[Bf-funboard] Blender CAD?

Campbell Barton cbarton at metavr.com
Thu Jun 21 11:54:40 CEST 2007


Roger wrote:
> Early Ehlinger wrote:
>> I'm always amazed at how this group can turn such poorly constructed
>> criticism into positive feedback.  Kudos!
> 
> The trick is to take nothing as criticism but rather as cries for help.
> There is a hunger, nay a thirst,  for a decent CAD package
> No one disputes Blender's capability and progress and I personally believe that
> Blender can and likely will be all things to all CAD people.
> 
> The only sticking point is the time our software engineers  have to put it all
> together. But look at where Blender has come from and is now over a few years of
> dedication.
> What a delight it would be to be able to switch between engineering CAD and
> Artistry animation CAD in the same software.
> 
> Thanks
> Roger

Hey, I cant really devote any time to more projects but here are some 
thoughts on the matter.

- We need more specific requests with implementations from somebody who 
understands how blender works (an advanced user or dev) OR have a user 
discuss with developer(r).

- Write up a list of features with basic implementation details (wiki 
would work for this, if you dont have access - post here and somebody 
else can add to the wiki).

- Prioritize the list.

- Write 4-6 of these higher priority features that are not too much work.

- Release (graphicall?) post builds here and discuss on bf-commiters.

- Make a branch and include these patches (I think we need some evidence 
of real work before we have a new branch)

- Review new features after some development for inclusion in blender & 
continue development.

___________________________________

I list of features could look like this.

* dimensioning - This could be a linked list of dimensions attached to 
each object- the dimensions could simply index 2 verts, and store some 
settings (text size, units... etc)

* extrude modifier - very easy to do, Iv written a lathe modifier that 
could be simplified to extrude.

* basic support for metric units - add 2 functions - bu_from_units, 
bu_to_units - would convert 4.0mm or 0.3km to BU and back - With a scene 
option "1 BU is 1mm|1m|1km"... etc

* Curve line color and width display. possibly dashed line as well.

* Improve tools for working with curves - nice curve drawing modes 
constrained to set axises perhaps ....



(of course suggest your own, I dont do cad work so it may be missing 
stuff...)
Anyone want to put some time into this?



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