[Bf-committers] Google Summer of Code 2016 - Adding CAD functionality to Blender

João Araújo jaraujo98 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 5 11:41:31 CET 2016 

thank you very much for the feedback :) . I will try to contact Howard
Trickey and discuss the bezier curves improvements with him.

2016-03-05 4:08 GMT+00:00 Duaret Ramos Sapo <duarte_ramos at sapo.pt>:

> As an architect and a frequent Blender user doing precision modeling and
> CAD like work daily, I believe such an editor for 2D layout our paper
> space page work is a bit overkill and unnecessary in Blender.
> It is very different from what Blender currently does, won't properly
> fit in with current tools or workflow and will easily feel out of place.
> Page layout is such a complex area covering so many different subjects
> and tools that I fear it will always feel incomplete or lacking in
> features compared to established dedicated tools (like say Inkscape, or
> Scribus, or LibreOffice).
> Blender already outputs renders in the form of images or even vector
> graphics (SVG) with FreeStyle that can easily be set up as isometric
> views and then used elsewhere in a dedicated page layout software and I
> believe that is enough.
>
> I would much rather see efforts invested on areas where CAD workflow is
> actually lacking in Blender, like say precision modeling tools for
> better object snapping (more precise, more responsive, tracking points
> like midpoints, edge extension, etc.), better transforms tools (base
> points for moving, reference points for rotations, etc) CAD like tools
> like trimming and extending, offsetting, fillet, chamfering, especially
> for curve objects where such tools are severely lacking.
>
> This item in ideas page
> <
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/GoogleSummerOfCode/2016/Ideas#Improvements_for_Bezier_Curves
> >
> details some of the things that need some work at least in the area of
> bezier curves, and above all Justas Ingelevičius amazing work
> <https://developer.blender.org/T45734> in his patch in the tracker which
> is a much much needed improvement for Blender CAD-like workflow that
> needs to be made in a way that can safely be merged to trunk.
>
> On 04-03-2016 15:20, Jaume Bellet wrote:
> > I of course agree that blender is not cad tool, but imho lots of
> > cad-utilities and workflows will improve it, and i think this should be
> the
> > purpose.
> >
> > In my field of application as you said blender nowadays can be used on
> > finals steps, to get renders and visualization purposes. Could be used in
> > early steps for concepts, but lacks of tools. The whole idea should be
> the
> > availability to go from beginning to the end, and this should include the
> > availability to get drawings in a 2D space (let's say paper space), that
> > could be used to get formal drawings for production if needed, or for
> > technical documents.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2016-03-04 15:52 GMT+01:00 matmenu <matmenu at live.fr>:
> >
> >> Maybe contact Campbell, as he will work on custom editors for 2.8. But
> >> I'm not sure this is something the users and the BF wants in Blender.
> >>
> >> What would be the advantage of such an editor over the normal quad
> >> 3Dview or a normal orthogonal view? I may be wrong, but many users, even
> >> architects and engineer know that Blender isn't a CAD program. What we
> >> are looking for is not really to make a CAD program out of Blender (32
> >> bit precision will avoid it anyway), but more to make operations that
> >> are often required in the sketching (=concept phase) and rendering (=
> >> final phase) process easier. And many of those addition, like better
> >> snapping, benefit many users (people doing hard surface modelling, cars,
> >> etc...). An editor only for CAD user sounds a bit to specific?
> >>
> >> Maybe you could explain with images better what would be the benefit of
> >> such a new editor over the 3D view? If your work goes in the direction
> >> of preparing for custom editors, then I guess it would awake much more
> >> interest from users and programmers :) Your ISO parts editor could hen
> >> be an example of such a custom editor, written in python on top of your
> >> new API?
> >>
> >> On 04/03/2016 13:11, João Araújo wrote:
> >>> Your work is amazing Jaume! I guess that it kills a few points from my
> >>> initial list (assuming you are going to merge your code with the
> Blender
> >>> master).
> >>>
> >>> Still, I would like to ear some opinions on the first topic of my list
> >>> (editor that would allow the user to make ISO-compliant drawings of
> >>> individual parts), which I consider the most important. I can implement
> >> the
> >>> other points as a python add-on.
> >>>
> >>> Does anyone have some suggestion as to who I could contact personally
> >> that
> >>> could possibly be interested in being a mentor for this?
> >>>
> >>> I will avoid blenderartists for a while, at least until I have more
> solid
> >>> ideas.
> >>>
> >>> 2016-03-04 11:53 GMT+00:00 Jaume Bellet <mauge at bixo.org>:
> >>>
> >>>> https://vimeo.com/user2228784/videos
> >>>>
> >>>> Here are some videos of work done in a separate repo from bf official
> >> one.
> >>>> Work there is still in progress, not for production.
> >>>>
> >>>> I tried the snap tools to be applied on blender, but the final
> decision
> >> was
> >>>> to wait, as the code was on transform, which is a little messy, and
> >>>> affecting lots of areas, and was said to check if could be integrated
> in
> >>>> the new coming widgets.
> >>>>
> >>>> Any built-in cad features will be great ;)
> >>>>
> >>>> 2016-03-02 21:05 GMT+01:00 Daniel Salazar - patazstudio.com <
> >>>> zanqdo at gmail.com>:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Freecad could be imported in Blender as a python library. I say could
> >>>>> because there's a little problem with freecad using py2.7
> >>>>> Daniel Salazar
> >>>>> patazstudio.com
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 11:50 AM, matmenu <matmenu at live.fr> wrote:
> >>>>>> Hi João,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Good to see some interest in improving Blender's CAD capabilities
> :) I
> >>>>>> think it would be a good idea to speak about it on Blenderartists,
> >>>>>> giving some focus to avoid the Christmas list effect. From
> experience
> >>>>>> and what I read on the forums though, improving the snapping system
> >>>>>> would be very welcome.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> For dimensioning, there are already many addons, 2 of them are
> really
> >>>>>> good:
> >>>>>>
> >>
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Curve/Dimension
> >>>>>> and
> >>>>>>
> >>
> https://www.blender3darchitect.com/2012/10/dimension-lines-for-blender-with-the-caliper-add-on/
> >>>>>> and https://github.com/Antonioya/blender/tree/master/measureit.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I find it interesting to have some work done in Python in this GSoC
> as
> >>>>>> it will ensure users are able to use it in the end :)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Regards
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 02/03/2016 13:17, João Araújo wrote:
> >>>>>>> Good afternoon,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I am a college student who has known Blender for a few years now,
> and
> >>>>> would
> >>>>>>> like to contribute in GSoC 2016 by adding CAD functionality. I
> would
> >>>>> like
> >>>>>>> to ear your thoughts on my project idea.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I have been checking on what has been done to implement CAD in
> >>>> Blender.
> >>>>> I
> >>>>>>> didn't find almost any software. Mostly there were forum
> discussions
> >>>>> about
> >>>>>>> how great it would be if Blender could have CAD features, while
> >> others
> >>>>>>> stated that it would be impractical.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The only actual add-on I found was this one
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> http://www.cad4arch.com/cadtools/index.htm
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> but although it is still being developed, it is paid and only works
> >>>> with
> >>>>>>> Blender 2.49b. The author states an intention of embedding it into
> >>>>> Blender,
> >>>>>>> though.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> >From what I read, and based on my experience working with CAD
> >>>>> packages, I
> >>>>>>> compiled a list of targets for what I would propose myself to
> achieve
> >>>>>>> during GSoC:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> ordered from most important to less important
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>      - Add a new editor that would allow the user to make
> >> ISO-compliant
> >>>>>>> drawings of individual parts.
> >>>>>>>          - This requires, from the top of my head, the ability of
> >>>> drawing
> >>>>> the
> >>>>>>> 6 isometric views, at a standard scale, on standard sized paper
> (A4,
> >>>> A3,
> >>>>>>> etc.), adding dimensions (lengths and angles), centerlines, axes,
> >>>> being
> >>>>>>> able to do section views (with crosshatch drawing) and detail
> views.
> >>>>>>>      - Add sketch tools (the ability to draw lines, circles,
> >> rectangles,
> >>>>> etc.
> >>>>>>> ; this serves the purpose of increasing the precision of drawing
> with
> >>>>>>> Blender)
> >>>>>>>      - Add reference geometry (reference planes and axes)
> >>>>>>>      - Add a dimensioning tool (something that allows the user to
> edit
> >>>> the
> >>>>>>> dimensions a posteriori the sketch being created)
> >>>>>>>      - Modify the array modifier in order to allow explicit
> circular
> >>>>> arrays
> >>>>>>>           - This can already be achieved using a trick with
> empties,
> >>>> but I
> >>>>>>> would like to clarify this workflow and simplify it (for example,
> >>>>> instead
> >>>>>>> of the user rotating the empty by 360/n degrees, where n is the
> >> number
> >>>>> of
> >>>>>>> objects, he would simply select n and the modifier would take care
> of
> >>>>> the
> >>>>>>> rest)
> >>>>>>>      - Add a fillet tool (a very simple addition; can be done with
> >>>> vertex
> >>>>>>> groups and the bevel modifier currently; once again I simply want
> to
> >>>>>>> simplify it)
> >>>>>>>      - Add a precise offset tool (currently, I can simply extrude
> and
> >>>>> scale ;
> >>>>>>> I want to make this work with the dimensioning tool mentioned
> above)
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I believe these are all feasible by me, with the first one being
> the
> >>>>> most
> >>>>>>> complex and one of the few requiring C programming. The others
> could
> >>>> be
> >>>>>>> implemented as a Python Add-On.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Best regards,
> >>>>>>> Joao
> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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