[Bf-funboard] Blender CAD?

[Early Ehlinger]

I'm always amazed at how this group can turn such poorly constructed 
criticism into positive feedback.  Kudos!

The big thing that most CAD packages for architecture lack is good 
management of "page-based" communication.  The normal construction 
process involves designing something in a CAD program (typically 
AutoCAD), and then spitting out a series of printouts that the 
contractor follows to actually build the building.  The problem is that 
managing multiple pages and keeping the various drawings in synch is a 
nightmare.

I think the following features would help Blender catch up with the 
current CAD offerings:

* "page" - a mechanism for defining what part of a 3D model should 
appear on a specific page, e.g., a list of cameras to render, tables, etc.
* "scale cameras" - camera that produces a scaled drawing.  i.e., 1/12th 
scale.  Would have to be aware of the "page" object.
* "cross section camera"  - not sure exactly how to describe this other 
than to say that you would position it by defining a "slicing plane" and 
direction vector.  Would of course need to have a notion of scale as well.
* "parts" - AutoCAD has the notion of a "block" which is a sub-drawing 
that can be repeatedly inserted in an overall drawing.
* "parts list" - special object that contains a list of all instances of 
parts, perhaps including only those visible from a specific camera.
* "notation text" - text that isn't part of a model, but instead is part 
of a page.  The font size for notation text should stay constant even if 
the model's size/scale changes.
* "parametric parts" - should be fairly easy to implement if parts can 
call python and store parameters.  I.e., should be able to specify a 
door width numerically or from a pull-down menu.
* "named layers"
* "camera-specific-layer-on/off"
* "frozen layers" - take all objects in a specific layer and make them 
read-only.
* "render to pdf" - take all pages in a .blend file and construct a PDF 
document.

Just my 2 cents...

-- Early Ehlinger, President, ResPower, Inc.