[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kpovmodeler-devel
Subject:    connection to autocad
From:       spooky <u15051 () gmx ! de>
Date:       2002-07-13 7:57:05
[Download RAW message or body]


Hi!

Tarax want's a connection between autocad and kpm. I think it is the best when we \
make an import filter for 3D DXF files. The 2D (vector and pixel based) import should \
be a designer, where you  can extrude your image. Good thing it would be if you can \
put some (dxf) projections form diferent views together to a 3D model. That's an \
wonderfull thing, because if you have only a 2D cad, or 2D drawings, you can \
transform  it to 3D very easy. This is very good for presentation, because an \
raytracer has more abilities to make a 'nice'  picture/animation as a CAD program. 

At this point it is good to set your imported 3D Model (e.g. a house) in a scene. But \
where should it be placed? in an empty space or on a flat plane? No, that's not very \
beautifuly, a real landscape would be fine. Somembody say's a landscape generator \
would be a waste of time at this moment. I agree in some parts. Yes terraform is \
great and it make no sense to rewrite this app, but importing and puting it in scene \
manualy is not very comfortable. 

My idea for connection to terraform: 
 1. selecting an menu entry / tool button for generating a landscape 
 2. kpm execute terraform
 3. create an landscape with terraform
 4. after saving in terraform, the pov-file could be imported by kpm's existing \
importing feature. (this is done automaticly)  5. after closing terraform kpm, the \
imported data is added to your scene.

This could be implemented as a plugin. This is not so complex, thats why it could be \
one of the first test-plugins for our not yet existing plugin api. 

Another way to import terraform data is that we make an import plugin (like the \
autocad dxf plugin) for the terraform files. That give the user the possibility to \
insert always created landscapes in his scene.

BIG PROBLEM for all this ideas - the height field. Imagine you create a beatiful \
lanscape and after importing it to kpm what did you see - the height field display as \
a box. Ok after rendering your scene you see your landscape. But how you want to \
place some plot members (e.g. house, human, animal,...) in your landscape? You see \
only a box with a water level, you are not able to locate a definite point in the \
height field (this is a general problem of the height field) I think the height field \
has to be enhanced to show a simple view of the height information. If this is done \
2D importing, landscape generation and possible other things, could be easiely made \
with some importing filters that assign pictures and some values to a height field.


But let me say a little bit about terraform. This is a gtk programm and this looks \
not so good in kde. If a landscape generation tool for kde exists in the future we \
should heavily support this.

Usability:
The usability of ALL 3D modelers is often bad, because the production of a 3D scene \
is very complex. The most people I know tryied to make scenes with all kind of \
software. But without the help of persons how learned this they couldn't do so much. \
I think kpm should go another way. Ok the app has to be complex (because there so \
much things yo can do), but the user could be guided by wizards. I think we could \
make a scene creation wizard. If you make a new scene you can make an empty scene \
(what we have yet) or launch the wizard. The wizard show several things (skies, \
grounds, rooms,...) and after making your choice the wizard creates your environment. \
That speed up the creation process a lot , because you only have to design your \
object (e.g. a house, a car,...).  

Another thing I whish to add to the wish list are groups in the object tree. At the \
moment I have to much objects in my scene. I wish to group some objects. I didn't \
want a group that have an effect on rendering. In pov-ray you can do this via include \
files.  An example:
I create a toilete. this object has a lot of primitves, object links, csg's,... I \
know this could grouped with a csg, but it is not possible to add object definitions \
to a csg. An this make no sense because it has an effect on the render output. 
Hope you understand this :-)

Have a nice day.

Kevin

List archive and information: http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kpovmodeler-devel


[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]