kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Maciej Suminski <maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx>]

On 11/06/2017 11:43 PM, Oliver Walters wrote:
> Orson,
> 
> That's a good idea, and I am actively investigating that. Check out
> https://kicad.github.io - currently only symbols and footprints are there
> but models are on their way. The scripts that generate that data use a very
> heavy 7z compression.

Great, just by browsing the site I got the impression the idea is worth
pursuing.

> However, is this a reason to *not* add the array functionality provided in
> this patch? I still think it is a useful feature.

I do not have a strong opinion here. If it has not been developed yet, I
would advise to implement a decompressing plugin (a wrapper around
another plugin to make it universal?) as it helps for the general case,
not only for models that can be divided into arrays.

Looking at the patches, there is a lot of new code that may need to be
maintained in the future in exchange for hard to estimate gain. On the
other hand, it would be a pity to drop the code clean-up and bug fixes
you mentioned.

Cheers,
Orson

> On Tue, Nov 7, 2017 at 9:40 AM, Maciej Suminski <maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Oliver,
>>
>> What do you think about providing the models as compressed files? As any
>> text format, one can expect quite high compression ratio. Perhaps that
>> would be sufficient to solve the huge libraries problem.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Orson
>>
>> On 11/06/2017 03:01 PM, Oliver Walters wrote:
>>> To provide an option to reduce the size of the 3D model library, I have
>>> implemented an "array" feature for 3D models. A module (footprint) can
>>> reference a single model multiple times, with a dimensional offset
>> between
>>> each copy.
>>>
>>> (Note - just the PinHeader models are currently over 1GB! This feature
>> lets
>>> you use a single 3D model for all pin headers or similar repetitive
>>> footprints within a certain series).
>>>
>>> Features:
>>>
>>> 1. Specify repeat count and repeat step in x/y/z axes
>>> 2. Save / load implemented. (If no repeat option used, no extra output is
>>> generated - old files are not touched)
>>> 3. Render in 3D viewer
>>> 4. Render in raytracing viewer
>>> 5. Export to VRML (multiple references to single file)
>>> 6. Export to STEP
>>>
>>> Notes:
>>>
>>> a. An exported STEP file will now be (possibly) much smaller as it
>>> references a single small object multiple times
>>> b. There were a couple of bugs I found where model offset units were
>>> incorrectly translated between INCHES and MM
>>>
>>> A couple of screenshots:
>>>
>>> https://imgur.com/a/EOwPh
>>>
>>>
>>> Testing:
>>>
>>> Wayne verified that the file units for 3D model data are in mm - I
>> *think*
>>> this means that there was previously a bug regarding 3D model offset,
>> where
>>> the scaling factor in the file was interpreted as inches when exporting
>>> (e.g. to STEP)
>>>
>>> I believe I have fixed this bug - confirmation would be great.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Oliver
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>>
>