Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/01/05/19:06:51
On Sun, 2014-11-16 at 13:12 +0530, Shashank Chintalagiri wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've noticed the 3 view on PCB for some time now. I'm curious to know
> if/what it's used for.
It was added when I wrote the OpenGL accelerated rendering code some
years back.. the intention was to add z-depth etc., 3D model rendering
(initially thinking VRML, like KiCAD), but progress adding all that was
slower than I initially hoped :(.
The issues are mostly related to lack of file-format support for
semantic, machine "understandable" shape, layerstack information in
PCB's file format. (3D model support is hard due to the complexity of 3D
parsing data-formats)
> On PCB version 20140316, I don't see any
> Z-depth at all, ie :
> - No Z-depth at all between layers
> - No PCB thickness
> It basically looks like a printout of what is normally visible is
> rotated around. Is there some way to change the thickness/z-spacing
> values?
git clone git://repo.or.cz/geda-pcb/pcjc2.git
Probably the best branch to play with is
"step_export_on_local_customisation"
Z-depths are hard-coded, (probably 1.6mm or 2.0mm board thickness,
depending on what patches I have pushed in stgit today), but easily
edited (in the code!).
The branch above is about 70 patches ahead of git HEAD, and I'm very
slowly (multi-year project) cleaning up, re-factoring and merging down
changes into a state where they are committable.
The above branch has better 3D rendering of layers, outline support (to
be changed eventually for explicitly defined outline information, rather
than inferred from the "outline" layer), some hard-coded 3D models, and
a prototype AP214 STEP export. It is functional enough to use, but needs
work - primarily in enabling areas such as improvements to PCB's file
format to allow storing semantic shape information about the board.
> I've also been looking around to see if there are any ways to add 3d
> 'footprints' in some way. I came a across a few starts, as it were,
> but most of them seem more than a couple of years old with no
> definitive state of the project.
No.. (aside from the other answers you got here).
> Could anyone tell me what the state of being able to add 3d components
> in garden variety PCB is? Is there a relatively promising approach
> that's being looked at? I'm happy to (over time) draw the necessary 3D
> models for at-least the footprints which I use.
I'd say 3D model support was a long way off, as it isn't really a
priority for anyone developing code. I use 3D export of the bare-board
for designing systems, but I tend to STEP export my PCB, then make or
find 3D STEP models of key components and mate them up in Solidworks
etc..
I know enough about STEP AP203/214, that it might be conceivable to have
PCB export a STEP assembly (given external STEP model files), but I
_also_ know enough about STEP to know it is NOT (short term/long term)
feasible to expect we can _render_ external STEP models within PCB. One
day perhaps though.
So.. one thing this comes back to, is getting good 3D data to match up
with footprints. Probably a topic for discussion at FOSDEM.
https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/cad_3d/
https://fosdem.org/2015/schedule/event/edacore/ (may also be relevant)
(I've not actually _written_ the talk, but there is a little time yet!).
Kind regards,
--
Peter Clifton <peter DOT clifton AT clifton-electronics DOT co DOT uk>
Clifton Electronics
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