Hi Peter and all, On Fri, 2009-10-02 at 20:06 +0100, Peter Clifton wrote: > On Fri, 2009-10-02 at 16:38 +0000, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote: > > On Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:50:37 +0100, Peter Clifton wrote: > > > > > IMO, this is _not_ cheating, it is a standard technique. The surface of > > > a board is flat - so you render it as one quad, and texture map the > > > surface. > > > > > Any real structure you wanted to represent (board edges, vias etc..) > > > would need more complex geometry. > > > > Well, if I think of a 3D representation of a design, the pcb is just one > > part of it. Components and the enclosing need to be added to make it a > > useful tool, rather than just a fancy picture. It would allow checking > > for mechanical constraints prior to manufacture. > > > > Kicad seems to be (almost?) there: > > http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Kicad_3dviewer.jpg > > Actually, looking at the Kicad code briefly made me realise that it > isn't "that" hard to do 3D view. Basically they are just parsing VRML > models (possibly just a subset of the syntax emitted by wings3D), and > emitting GL drawing calls. > > The bits I haven't got: > > 1. VRML parser > 2. Any models! > 3. 3D Matrix setup for the GL stuff. > > > > But again, I am not advocating to go along this route. Export of 3D data > > in some format that blender and decent mechanical CAD applications can > > import, would be a better way. > > I'm not sure, but I heard VRML was actually a common interchange format. > >
AFAIK, VRML is a common file format and is human readable, that is the positive side :) VRML describes the faces of a primitive and not the primitive itself. Therefor one would need a high level modeler to maintain models of 3D electronic parts and such. With maintenance comes the need for a feature called parametrization, another hurdle on top of what could be achieved. I believe that we could use Blender (or any other modeler with a scripting language/extension) as a viewer of scripts generated by a pcb hid exporter. I have no experience with scripting or language extensions, I think I read somewhere that it's Python for Blender. Maybe this one is for a Python Guru :) I'm willing to give things a try on modeling electronics 3D-parts. Kind regards, Bert Timmerman. > > > _______________________________________________ > geda-user mailing list > geda-user@moria.seul.org > http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user