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Re: What is the purpose of multiple 3D models?

 

Jeff, do you mean transistor+heatsink or .wrl & .step?

For transistor+heatsink I just add both models to the 3D shape names list.

For .wrl and .step the models must be checked individually, because if both models are in the list, they get overlapped and I don't know which one is being selected. In fact, I believe both are selected and I see "only one" because they are identical.
I got my models with the freecad kicad-stepup export tool.

Regards,
Pedro.

El 31/03/18 a las 13:54, Jeff Young escribió:
@Pedro, how do you check the two different models?  (Currently there’s a
bug where the preview chooses what model to render irrespective of which
is selected in the models list.  I’ve fixed that bug in 6.0, but it was
one of the things that made me think perhaps I didn’t understand how
this feature was used.)

On 31 Mar 2018, at 11:18, Pedro Martin <pkicad@xxxxxxxx
<mailto:pkicad@xxxxxxxx>> wrote:

Jeff,
From a user point of view, sometimes I add 2 different models to the
same footprint: a power transistor and its heatsink, a male pinheader
and its female matching connector. Just to check they won't "crash"
with other components when connected.

And I also keep the .wrl and .step models for each footprint.

Cheers,
Pedro.

El 31/03/18 a las 01:11, Jeff Young escribi�:
Yikes.  That�s probably beyond a couple of help strings in the UI.
Perhaps I�ll just de-emphasize the multiple-models part of it for users
who don�t need this.

Thanks for the explanation.

Cheers,
Jeff.


On 30 Mar 2018, at 23:13, Nick �stergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

Den l�r. 31. mar. 2018 00.02 skrev Jeff Young <jeff@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:jeff@xxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:jeff@xxxxxxxxx>>:

   A footprint can have several 3D models associated with it
   (confusingly named 3D Shape Names in the dialog, but never mind
that).

   What is the purpose of this?

   Is it so that library devs can add different formats and the
   renderer will choose the first it has a plugin for?


No

   If so, we need to say that in the UI.  Right now if you add two
   models, selecting between them has no effect.  (That makes sense
   if the above is true and you as a user have figured that out, but
   is confusing as all heck otherwise.)

   But that also means you might want to order them (so that a
   preferred one will be selected over a fall-back if both plugins
   are available), no?

   Or is it for some other reason entirely?


Sometimes you would like to add myltiple models to a footprint.

There is a subtle but important feature. It will render a wrl model
over a step file, because users with wrl models use them for more
control over surface properties, but will still be able to export a
step assembly if the model exists with the same name as the wrl, but
just with the stp extension. See Maurices freecad script tool.

On that, I don't really think we need to do much in the GUI other that
what is done now.

One feature that is a bit wonky is the preview when browsing for a
model. It is not a standard opem file dialog because it was not
possible to add the preview pane in wx on all platforms to the native
file selector. It was decided to have the one we have now for cross
platform consistency.


   Thanks,
   Jeff.
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