Re: gEDA-user: STEP Format? [WAS: Re: PCB+GL+3D Packages??]

[Colin D Bennett <colin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:27:45 +0000
Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Fri, 2010-11-19 at 01:29 +0100, kai-martin knaak wrote:
> > Peter Clifton wrote:
> > 
> > > stl (very nice)
> > 
> > IMHO, stl is a mesh only format. That is, everything is made of
> > triangles -- no squares, no circles, no real curvatures. There are
> > no macros, no loops, or repetitions.
> 
> That suits me just fine.. OpenGL _likes_ rendering triangles, and any
> other geometry primitives are extra work to implement ;)

But wouldn't support for higher-level shapes be superior to triangle
meshes for high-quality renderings (e.g., raytracing, etc.)?  Is the
goal for PCB 3D support intended to be primarily for high-quality
renderings or for real-time viewing of and interaction with the 3D
scene?

On the other hand, it may be that most PCB elements can be quite
accurately represented with triangle meshes, especially flat,
rectangular SMT parts.  Through-hole parts tend to have more round
shapes that would be much more expensive to accurately model with
triangle meshes: cylindrical resistors, disc-shaped ceramic capacitors,
etc.

Regards,
Colin


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