speed up germinate 1.0 and 1.1 slicing by up to 5 times

I was digging around looking for "python parallel processing" to see if there was a way to speed up skeinforge which is the slicer that the root and root plus uses.

User JetGuy who has done a lot of research into this had a solution.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Basically, you replace python27 with a program called pypy which is a faster version of python27.

how do you do this?

here's the hacky was of doing it that seems to work.

go to

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

download pypy 4.0.1 for your machine (in my case windows 32 even though i run win 7 pro 64)

extract pypy to c:/

here's the hacky part

rename your python27 directory to python27.old

rename the pypy-4.0.1-win32 directory to python27

in your new c:/python27/ directory rename (or copy)

pypy.exe to python.exe

that's it.

it works. faster slicing....

i couldn't believe it!

just for reference if anyone needs it, this is the start and end additions to the gcode and the command line argument that germinate 1.1 sends to python for the root plus.

here are the preferences in the mini folder:

start.gcode (i assume this gets added to the start of the gcode for the root plus)

M104 S220 T0
M109 S23 T0
G162 Z F450
G92 X0 Y0 Z0 A0 B0
G161 Y X F2500
G92 X0 Y0 Z0 A0 B0
G1 X5.0 Y5.0 Z-5.0 F450 E0.0
G162 Z F450
G161 Y X F2500
G92 X-75 Y-75 Z141.3 A0 B0 (NOTE: my z is metered to Z141.3)
G1 X-75 Y-75 Z10.0 F500 E0.0
M6 T0
M101
G04 P15000

end.gcode

G162 Z F450

command line from germinate 1.1 to skein_engine slicer:

C:\Python27\python.exe -u "C:\Program Files (x86)\Germinate v1.1\skein_engines\skeinforge-50\skeinforge_application\skeinforge.py" -p "C:\Program Files (x86)\Germinate v1.1\skein_engines\skeinforge-50\skeinforge_application\prefs\MINI" --option "raft.csv:Add Raft, Elevate Nozzle, Orbit:=true" --option "raft.csv:None=true" --option "raft.csv:Empty Layers Only=false" --option "raft.csv:Everywhere=false" --option "raft.csv:Exterior Only=false" --option "fill.csv:Infill Solidity (ratio):=0.30" --option "speed.csv:Feed Rate (mm/s):=60" --option "speed.csv:Travel Feed Rate (mm/s):=80" --option "speed.csv:Flow Rate Setting (float):=60" --option "dimension.csv:Filament Diameter (mm):=1.75" --option "carve.csv:Edge Width over Height (ratio):=2.00000000" --option "inset.csv:Infill Width over Thickness (ratio):=2.00000000" --option "carve.csv:Layer Height (mm):=0.2" --option "fill.csv:Extra Shells on Alternating Solid Layer (layers):=1" --option "fill.csv:Extra Shells on Base (layers):=1" --option "fill.csv:Extra Shells on Sparse Layer (layers):=1" --option "fill.csv:Infill > Loops > Perimeter=False" --option "fill.csv:Infill > Perimeter > Loops=False" --option "fill.csv:Loops > Infill > Perimeter=False" --option "fill.csv:Loops > Perimeter > Infill=True" --option "fill.csv:Perimeter > Infill > Loops=False" --option "fill.csv:Perimeter > Loops > Infill=False" "C:\Users\Framestore\Desktop\PF_Bracelet_is_a_nut.stl"

I'm definitely gonna try this one!!

OK - just did this. a slice that took 20 min before now takes 3.
LOVING this fix!!

This is terrific! I was hacking around with pypy, trying to get this same trick to work, but you've nailed it!

Glad it works, but a bit over my head.

Asphalt wrote:Glad it works, but a bit over my head.

You should try it. It's actually a great "first hack" if you've never tried this sort of thing before. The only part you need to make it work is this:
go to
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
download pypy 4.0.1 for your machine (in my case windows 32 even though i run win 7 pro 64)
extract pypy to c:/
here's the hacky part
rename your python27 directory to python27.old
rename the pypy-4.0.1-win32 directory to python27
in your new c:/python27/ directory rename (or copy)
pypy.exe to python.exe
that's it.

Nice! Thanks for this, it works!

OMG!!!!! Thank you for this hack/fix! Germinate is screaming fast now.

sweet Jesus! thanks so much!

If I get my hardware running I will give it a try. How easy is it to undo if I screw it up?

If you are not sure, just copy the files out to another directory before changing them, and you can copy them back if it doesn't work.

As gpiffle mentioned, switching is as easy as renaming folders. I did that today in order to investigate an issue I was having with one model that simply would not complete generation of gcode. It worked after I switched from Pypy back to the old Python. I don't see how Pypy caused the issue but this was a particularly big model.

That is insane!! Thank you so much!! Took less than 2 minutes to do and it cut my time from 30 mins to 2.

Thanks!! Just did this and it worked great!