Comments on: Call for participation: Free CAD project http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/ Me, myself and I Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:43:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: piotrzurek.net » Blog Archive » All sorts of things… http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-516 piotrzurek.net » Blog Archive » All sorts of things… Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:25:21 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-516 [...] something that, because of my job, interest and education, I really care about. That topic appears here and there (and even here - btw, some really stupid comments here) from time to time and the [...] [...] something that, because of my job, interest and education, I really care about. That topic appears here and there (and even here – btw, some really stupid comments here) from time to time and the [...]

]]> By: Opoho http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-515 Opoho Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:37:27 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-515 Maybe should you take a look at OpenCascade : www.opencascade.org . It's released with a LGPL-like license. Maybe should you take a look at OpenCascade : http://www.opencascade.org . It’s released with a LGPL-like license.

]]> By: magicfab http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-514 magicfab Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:19:43 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-514 There is a wiki site now: http://cad-libre.wikispaces.com/ There is a wiki site now:
http://cad-libre.wikispaces.com/

]]> By: Jason Crow http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-513 Jason Crow Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:38:45 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-513 I am in the civil engineering field in Illinois. While I do not do much CAD work - I deal mostly with PDF's of plan sheets, everything in in microstation format and the industry has moved away from Autocad. is there any talk of being able to work with DGN files? I am in the civil engineering field in Illinois. While I do not do much CAD work – I deal mostly with PDF’s of plan sheets, everything in in microstation format and the industry has moved away from Autocad. is there any talk of being able to work with DGN files?

]]> By: Phil Thane http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-512 Phil Thane Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:22:16 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-512 We desperately need a simple 3D CAD package for education. In the UK at least Design & Technology departments, which don't seem to exist in many other countries, are the heaviest users of IT, and they mostly use it for CAD and CAM. It's hard enough pushing OpenOffice, Gimp, Inkscape etc, but once you admit there is no decent free 3D CAD (and no support for CAM machinery) you've lost the argument. If the BRL-CAD kernel is good enough then PLEASE will someone build a decent GUI for it? For personal use I've invested in VariCAD, it's simpler than most but good enough for school work I prepare for my students and not too hard to learn. Runs on Linux/OSX/Windows. Would be ideal for Edubuntu, anyone like to persuade Mark Shuttleworth to buy the company and open source it? We desperately need a simple 3D CAD package for education. In the UK at least Design & Technology departments, which don’t seem to exist in many other countries, are the heaviest users of IT, and they mostly use it for CAD and CAM. It’s hard enough pushing OpenOffice, Gimp, Inkscape etc, but once you admit there is no decent free 3D CAD (and no support for CAM machinery) you’ve lost the argument.

If the BRL-CAD kernel is good enough then PLEASE will someone build a decent GUI for it?

For personal use I’ve invested in VariCAD, it’s simpler than most but good enough for school work I prepare for my students and not too hard to learn. Runs on Linux/OSX/Windows. Would be ideal for Edubuntu, anyone like to persuade Mark Shuttleworth to buy the company and open source it?

]]> By: Piotr http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-511 Piotr Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:34:45 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-511 Ken: Exactly, that's what I forgot about. BRL-CAD seems like a good starting point. It has an awful interface but screenshots of results prodcued with it look very good. Fabián: Every 3D CAD package has a modelliing engine (what I called 3D kernel). Probably the best known examples are ACIS and Parasolid. They work as environments in which all objects are modelled, stored modified and so on. The better that engine is the faster and more accurate software you can build on top of it. Good 3D kernel also allows you to display your objects in different modes like wireframe, hidden lines, shaded and so forth. I'm not an expert in programming matters here. I haven't really done any programming in CAD - I just work in that industry my whole professional life, designing, supporting and documenting the software. Ken: Exactly, that’s what I forgot about. BRL-CAD seems like a good starting point. It has an awful interface but screenshots of results prodcued with it look very good.

Fabián: Every 3D CAD package has a modelliing engine (what I called 3D kernel). Probably the best known examples are ACIS and Parasolid. They work as environments in which all objects are modelled, stored modified and so on. The better that engine is the faster and more accurate software you can build on top of it. Good 3D kernel also allows you to display your objects in different modes like wireframe, hidden lines, shaded and so forth.
I’m not an expert in programming matters here. I haven’t really done any programming in CAD – I just work in that industry my whole professional life, designing, supporting and documenting the software.

]]> By: magicfab http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-510 magicfab Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:17:46 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-510 Thanks for the corrections. Do you think compiz-fusion changes in any way the possibilities for this kind of apps ? I am not sure what you mean by a 3d kernel... specific optimization for 3d ? How is this different from compiz-fusion ? Thanks for the corrections. Do you think compiz-fusion changes in any way the possibilities for this kind of apps ? I am not sure what you mean by a 3d kernel… specific optimization for 3d ? How is this different from compiz-fusion ?

]]> By: Ken Howe http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-509 Ken Howe Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:17:41 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-509 http://brlcad.org/ BRL-CAD is a 3d modeling cad package that is open source. http://sourceforge.net/projects/brlcad/ has a lot of import/export capability. http://brlcad.org/

BRL-CAD is a 3d modeling cad package that is open source.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/brlcad/

has a lot of import/export capability.

]]> By: Piotr http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-508 Piotr Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:12:06 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-508 Fabián: Just a quick correction: Open Design Alliance has reverse engineered DWG (to some degree), DXF specification is pretty much open specification. Ken & Jake: Yes, QCAD is nice and all but we shouldn't mention it as a serious replacement of AutoCAD, Inventor or any other full blown 3D system. 2D is almost dead now and someone should finally unplug the life support for it. The first step to building a Open Source CAD system should be choosing existing or writing a new 3D kernel and then building specialised application on top of it. Anyway, I'd love to be involved in that kind of project somehow. Cheers, Piotr Fabián: Just a quick correction: Open Design Alliance has reverse engineered DWG (to some degree), DXF specification is pretty much open specification.

Ken & Jake: Yes, QCAD is nice and all but we shouldn’t mention it as a serious replacement of AutoCAD, Inventor or any other full blown 3D system. 2D is almost dead now and someone should finally unplug the life support for it.

The first step to building a Open Source CAD system should be choosing existing or writing a new 3D kernel and then building specialised application on top of it.
Anyway, I’d love to be involved in that kind of project somehow.

Cheers,
Piotr

]]> By: Jake http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/comment-page-1/#comment-507 Jake Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:44:19 +0000 http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/archives/2007/09/11/call-for-participation-free-cad-project/#comment-507 I second QCad. "sudo apt-get install qcad" and you have a nice CAD program. I second QCad. “sudo apt-get install qcad” and you have a nice CAD program.

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