Hi Peter and all, > -----Original Message----- > From: geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org > [mailto:geda-user-boun...@moria.seul.org] On Behalf Of Peter Clifton > Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 3:37 AM > To: geda-user > Subject: gEDA-user: PCB+GL+3D Packages?? > > An actual rendering from PCB+GL with some code I've been > playing with... > > http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~pcjc2/geda/pcb+gl_3d/pcb+gl_3d_pack ages_mockup.png > > > Not currently pushed to any repository, this hard-codes a > search for ACY400 footprints (as used on this board), and > renders a 3D model for each resistor. (The 3D model is > defined in C code, not a generic format at the moment). > > I have been playing with 1D texturing to put stripes on the > resistors - albeit not actually with the correct value at > this stage.. but it IS possible ;) > > > Questions: > > 1. Does anyone care about seeing this land in PCB? > 2. Will anyone bother to make 3D models for packages? > 3. What format would people like to make models in? > > I'm thinking VRML (perhaps as output by Wings32) might be a > good choice, as I believe this is what KiCad uses. > > -- > Peter Clifton > > Electrical Engineering Division, > Engineering Department, > University of Cambridge, > 9, JJ Thomson Avenue, > Cambridge > CB3 0FA > > Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!) > Tel: +44 (0)1223 748328 - (Shared lab phone, ask for me) > > >
The screenshot looks nice ;-) Some questions come to mind: 1) Are the resistors modelled with 3D- primitives like spheres/cylinders, or are they modelled with 3D-faces ? 2) Are "we" (the pcb-devs) going to teach pcb to do the modelling, or do we just export the information for creating 3D-views to a separate utility/application ? I'm testing the feasibility of coding/using an OpenSCAD exporter for the above purpose, this looks promising, but at this moment I can give no 100 % guarantee of this becoming a viable solution. However, OpenSCAD seems to have some (user) momentum in the MakerBot & Thingieverse culture, and the OpenSCAD code resembles to be a small subset of the C programming language. At least one nifty thing OpenSCAD can do is extrude a geometry defined in a 2D DXF-file (made with QCAD for instance), this would allow for arbitrary shaped boards. I don't know weather OpenSCAD --> stl file --> G-code is a desirable work flow to get G-code files for a plastruder to create a 3D-mock-up of a "non-electrically working" pcb with components (plastruders by definition extrude (possibly non-conductive) plastics). OTOH, there is Blender, BRL-CAD, HeeksCAD to name a few. 3) I there any insight where to place the bet for our pcb monies (and coding time) ? Kind regards, Bert Timmerman. _______________________________________________ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user