kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Clemens Koller <cko@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, Cirilo!

I am quite new to Kicad-dev, but here is my novice idea:

I would expect to have a 3D model embedded/frozen in my
"design database" at the time when I add it to my design.

The design must not change when the model changes outside
of the "design database" without my knowledge/interference.

Files outside of my design will change by definition.
I.e. some 3D models on the network get an update/rename
from the MCAD department while I am on holiday.

I can update my design in my database when I decide to do
so by 'update 3D model from file' and commit/save it
locally when I am satisfied with the new model.
Therefore, a 'show me changed 3D models' diff is needed
as well (checking the SHA1-Sum (or timestamp at the least)).

The "design database" can be simply a subdirectory in
the working directory where the 3D model copies reside.
I.e. by naming them with their SHA1-Sum.
(In the long term a real database might be useful for
performance reasons.)

That basic idea applies not only for 3D models... also
for components taken out of libraries and put into the
library-cache.

Just my five cents.

Regards,

Clemens

On 2016-01-12 02:05, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
>  I'm looking for some comments/suggestions on how to deal with 3D model
> filename resolution. My current 3D refactor branch behaves in much the
> same way as the main branch except that I can specify many model
> search paths. Issues with this scheme include:
> 
> 1. how do we deal with multiple equivalent filenames
> 
> 2. when the file's full path is not a superset of an existing search path
> how do we ensure that the stored path is a valid path on MSWin/Linux/
> OSX? 
> 
> For (1) I'm thinking we can use a scheme similar to fp-lib-table where we
> specify a 'nickname' for a base path and provide for an optional comment/
> description. The chief issue I see with this scheme is that the kicad_pcb
> file will have to contain the nickname within the model name and earlier
> versions of kicad will not be able to process project files which have the
> nickname in the model name. This may not be such a big problem as the
> user can do a string replacement to transform the names, but if data is
> being shared both ways between 2 different kicad versions then the model
> naming can be a nuisance.
> 
> For (2) I was thinking of converting the path to a path relative to the project
> directory. So "/home/user/models/a3dmodel.wrl" or "c:\models\a3dmodel.wrl"
> might become something like "../models/a3dmodel.wrl". The relative path
> will not necessarily exist on another computer but at least we don't have
> the complication of a MSWin vs UNIX file path root.
> 
> Any comments/suggestions?
> 
> - Cirilo
> 
> 
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