CAD files for the case of the Neo will be made available

Thu Jan 17 15:33:03 CET 2008

I did not follow the whole discussion but today i've read about a CAD
Software which is free for personal use and i think it is able to
read/import? Pro-E files:
http://www.medusa4.com/index.php?screen=1.3&ziel=Products-MEDUSA&land=co
m maybe someone knows more details?

Best regards

Mario

-----Original Message-----
From: community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org
[mailto:community-bounces at lists.openmoko.org] On Behalf Of Wolfgang
Spraul
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:29 PM
To: flerchjj at ieee.org
Cc: List for OpenMoko community discussion
Subject: Re: CAD files for the case of the Neo will be made available

Jeremiah -

thanks for the detailed information, it is indeed very helpful.
The file format is the last open question. We have been looking into it
the whole day.
We are concerned that we release a file that will not be really useful
for the purpose we are trying to achieve - allow for custom cases, case
addons, mods.

Our internal engineers use Pro/E Wildfire 3.0. They believe an export to
DXF would severely limit the ability to use the file in an actual custom
case project.
Of course it may be that they are just most familiar with Pro/E.
So at the moment I am leaning towards releasing the GTA01 case design in
the original Pro/E format (.asm/.prt), with zero loss in fidelity. That
would also make it easier for us in the future to release more such
data, because our engineers could make sure the files we are releasing
are really high quality and useful data, rather than as a last step
exporting to a format they never use, and hope the exported file is
still useful.

It would probably be posted as an attachment in our wiki (about 70 MB).
If someone can do a conversion to a more open format as part of a real
project, and thus keep the quality/usability of the file intact, that
would be great!
What do you think?

Regards,
Wolfgang

On Jan 17, 2008, at 1:57 PM, Jeremiah Flerchinger wrote:

	Wolfgang Spraul wrote: 

		Jeremiah - 
		thanks for the information, that is indeed very helpful.
		Your list includes DXF, that was the preference before.
		I am concerned that the export process will corrupt the
file and we release a file that will be painful to actually use.

		From the formats you listed (Wavefront, DXF, STL), which
is your preference?
		Which one do you believe is a format where Pro/E can
export all information into, without loosing much?

	I'm not very familiar with internal structure/format of DXF
files, but have written software that uses STL and Wavefront files.
I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

	The most information would be lost with STL files.  DXF files
would likely loose the least information and Wavefront would be
somewhere between.  This is dependent on how good the converters in ProE
are.  Often only the most basic features of the Wavefront format are
implemented in applications and a surface description equal to or only
slightly better than a STL file is achieved.  This could also apply to
DXF files, depending on the quality of the converter and the app that
reads them in, but I bet the converter in ProE is pretty good.

	One issue is there are many versions of the DXF file format.  A
quick search shows Blender supports a subset of objects up to DXF
version 2007.  Art of Illusion only loads from ASCII DXF files and is
limited to vertex information.  Of course as long as the conversion is
good & loads well for a couple apps, we could do additional conversions
on our own.

	I believe an ASCII DXF format would be more accurate for most
people and lose the least amount of information in the conversion.
There may be fewer version compatibility issues with Wavefront files,
but DXF readers can also often read newer files than they were designed
for at a lower level of detail.

	Jeremiah

		Thanks,
		Wolfgang

		On Jan 17, 2008, at 10:37 AM, Jeremiah Flerchinger
wrote:

			I don't think ProE by itself is suitable,
especially since you need a copy of ProE even to import it to BRLCAD.  I
myself would suggest Wavefront (.obj), ASCII DXF (.dxf), or STL (.stl)
file.  All are standard formats & should be in ProE and any other 3D
editor.

			Instructions for converting from ProE to STL are
as follows:

			ProE

			    * File > Export > Model
			    * STL
			    * Set chord height to 0. The field will be
replaced by minimum acceptable value.
			    * Set Angle Control to 1
			    * OK

			ProE Wildfire

			    * File > Save a Copy > Model
			    * Change type to STL (*.stl)
			    * Set Chord Height to 0. The field will be
replaced by minimum acceptable value.
			    * Set Angle Control to 1
			    * OK

			I'm sure the process would be similar to convert
to either of the other 2 formats.

			Jeremiah Flerchinger

			Wolfgang Spraul wrote: 

				Esben - 
				Interesting. I checked on BRLCAD's
website 

				Converting Geometry Between BRL-CAD and
other Formats, Page 17 

http://ftp.brlcad.org/VolumeIV-Converting_Geometry.pdf 

				and it seems Pro/E import is actually
quite solid. However you need a seat of Pro/E to do the conversion. 
				Is releasing in Pro/E format (.prt and
.asm files) an acceptable way? 
				Wolfgang 

				On Jan 17, 2008, at 2:36 AM, Esben Stien
wrote: 

					Wolfgang Spraul
<wolfgang at openmoko.com> <mailto:wolfgang at openmoko.com>  writes: 

						Regarding the format,
the original is in Pro/Engineer Assembly 
						(.asm) and Part (.prt)
files. That's probably hard to digest for any 
						FOSS CAD software. 

					BRLCAD[0] has preliminary
support for this format. 

					[0]http://brlcad.org/ 

					-- 
					Esben Stien is b0ef at e     s
a 
					        http://www. s     t    n
m 
					         irc://irc.  b  -  i  .
e/%23contact 
					          sip:b0ef@   e     e 
					          jid:b0ef@    n     n 

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