kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Cirilo Bernardo <cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks - some small change will be needed to kicad2step to handle the
change in the file format from inch to mm for the model offsets.
For the wrl/step substitution there is no other work needed.

The reason the STEP exporter is separate from kicad is that not all
people need the mechanical exporter and keeping it separate allows
us to build kicad without the exporter and to install the exporter at
any time in the future without recompiling kicad. The 3D viewer
already makes use of OCE via its plugin system and the idea was
that other export/import functions should eventually use a plugin
system as well; keeping kicad2step separate makes it easier to
convert it to a plugin in the future when we have a plugin API to
support it.  I'm not too happy with OCE being in the plugin either;
some defective models can cause OCE to crash and in the case
of the plugin that means that kicad will also crash. I think the
OCE (IGES/STEP) plugin will eventually have to be written so
that the conversion happens in a separate process. In the case
of kicad2step, if OCE crashes kicad is not affected.

- Cirilo

On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 8:37 AM, Oliver Walters
<oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Cirilo, there are two changes that I am aware of:
>
> 1. The change to use mm for 3D model offset. The patch set I have submitted
> fixed this in kicad2step. I do not believe this has been merged yet - JP?
> 2. The wrl/step substitution which has already been accepted to master.
>
> As an aside, was it too difficult to integrate OCE code into KiCad? This way
> we could get better error feedback, and many other advantages that an
> external tool cannot provide. I'm sure you had your reasons though.
>
> On 9 Dec 2017 18:07, "José Ignacio" <jose.cyborg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Indeed, it is much easier to just re-parse pcb files than it is to extract
>> data using the internal APIs. The intention is for that to be temporary
>> until the internal api improves to the point where writing something
>> interfacing with it wont be a pile of workarounds for quirks and sharp
>> corners. If anything, it is a testament to the improvement the s-expr format
>> brought to kicad, being so easy to parse and work with external tools.
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 12:59 AM, Kevin Cozens <kevin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2017-12-08 04:34 PM, Cirilo Bernardo wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   I haven't had time to follow changes for quite some time but there
>>>> was some talk about making changes to the PCB file format. If the
>>>> file format changes, some changes will also have to be made to
>>>> the STEP exporter (utils/kicad2step) to handle the new format.
>>>
>>>
>>> This surprises me a little. Does that mean kicad2step is processing the
>>> saved file and not working from the data held internal to the program?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cheers!
>>>
>>> Kevin.
>>>
>>> http://www.ve3syb.ca/           |"Nerds make the shiny things that
>>> distract
>>> Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172      | the mouth-breathers, and that's why
>>> we're
>>>                                 | powerful!"
>>> #include <disclaimer/favourite> |             --Chris Hardwick
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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