Any other TeX users here? Processing lists and analyzing geometry

Am I dense, or does OpenSCAD lack the programming constructs to readily and directly put all the parts into a list, and then parse each object in the list for its geometry and then work out how to fit them together so as to efficiently cut them out of a wooden board? (In particular, in retrospect I should have rotated one of the ends 180 degrees so that they could have fit more closely together).

 c = [
    [       // points
        [0,0,0],
        [0,0,1],
        [0,1,0],
        [0,1,1],
        [1,0,0],
        [1,0,1],
        [1,1,0],
        [1,1,1]
    ], [    // faces
        [0,2,3,1],  // left
        [0,4,6,2],  // bottom
        [0,1,5,4],  // front
        [1,3,7,5],  // top
        [4,5,7,6],  // right
        [2,6,7,3],  // back
    ]
];

polyhedron(points=c[0], faces=c[1]);

and do whatever you like to the points before you hand them to polyhedron(), but if you use a primitive to construct your cube:

cube(1);

then you can't get any information whatsoever about it.

For the kind of project you're talking about, I would define each slab as a module, and then I would assemble those modules twice, once to form the finished object (so as to check fit and look) and once to form the as-printed components.  (Or, in your case, as-cut.)

There are other similar techniques.  One that I've used is to have two translations and two rotations for each piece, where one position/rotation is the as-assembled position, and the other is the as-printed position.  It's then not too hard to animate between the two, so that the pieces fly from the print bed to the constructed model and back again.

There are other similar techniques.  One that I've used is to have two translations and two rotations for each piece, where one position/rotation is the as-assembled position, and the other is the as-printed position.  It's then not too hard to animate between the two, so that the pieces fly from the print bed to the constructed model and back again.