arch equipment changes

A forum dedicated to the Draft, Arch and BIM workbenches development.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
Post Reply
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

arch equipment changes

Post by yorik »

I made a change to Arch Equipment objects in git commit 715fa81fe, I believe they will now work much better.

Before, Arch equipments could be based on a Part or Mesh object, and if based on a mesh, 3 flat shape views of them could be generated, to be used when projecting plan and section views of that equipment in Drawing or TechDraw. No need to say, this never worked well. Only shape-based ones ever worked correctly.

So now it works like this: Arch Equipments are Part objects, only. They have a shape, like any other, and therefore can be used with any other tool that takes shapes.

But they have a "Mesh" property, which is a PropertyLink, and can link to a Mesh object. They have also a new "Mesh" display mode. When the "Mesh" property is set, switching to the "Mesh" display mode will simply switch the 3D display of the equipment from its shape to the mesh. Magic!

In the picture below, the three objects are the same equipment object cloned two times, some have their display mode as Flat Lines, some as Mesh.

Image

This is only visual, though, internally the object is still a Part object with a shape. Only the coin3D representation changes.

To "calibrate" things, you must place the mesh object at the correct location regarding the base shape that you used to construct the equipment. After that, you can forget about it, move your equipment around, even clone it, the mesh representation will stick to the shape, simply like if it was a hi-resolution version, or as if the shape was a kind of proxy.

When using the Arch OBJ exporter, all equipments whose display mode is set to Mesh, will be exported as the mesh and not as the shape.
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53930
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by chrisb »

It doesn't really look like clones to me, did you really load the correct picture?
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by yorik »

They don't look like, indeed, that's the whole point :)
User avatar
microelly2
Veteran
Posts: 4688
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 4:06 pm
Contact:

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by microelly2 »

yorik wrote:
But they have a "Mesh" property, which is a PropertyLink, and can link to a Mesh object. They have also a new "Mesh" display mode. When the "Mesh" property is set, switching to the "Mesh" display mode will simply switch the 3D display of the equipment from its shape to the mesh. Magic!

When using the Arch OBJ exporter, all equipments whose display mode is set to Mesh, will be exported as the mesh and not as the shape.
Very interesting. these are exactly some questions on top of my task list.
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by yorik »

microelly2 wrote: Very interesting. these are exactly some questions on top of my task list.
I did it a very simple way, copying the rootNode of the mesh object, and adding it as a new DisplayMode. FreeCAD takes care itself of translating/rotating it according to the placement, so that's basically all that needs to be done.
paullee
Veteran
Posts: 5098
Joined: Wed May 04, 2016 3:58 pm

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by paullee »

Hi, some ideas learnt somewhere:-

1. Could it includes some 2D wire shapes to be shown in plan, section, elevation if an object is view at x, y, z direction (local coordinates?)
2. If the above works, could some kinds of 2D shapes be used as symbol for objects that conventionally be shown / may be difficult be shown e.g. door swing, hinge direction of door and window, light switches on plan, sockets etc.


Hopes it is useful
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: arch equipment changes

Post by yorik »

paullee wrote:Hi, some ideas learnt somewhere:-

1. Could it includes some 2D wire shapes to be shown in plan, section, elevation if an object is view at x, y, z direction (local coordinates?)
2. If the above works, could some kinds of 2D shapes be used as symbol for objects that conventionally be shown / may be difficult be shown e.g. door swing, hinge direction of door and window, light switches on plan, sockets etc.
This is what revit and archicad do, I was pretty much against it in the past (seemed silly to me, to manually add 2D stuff on top of a 3D object, the 2D image should be auto-generated), but in fact as you say in many cases you need 2D symbology that is not a representation of the object itself.

I added this to doors and windows a couple of weeks ago, but indeed it should be made available to all Arch objects, same as this "hi-res" system.
Post Reply