-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Kai-Martin Knaak wrote: > On Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:03:55 +0100, andrew whyte wrote: > >> but rather than going down the route of >> needing schematics symbols, footprints and 3d models for each component >> in a design, could we add a "height" attribute to the schematics (this >> wouldn't be a big job for the designer using gattrib). Then if someone >> could script something that takes the board outline, and adds block >> shapes based on the PCB footprint (outline) and the height for each >> component, the results would be a viable 3D skyline that would be >> workable from a CAD perspective, low maintenance, and would also give >> you an idea of the 3D system. > > This is good for most components. But some need more information to take > full advantage from 3D. The models for connectors and switches should > give the height and coordinates of the necessary holes. Components with a > heatsink should hint, where they need to be screwed. > > Why not allow three levels of detail: > > 1) No 3D info given --> Guess some decent height from the silk of the > footprint. I won't recommend that. Guessing is a bad idea because if it's wrong, bad things can happen: The PCB doesn't fit into the case.
> > 2) Height info given --> Draw a rectangular solid based on outline and > height Why not extrude the silk screen outline? That would work for many complicated parts like most heatsinks, capacitors, IC sockets. > > 3) Full 3D model present --> Add the model to the 3D representation of > the board. That's the best way -- but of course it's a lot of work to come into a position where you have all the 'standard' parts you work with all day in a perfect 3d model. Do you know Eagle3D? They produce some PovRAY files from the Eagle PCB files and render them. http://www.matwei.de/doku.php?id=en:eagle3d:eagle3d - - cl -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFKynQ7Wo2QgtqY4K8RAnIfAJ4xbexXWm6Kok71dD+0vQUJa4i/swCfXC+d E0fYg4o7dSa1oxaQq0zUQgo= =lRnh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user