[cad-linux] Re: Base file format for our efforts...
- From: "Andrew Lowe" <agl@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: cad-linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 12:31:32 +1100
More thoughts further down
On 14 Jan 2003 at 11:33, john kosty wrote:
>
> To all,
>
> From the input that I've read so far today and
> yesterday, it appears that Andrew is the most
> experienced programmer posting feedback. Still, I
> hope that Kim L. is on the right track: wrapping or
> adapting a familiar GUI around our best hope. To take
> that a step further, I pose this question: What if we
> wrap this GUI around a familiar FILE FORMAT?
>
> In my mind -- as an INexperienced programmer but with
> much experience trying to extract info from
> proprietary files -- this would make a good
> foundation.
Having written a lot of file translation software, I agree
>
> Objects would be natively [spelling?] web-enabled. No
<RANT>
What the $%^&$#$%^& is "web enabled". I see this term
bandied about all over the place and I have NFI what it means. In the
context that it is mentioned here, what is the difference between
"web enabled" and a dwg or dgn file sitting in a password protected
ftp site?
</RANT>
> screwing around with exporting -- if a client or
> consultant needs what you have right this second, he
> may log into your file through a [hopefully]
> secure-server/VPN.
>
> Working with an open, accessible, standard format
> would generate a larger pool of talent -- both
> volunteers and users.
>
> It's comforting to be able to open up your file with a
> simple text editor. Not just when things go wrong,
> but to be able to extact embedded info with all sort
> of database tools. Hence, hopefully, your vector
> model just became a GIS system as well: finite
> element analysis; Bills of Materials [BOM's]; etc.
>
The obvious way to go at the moment is some form of XML.
This is text based and we can define our own schema, although I
think there are already one or two schema's being developed at the
moment that are aimed at the CAD market - I will look through my
bookmarks. In terms of the one file being all things, have a look at
cimsteel, www.cis2.org. This is a thing in the structural steel industry
where the one file can be used by a wide variety of packages,
modelling, analysis, detailing, costing. It is done in the EXPRESS
language and is working its way towards a STEP format.
> The obvious downsides might be:
>
> VRML files get big and sluggish rather quickly -- so
> I've read.
VRML is in no way a suitable file format for a CAD system. It also
has the reputation for being a kludge that was thrown together using
some relatively old technology at the time. In terms of display of
structures, and by structures I mean buildings, cars, landscapes,
people and list goes on, etc over the web it is fine but not as the
"base" file format.
>
> OpenGL and X3D are big with game designers and more
> than a few CAD/CAM outfits. There must be a reason
> for this. Are they that superior? The reading I've
> done says they are but we're talking about
> constructing useful elements as opposed to speedy
> rendering. I don't mind taking my base model(s) into
> a renderer for creating walk-throughs. What I really
> want is a universal format for the design process.
This is a mistake that a lot of people make, OpenGL is in no way a
file format, it is a set of function calls that you use whilst
programming to control a graphics card, draw a line from (a, b) to (x,
y), fill a region with a certain colour, swap buffers, do fog etc. When
you write a game, you use what is generally known as a loader to
load a file, such as a Blender/DXF/Studio Max/DGN/etc/etc/etc ,
which the loader then translates into data structures and display lists
that the app can then manipulate using its own functionality and that
of OpenGL. Basically OpenGL is for actual display of data, not the
storage of that data. I'm assuming X3D is the same thing as
DirectX3D. If so, then the same things hold true, DirectX3D is M$'s
attempt to kill off OpenGL and keep people chained to Windows. It is
IN NO WAY cross platform.
>
> Please let me know what you think. Thanks,
Some form of XML. See what "the big boys" are doing as we
will never be able to sway industry like they can, and then use that
format.
>
> John K.
>
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