kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Marcos Chaparro <nitrousnrg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Cirilo,
quick comment: a progress bar, progress %, or any kind of feedback while
performing the 3D export would come in handy. I spent some time deleting
footprints to find the problematic step file because the kicad2step process
seemed locked up, but it was only a matter of waiting some minutes. The
board had 58 step models, exported file was 4.8MB.

Great work by the way.


Marcos

On Sat, Sep 24, 2016 at 1:04 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> On 9/22/2016 10:13 PM, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 12:18 AM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx
> > <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >
> >     On 9/21/2016 9:17 PM, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
> >     > On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 10:07 AM, Wayne Stambaugh <
> stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >     >> On 9/21/2016 7:27 PM, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
> >     >>> OK, I've updated the branch with the following changes:
> >     >>>
> >     >>> 1. removed wxT() from kicad2step and dialogs. The remaining wxT()
> >     >>> instances are created by wxFormBuilder.
> >     >>>
> >     >>> 2. refined the Export STEP GUI for cases in which the exporter
> >     >>> fails (returns an error or segfaults).
> >     >>
> >     >> Thanks for the fixes.  I got everything merged on my computer at
> work so
> >     >> I'll just pick up where I left off tomorrow.
> >     >>
> >     >
> >     > No problem; thanks for testing the branch.
> >
> >     I tested this and everything looked fine.  I did notice in your last
> >     commit that you used stderr.  I'm not sure that has any meaning on
> >     windows but it didn't seem to break anything.  I committed you kicad
> >     step export branch to the product repo.  Great job.  Thanks.
> >
> >
> > The stderr was a diagnostic print that I forgot to rip out. I need to
> > make a habit
> > of checking for stderr before I commit something.
>
> No problem, send me a patch when you get a chance.
>
> >
> >
> >     I do have one comment.  The vrml exporter includes the silk screen
> and
> >     traces which results in a much more detailed board model.  It would
> be
> >     nice if step export had this as well.
> >
> >
> > From an MCAD point of view the traces etc are not nice since they bloat
> the
> > model and  make the MCAD UI painfully slow. Maybe one day people will
> want
> > more extensive information for heat flow analysis and such, but at the
> > moment
> > there's no point in guessing what data people will want.  There's a STEP
> AP
> > (310) for electronic assemblies but I'm not familiar with what it covers
> > or if
> > anyone actually uses it in production. Otherwise, for eyecandy I'd
> recommend
> > using the VRML export rather than the STEP export which is intended more
> > for professionals who need the model solely for work related to
> mechanical
> > design.
>
> I was just curious why you would export that level of detail with vrml
> and not step.  I understand the higher the level of detail, the harder
> the modeling software has to work to render it.  I've worked for several
> companies who worked with that level of detail and the cad jockeys that
> did this kind of work had ridiculously powerful computers.  I'm fine
> with the way it is because I don't need that level of detail but I can
> imagine someone asking for it.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Wayne
>
> >
> > - Cirilo
> >
> >
> >     >
> >     >>>
> >     >>> It also just occurred to me that sometimes the OCE library may
> >     >>> cause a hang. I can work on a generic dialog to launch an
> >     >>> external app which connects to the apps stdout + stderr and
> >     >>> which has a CANCEL button to kill the process - any comments?
> >     >>> Should I put such a dialog into the "common" library?
> >     >>
> >     >> I'm wondering if you could make something abstract enough to work
> in all
> >     >> the places where we run external apps.  These dialogs always seem
> pretty
> >     >> task specific like the netlist and bom dialogs?  You could try I
> guess.
> >     >>
> >     >
> >     > The best abstraction I can think of at the moment is to
> instantiate a dialog
> >     > which simply has a window showing the stderr + stdout of the
> running app
> >     > and a cancel button to kill the process if necessary. All other
> customizations
> >     > should be done in a parent window. I'll come up with something and
> apply it
> >     > to the BOM and netlist generation as well.
> >
> >     Given that we've never had any issues with the bom and netlist
> external
> >     processes, it may not be worth the effort although I'm not opposed to
> >     the idea.
> >
> >     >
> >     >>>
> >     >>> The fact that a process using OCE can hang brings up the
> >     >>> question of whether it is better to leave kicad2step as a
> >     >>> separate app or whether it is generally OK as a plugin and
> >     >>> the odd crash due to bugs in OCE and/or the STEP/IGES
> >     >>> models would be acceptable. We can stuff the plugin
> >     >>> invocations into their own thread and check for completion,
> >     >>> but unlike the case with a separate process, we cannot
> >     >>> guarantee there is no memory corruption or leakage.
> >     >>> Any thoughts?
> >     >>
> >     >> Ughh!  You're not making me feel any better about oce.  It would
> be nice
> >     >> to be able to kill a rouge process though.  Doesn't the oce
> library api
> >     >> provide some kind of error reporting capability?
> >     >>
> >     >
> >     > OCE does have an error reporting scheme but I've seen it hang
> >     > indefinitely while performing some operations such as shape healing
> >     > on defective STEP models. In other instances it eventually stops
> >     > after it has hogged the maximum memory that the system would
> >     > give it. In both cases it's not possible to get error information
> from
> >     > within OCE. Unfortunately such bad behavior is not unique to OCE;
> the
> >     > MCAD world in particular seems to be full of buggy libraries, but
> to
> >     > be fair the tasks involved are incredibly difficult and users no
> doubt
> >     > are always coming up with cases that the developers hadn't checked
> for.
> >
> >     Are we the only project that pushes these libraries that hard?  We do
> >     seem to find our fair share of library issues.
> >
> >     >
> >     >>>
> >     >>> Somewhat off-topic: grep shows me that the source code
> >     >>> and headers are full of wxT().  Since wxT() had been
> >     >>> deprecated years ago and KiCad is no longer compatible
> >     >>> with versions of wxWidgets which required wxT(), perhaps
> >     >>> we should ask devs to purge wxT() from the headers and
> >     >>> sources which they touch? I think that might also get devs
> >     >>> into the habit of not using wxT() - even I still use it without
> >     >>> realizing it - bad habits die hard. :)
> >     >>
> >     >> I caught myself using wxT() while writing the legacy schematic
> plugin
> >     >> several times.  It will take time to get used to it but we will
> get
> >     >> there.  If you happen to be working on a file, please feel free to
> >     >> remove them.  I don't think we need to do the mass purge just yet.
> >     >>
> >     >
> >     > OK; I might create some patches for the bits I'd worked on in the
> >     > past like VRML export and IDF export.
> >
> >     For small change sets (<= 5 commits), please send me patch sets using
> >     format-patch or send-email.  It's easier than me having to add
> remotes
> >     and go through the whole pull rebase cycle.
> >
> >     Cheers,
> >
> >     Wayne
> >
> >     >
> >     > - Cirilo
> >     >
> >     >>>
> >     >>> - Cirilo
> >     >>>
> >     >>> On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 3:04 AM, Wayne Stambaugh
> >     <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >     >>>> Cirilo,
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> I just tested this since you fixed the windows extension
> >     issue.  The
> >     >>>> menu item is enabled but I always get an "Unable to create step
> >     file
> >     >>>> whenever there are spaces in the file name and/or path."  You
> >     didn't by
> >     >>>> chance forget to double quote the command line string did you?
> >     If you
> >     >>>> don't, spaces in file and/or path names in command strings will
> >     fail.
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> Just a couple of quick comments nothing major.  wxT() macros
> are no
> >     >>>> longer required in wx3 so try to remember not to use it anymore
> >     since
> >     >>>> it's slated to be deprecated in the future.  It's also not
> >     necessary to
> >     >>>> convert path separators in strings when you are already using
> >     >>>> wxFileName.  You can use wxFileName::GetFullPath() which will
> >     return the
> >     >>>> native separators no matter what you feed it with.  You can
> >     also convert
> >     >>>> to the unix file separator for storage by using
> >     wxFileName::GetFullPath(
> >     >>>> wxPATH_UNIX ).  This removes the need for #ifdef WINDOWS/#endif
> >     to do
> >     >>>> the separator conversion.
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> Cheers,
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> Wayne
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> On 9/19/2016 3:53 AM, Nick Østergaard wrote:
> >     >>>>> Looks good, I will test it soon. But I noticed that it looks
> >     like you
> >     >>>>> did not use the copyright template copyright.h from the root
> >     of the source.
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>> Den 19/09/2016 09.46 skrev "Cirilo Bernardo"
> >     <cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>
> >     >>>>> <mailto:cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>>>:
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>     The kicad-step feature branch now implements a STEP
> >     Export. The menu
> >     >>>>>     item may need a new icon (I lazily reused the IDF icon).
> >     Any testing and
> >     >>>>>     comments would be appreciated. The kicad2step utility
> >     which performs
> >     >>>>>     the conversion is of course dependent on OCE and is only
> >     built when
> >     >>>>>     KICAD_USE_OCE is defined. The "Export STEP" menu item is
> >     disabled
> >     >>>>>     if the kicad2step executable is not found in the same
> >     directory as the
> >     >>>>>     pcbnew executable.
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>
> >      https://code.launchpad.net/~cirilo-bernardo/kicad/+git/
> kicad-oce/+ref/kicad-step
> >     <https://code.launchpad.net/~cirilo-bernardo/kicad/+git/
> kicad-oce/+ref/kicad-step>
> >     >>>>>
> >      <https://code.launchpad.net/~cirilo-bernardo/kicad/+git/
> kicad-oce/+ref/kicad-step
> >     <https://code.launchpad.net/~cirilo-bernardo/kicad/+git/
> kicad-oce/+ref/kicad-step>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>     - Cirilo
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>     _______________________________________________
> >     >>>>>     Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>>>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>>
> >     >>>>>     Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >     >>>>>     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
> >     >>>>>     Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>>>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>>
> >     >>>>>     More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
> >     >>>>>     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >     >>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >     >>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
> >     >>>>>
> >     >>>>
> >     >>>> _______________________________________________
> >     >>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >     >>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> >     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
> >     >>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> >     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
> >     >>
> >
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>