapter - 3d-printed adapter to fit a standard Sharpie in an HP-GL plotter.
- Plotter Pen STL Models - Accurate STL models of both short and long standard plotter pens.
Software / Plotter Control
- axidraw (⭐394) - Official AxiDraw extensions for Inkscape.
- Line-us Inkscape Plugin (⭐7) - Sends drawings to the Line-us plotter directly from Inkscape.
- Line-us API Examples (⭐105) - Example code for the Line-us plotter's G-code-based API.
- @beardicus/line-us (⭐25) - JavaScript library for controlling the Line-us machine from Node or the browser.
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- An Intro to Pen Plotters - Good info on getting started with old HPGL plotters.
Jun 02, 2022
Software / Vector Creation
- linedraw (⭐703) - Python tool to convert images to sketchy vector line drawings.
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Jun 01, 2022
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
May 29, 2022
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
May 26, 2022
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
- Auerbach On Digital Plotters And Image Digitizers (1972) - A book about plotters and digitizers.
Feb 24, 2022
Software / Vector Creation
- SVG.js - Dependency-free lightweight library for creating, manipulating, and animating SVG.
- Components AI - Experimental computational design platform for exploring generative space.
- DrawingBotV3 (⭐235) - Cross-platform software for converting images to line drawings.
Software / Vector Utilities
- SVG Cropper - A browser-based tool to crop SVGs using different primitives, custom shapes, or other SVGs.
Dec 13, 2021
Software / G-code
- node-gcode (⭐31) - Node.js G-code interpreter and simulator.
- svg2gcode (⭐53) - Node.js command line utility for converting SVG to G-code.
- svg2gcode (⭐87) - Python utility for fast SVG to G-code conversion.
- jscut - A web-based utility for converting SVG to G-code.
- gcodeplot (⭐144) - Python utility to convert SVG and HPGL to G-code for a 3-axis CNC machine.
Nov 23, 2021
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
May 21, 2021
Manuals and Ephemera / Manuals
Manuals and Ephemera / Ephemera
- Hewlett-Packard Journal Volume 29 Number 1 - Multiple articles about the development of the HP Model 9872A and 7221A pen plotters.
- Hewlett-Packard Journal Volume 32 Number 11 - Multiple articles about the development of the HP Model 7580A plotter.
- Roland Users Group Volume 2 Number 4 (1984) - Computers and Plotters Take the Place of Drafting Tables and Pencils article on page 36 (PDF page 40).
Community / Ephemera
- DrawingBots Discord Forum - Discord forum with an active community.
Jan 27, 2021
Hardware / Plotters
- Arduino CNC Drawing Machine - A fairly simple 3d-printed AxiDraw-style plotter with good video documentation.
Dec 28, 2020
Software / Vector Creation
- PlotterFun - Browser-based Image to SVG converter similar to SquiggleDraw.
Software / Fonts
- CNC Text Tool - Browser-based Hershey Text tool with export to SVG.
Community / Ephemera
- PlotterFiles - Community for sharing SVG files for plotters.
Other Awesomes / Ephemera
Nov 30, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Nov 28, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Nov 07, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Oct 11, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Oct 02, 2020
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- The Best XY Plotters in 2020 - Good overview of the AxiDraw and its clones, plus some DIY options.
Jun 03, 2020
Software / Vector Creation
- makio135/plotter - An Observable notebook collection full of plotter-oriented work.
May 15, 2020
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- How to Draw Generative Art with an Axidraw Pen Plotter - Lots of nice tips, not all specific to the Axidraw, plus some pen reviews and handy 3d-printed tools.
May 12, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
May 11, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Mar 17, 2020
Software / Vector Utilities
- vpype (⭐603) - Plotter-focused Python-based CLI utility for generating and manipulating SVGs, including scaling and optimizing paths.
Software / Fonts
- svg-fonts - Single-line fonts in an SVG format, mainly for use with the Hershey Text Inkscape plugin.
Feb 24, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Feb 13, 2020
Software / Vector Creation
- cozyvec (⭐67) - Web/Standalone terminal environment for plotter art and tweet plots.
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Jan 21, 2020
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Nov 29, 2019
Software / G-code
- gcode-generative-for-processing (⭐25) - Processing library, aiming to create gcode from simple shapes. (Designed for usage with the Creality CR10)
Oct 19, 2019
Hardware / Plotters
- BrachioGraph - A cheap and simple plotter made from sticks, servos, and a Raspberry Pi running Python. Here's video of a BrachioGraph talk at PyCon UK from the creator.
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Surface Projection - Deep dive into surface projection and hidden line removal using Python and penplot.
Jun 28, 2019
Software / HPGL
- HPGLGraphics (⭐17) - A Processing library for writing HPGL files.
Community / Ephemera
- Plotter People - In-person meetups (SF and NYC so far) with talks and plotter art galleries.
Apr 08, 2019
Hardware / Pens
- JetPens – The Best White Ink Pens - A comprehensive review of many white ink pens, with pictures of their coverage characteristics.
Mar 17, 2019
Software / Plotter Control
- MP2300-Tools (⭐6) - Software for converting HPGL to Graphtec's GPGL format, as well as CAD files for a Graphtec plotter pen adapter.
Feb 26, 2019
Hardware / Plotters
- Line-us - A cute little kickstarted robotic drawing arm.
- WaterColorBot - XY art robot and software to plot with watercolor paints.
- EggBot - Pen plotter for egg-shaped and spherical objects.
- HP Pen Plotters - Vintage desktop and floor-standing pen plotters from the creator of the HPGL standard. Model 7475A is very common and can usually be found on eBay.
- Roland Pen Plotters - Vintage flatbed HPGL pen plotters. Search eBay for "roland dxy".
Hardware / Motor Controllers
- grblShield (⭐129) - All the stepper motor control hardware needed to turn an Arduino into a G-code-based motion controller using the grbl firmware. (adafruit)
- TinyG (⭐844) - More featureful and robust 6-axis G-code-based motion control hardware. (adafruit)
- Raspberry Pi CNC Hat - Raspberry Pi add-on board w/ stepper controllers and a microcontroller running grbl. Interfaces with the Pi's serial pins.
Hardware / Accessories and Adapters
- WiFi232 - Wifi to RS-232 serial via a DB25 plug. Control your serial plotter wirelessly.
- Plotter Cable Pinout - Schematic for a plotter cable that will work for most HP and Roland plotters. Search eBay or Amazon for
DB9 to DB25 Serial Null Modem Cableor similar to find them for sale.
Hardware / Pens
- Pens for AxiDraw - List of pens suitable for general plotter abuse.
- Pens for EggBot - Egg- and glass-focused pen recommendations but still generally applicable information.
Software / HPGL
- Chiplotle (⭐31) - Python library for generating HPGL and interfacing with serial plotters.
- HPGL Reference Guide - HTML-based HPGL Reference.
- HP 7475A Interfacing and Programming Manual - Scanned PDF manual that contains a full HPGL reference.
- djipco/hpgl (⭐36) - A Node.js library to communicate with HPGL-compatible plotters and printers.
- hp2xx - GNU tool to convert HPGL into other vector and raster formats. Can also be used as a previewing in X11.
- vec (⭐23) - Example C code for generating HPGL, with a turtle graphics interface.
- d3-hpgl (⭐19) - An adapter for the HTML Canvas API so you can output HPGL using the popular D3 library.
- HPGL Viewer (⭐15) - An HPGL Viewer using JavaScript and HTML5 canvas.
- HPGL Sender (⭐9) - A web interface for previewing HPGL and sending it to your plotter.
Software / G-code
- grbl (⭐5.1k) - A high-performance G-code interpreting firmware for the Atmega 328 microcontroller and Arduino.
- cncjs (⭐2.1k) - A web-based interface controlling CNC machines running grbl, TinyG, or other G-code-based firmware.
- Universal-G-Code-Sender (⭐1.7k) - Java-based grbl-compatible cross-platform G-code sender.
- ChiliPeppr Hardware Fiddle - Modular web-based workspaces to visualize G-code and control hardware.
Software / Plotter Control
- axi (⭐261) - Unofficial Python library for the AxiDraw v3.
- xy (⭐68) - Utilities for the Makeblock XY Plotter Robot Kit.
- LaserGRBL (⭐1k) - Laser-optimized Windows GUI for grbl controllers. Could be repurposed for DIY pen plotters that use a solenoid for pen up/down movements.
- PenPlotter (⭐111) - Polargraph controller that uses repetier firmware.
- Makelangelo-firmware (⭐151) - Firmware for the Makelangelo polargraph robot.
- RoboPaint (⭐122) - Software for the WaterColorBot.
- AxiTurtle (⭐13) - Turtle graphics for AxiDraw in Processing.
- GRBL-Plotter (⭐552) - Plotter-optimized Windows GUI for grbl controller with SVG and DXF import, and flexible pen up/down control.
- saxi (⭐420) - Driver and library for the AxiDraw. Uses constant-acceleration motion planning and automatically resizes to paper.
Software / Vector Creation
- Inkscape - Popular cross-platform open source vector graphics editor.
- p5.js - "JavaScript library that makes coding accessible for artists, designers, educators, and beginners".
- Paper.js - "The Swiss Army Knife of Vector Graphics Scripting".
- ln (⭐3.2k) - Vector-based 3D renderer written in Go.
- autotrace (⭐406) - Converts bitmap images to vector graphics.
- stipplegen (⭐392) - Creates interesting stippled drawings from bitmap images. (blog post)
- SquiggleDraw (⭐301) - "SquiggleDraw will create a SVG file from an image, using the brightness to change the amplitude of sine waves".
- svgurt - Web-based PNG to SVG creative noodler.
- maptrace (⭐119) - Produce watertight polygonal vector maps by tracing raster images.
- Drawbot_image_to_gcode_v2 (⭐147) - Creates G-code for use on drawbots.
- blackstripes (⭐88) - Turns a PNG image into a SVG line drawing.
- Ribbon (⭐235) - Ribbon diagrams of proteins in written in Go.
- penplot (⭐262) - A development environment for plotter art in JavaScript.
- penkit (⭐130) - A Python library for creating line-based SVG graphics.
- generativeExamples (⭐60) - Example Processing code that generates plottable PDFs.
- Let's make map - Web-based tool to export an SVG map from Mapzen tiles.
- SuperformulaSVG for web - A generative line art web app.
- scribbleplot (⭐44) - Scribbly image transformations in Processing.
- Maker.js - Library for creating 2D vector drawings for CNC and laser cutter machines.
- Turtletoy - Browser-based JavaScript turtle graphics API with SVG export.
Software / Vector Utilities
- svgsort (⭐236) - Path planning for plotting SVG files, reduces time spent moving with the pen up.
- svgo (⭐20k) - Node.js-based tool for optimizing SVG files.
- Polargraph Optimizer (⭐57) - Optimize drawing plan for a polargraph.
- penkit-optimize (⭐130) - An SVG optimizer that uses a vehicle routing solver to minimize plot time.
- svg-crowbar (⭐837) - Chrome-only bookmarklet for extracting SVG from an HTML document.
Software / Fonts
- Summary of single line fonts - Good information and links to other resources and fonts.
- Hershey Vector Font -
.fntformat of vector fonts from the 60s. Includes a good overview of the original data format of the fonts.
- hershey-fonts (⭐49) - C library and original font data for the Hershey fonts.
Inspiration, Instruction, and Research / Fonts
- Pen Plotter Programming: The Basics - Some basics of programming vector paths, including sorting, joining, and simplifying.
- On Generative Algorithms - Nice 13-part walkthrough of interesting algorithms.
- Roland DG DXY-990 - Quickstart guide for a Roland flatbed plotter.
- The Cohen-Sutherland Line Clipping Algorithm - Detailed explanation and examples of an interesting algorithm.
- Vera Molnár - OG plotter artist.
- Hektor - The original cable-based drawbot from 2002.
- Pen Plotter Art & Algorithms - A two-part intro to creating generative graphics for plotting.
- Fractal Generation with L-Systems - Techniques for creating line-based fractal graphics.
- Introduction to TSP art - Resources for traveling salesman problem (single path) art.
- Hidden wireframe removal - Discussion and links to code for wireframe removal of STL files.
Feb 20, 2019
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Jan 19, 2019
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Aug 02, 2018
Community / Ephemera
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Jul 25, 2018
Plotter Art For Sale / Ephemera
Other Awesomes / Ephemera