rendering are useless. you need dimension accurate step files to do any kind of mechanical work.i believe any 3d format can be made "dimension accurate". rendering is just that, rendering.
rendering is making a pretty picture. those are useless ( apart from putting them in marketing material )so you admitted its not entirely useless :P
...import 3d objects,p place them relative to footprints and export...looking at KiCAD style and trend (divide and conquer for each element) you are looking at another beast that deserves a place next to those eeschema, cvpcb and pcbnew buttons.
rendering are useless.
Even this is an old thread, and my posting would be "useless" :box:, i just wanted to show my efforts to link KiCAD to POV-Ray using some modified Eagle-3D scripts.
I have not updated for a while, but any silkscreen drawings or text you add are shown in the 3D View, not quite on topic, but something i myself only recently found out,
Very nice job! Could you giv us some extra infos?
Alexander.
### Module positions - created on 23/12/2014 06:44:23 ###
### Printed by Pcbnew version pcbnew (2013-07-07 BZR 4022)-stable
## Unit = mm, Angle = deg.
## Side : F.Cu
# Ref Val Package PosX PosY Rot Side
R24 10k 0402_HD_RES 10.2000 42.3000 180.0 F.Cu
U1 TPA3132D2 TPA3132D2 9.7000 34.9500 270.0 F.Cu
## Endobject {RES_SMD_CHIP_0402("10k",)rotate<0,180,0> translate<10.2,0,42.3> translate<0,0.035000,0>} //R24
object {IC_SMD_MLF_32_050MM("TPA3132D2")rotate<0,270,0> translate<9.7,0,34.95> translate<0,0.035000,0>} //U1box{
<0,0,0> <50,50,1.6>
texture{
pigment{
image_map{
png "D:\test_copper_red.png"
map_type 0
interpolate 2
//filter 255, 1.0
once}
scale <50,50,1>}
finish {
ambient 0.1
diffuse 0.3
specular 0.01
roughness .001
reflection {0.2, 0.1 metallic}}
}
rotate <90,0,0>
translate<0,0,0>
translate<-17.2,0,15.5>
}rendering is making a pretty picture. those are useless ( apart from putting them in marketing material )
what we need is mechabnical CAD integration: being able to export and import 3d objects,p place them relative to footprints and export the placed and routed assembly back to the mechanical CAD domain.
The prevalent format for this is either STEP or IGES format.
rendering is making a pretty picture. those are useless ( apart from putting them in marketing material )Hi, if you are interested in MCAD integration / collaboration with kicad ECAD you could find useful the script I developed to export kicad pcb and assemblies to mechanical CAD, maintaining the 3D rendering perfectly aligned to the mechanical assembly.
what we need is mechabnical CAD integration: being able to export and import 3d objects,p place them relative to footprints and export the placed and routed assembly back to the mechanical CAD domain.
The prevalent format for this is either STEP or IGES format.
@easyw Thanks a lot for your work!if you mean STEP inside kicad, it will be a quite long run to achieve...
Will STEP be too difficult to achieve?
Do the alignment tools change 3D model properties in KiCad?when you have aligned your 3D model to footprint in FreeCAD with StepUp tools, just click on the "Export STEP & VRML scaled" and you will get both STEP and VRML models to be used in kicad 3D viewer ... alignment parameters in footprint would be as in the kicadStepUp-starter-Guide file
Does anyone out there have a proven, efficient workflow, and preferably a step by step instruction set for us to do this?Hi, at the moment the only full solution for bidirectional ECAD MCAD integration is kicad StepUp
The Kicad guy has no 3D CAD experience and the IndDes no electronics design.a minimum experience in both environment is required to better understand the collaboration process
We'd love a simple path to go back in the reverse direction also if possible. SWorks components into Kicad.kicad StepUp will let you have a bidirectional ECAD MCAD collaboration... you need to use FreeCAD as a MCAD sw for an easier interchange.
First attempts have produced some massive file sizes from Kicad's output (STEP) of several GBsthat may depend on board size, number of components, size of enclosure, size of 3D MCAD models etc...
Thanks Easyw,I'm glad my kicad StepUp tools worked fine for you :)
Your instructions are crystal clear, and the first test worked perfectly.
When creating a 'pair' of library items such as a Footprint and a 3D Model, what is the industry standard in relation to the Global Reference Position - eg 0.0 for the x.y axis?have a look at here
Can is be placed almost anywhere - eg. at the middle of say Pin 1, or the Top Left corner or, is it essential to place it in the middle of the component?