kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Cirilo Bernardo <cirilo_bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Tomasz Wlostowski <tomasz.wlostowski@xxxxxxx>
> To: Cirilo Bernardo <cirilo_bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>; Ki Cad Developers <kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: 
> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 4:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [Kicad-developers] proposed changes for inclusion of other 3D models
> 
> On 01/15/2014 01:27 AM, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
>>  Hi folks,
>> 
>>  I believe we can accommodate various types of 3D models with minimal
>>  changes to the code base. Specifically, small changes to the class
>>  S3D_MASTER and the GUI for associating 3D parts. I propose that we
>>  allow the inclusion of other model types (at the moment only *.wrl
>>  and *.x3d are allowed). The 3D viewer and VRML exporter will then
>>  need minor changes so that they only process VRML and X3D files. The
>>  IDF exporter can then make use of any *.idf component footprint
>>  descriptions and in the future when we have some MCAD exporters they
>>  will be able to filter only the items they need in a similar
>>  fashion.
>> 
>>  ...
>>  Any comments / suggestions?
> 
> Hi Cirilo,
> 
> Many thanks for your efforts. I've seen many folks asking for STEP/IGES 
> support in 3D viewer (also maybe export), so some time ago I wrote a 
> STEP/IGES importer based on OpenCascade. I decided to not push it to 
> Kicad, because it would require linking pcbnew with a load of OCC libs 
> and drag in few hundred megabytes in dependencies. Maybe implementing a 
> dynamic plugin system (see Miguel's blueprint) will fix this dependency 
> 
> issue.
> 
> I attached the importer (using structures somewhat similar to the 
> pcbnew's 3D viewer) and an example app for viewing STEP files. I hope 
> this will help you with improving 3D model support in pcbnew.
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom
> 

Thanks Tom, I'll have a good look at the STEP importer. I agree that a plugin is the right thing to use, after all not everyone will want to install OCC.

- Cirilo