On Apr 29, 2013, at 1:22 PM, H.S.Rai wrote:

>> True, but no real models are constructed of only one primitive, or even just 
>> a few.  They tend to be highly complex and rather arbitrary.  The simple 
>> values at the primitive level may help in giving the user anchor points to 
>> explicitly create annotation objects.
> 
> That's right. But the approach suggested by Harman may not be good for
> military / mechanical problems; but seems fine for Structural
> Engineers, who produced framed structures / buildings; there beam,
> column, slabs are basic primitive. If we allow Harman to work on his
> idea; we may get BRL-CAD giving solution to such structural engineers.

I wasn't referring to the shape so much as the underlying geometric 
representation format.  If they model the cone in BRL-CAD, for example, it'll 
be a truncated generalized conic and we could display a radius.  However, any 
model imported will not be in our format.  It'll be a set of NURBS surfaces or 
a polygonal model where there is no awareness that the geometry represents an 
elliptical base.

I'm not suggesting not working on it, but there are big usability concerns.  
What might look like a simple cone could be stored in several different 
representation formats and a solution that only works with one of them is 
likely going to be problematic.  A solution that handles all types is no less 
difficult to implement, but requires some forethought on the approach.

For example, explicit annotations avoid the format issue altogether by letting 
the user describe exactly what they want.  With parametric constraints, values 
could even be made to auto-update.

Cheers!
Sean


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