[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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