Imprimer
Imprimer is a research project that reimagines CNC milling as a process of literate programming, integrating machine control, visualization, and documentation into a single interactive environment. Instead of treating digital fabrication as a rigid pipeline—where CAD models are converted into machine-executable instructions—Imprimer introduces a computational notebook approach, allowing users to experiment, iterate, and document their processes in real time.
By embedding interactive graphics, code, and augmented reality previews into a computational notebook, Imprimer enables makers to directly manipulate toolpaths, visualize machine behaviors, and refine their designs without relying on opaque, pre-packaged software. The system was developed to support exploratory fabrication, empowering users—whether novices or experts—to engage with CNC milling as an open-ended, creative process rather than a fixed production workflow.
Jasper Tran O'Leary, Gabrielle Benabdallah, and Nadya Peek. 2023. Imprimer: Computational Notebooks for CNC Milling. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 207, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581334
Work Home