[tuhopuu-devel] 3D digitizer support for Blender?

Campbell Barton tuhopuu-devel@blender.org
Thu, 24 Jun 2004 22:20:43 +1000


Hi, I have been interested in 3d digitizers ever since I discovered they 
existed in '95.
Would be interested in how you impliment this and your progress- Keep us 
up to date :)

- Cam


Jonathan Merritt wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I am working on a project for which I would like to add support for a 
> 3D digitizing arm to tuhopuu.  I should probably first explain what 
> these wonderful little gizmos are, since many people will probably not 
> have been lucky enough to have had the chance to play with one...  
> Basically, a 3D digitizing arm is a kind of input device, used almost 
> exclusively to capture points in real space for use in measurement, 
> modeling, reverse engineering, quality assurance, etc.  Faro and 
> Microscribe are the two manufacturers supported out-of-the-box by 
> Rhino3D (which is what I'm using when I'd like to be using Blender!) - 
> you can find both of them online.
>
> In my specific application, I am digitizing bones.  I would like to 
> have the ability within edit mode for a mesh to:
>    1. Move the digitizer around and view its tip position as the 
> position of the 3D cursor.
>    2. Add points when I click the digitzer's button.
> One option I would like to propose is a plugin type arrangement, where 
> different digitizer plugins can be registered with the GHOST system.  
> Different digitizers will implement a common interface that can be 
> expected to be within the capabilities of all models (eg: query of 
> probe location, registering of button events, etc.).  Ideally, the 
> plugins will be loadable at run-time, so that all of the hardware- and 
> platform-specific code required can be maintained separately from 
> Blender itself.
>
> An alternative to this (which I see as much more practical) is to add 
> support for a digitizer using a Python script.  For my own 
> application, this seems the easier option, since the necessary mesh 
> editing and 3D cursor positioning methods are already available from 
> Python.  However, I think that eventually a standard interface to a 
> digitizer from within Blender itself could be very useful.
>
> I will be proceeding with the Python script option myself, and will 
> contribute a script to add points to a mesh in edit mode using a 
> FaroArm digitizer.  I'm very interested in hearing what people think 
> of the "built-in" option though.
>
> Jonathan Merritt.
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