Path Section of the Wiki - A call to arms.

[sliptonic]

Everyone,
The 0.17 release is coming at us like a freight train and the Path section of the wiki is in sorry shape. We need help. I'm speaking mostly to the power users here but everyone should take notice. If FreeCAD gets a lot of attention with this release, we could find ourselves flooded with new users confused by the (lack of) documentation. That's going to mean lots of forum posts to answer.

As a strategy for tackling this, mlampert had a good idea and I agree completely:

1) forget about trying to maintain any documentation on the wiki for versions prior to 0.17.
2) update each page to reflect the current state of Path
3) If it doesn't apply to 0.17, update the page or delete it entirely.

Discussion of specific content changes to the Path section should probably take place in the Wiki subsection of the forum so I'll start a thread there.

If you're a user of Path now, you're officially a 'Power User' . If you've posted to the forum and gotten (or given) an answer, you're an expert. We need you.

BTW, I have a ton of ideas for features I'd like to work on. That's all now on hold until the wiki is in shape.

edit: Content Discussion Thread

[mlampert]

+1

Obviously I agree with and want to echo everything sliptonic said. The wiki needs to reflect what's about to become GA - we can't afford misleading information.

[chrisb]

I will start with some Path documentation tonight. The basic idea is to give a quick walk through with a simple to-be-milled-object where PathContour and PathPocket are used. Along that walk through there will be linked pages with the details of Job, Tooltable, ...
A detailed description of the Path Operations will follow.

Any objections? Further Ideas?

This structure has the well known wiki advantage that it does not have to be a one man show as soon as the main page is designed. So please don't lean back, join the show.

I hate to make errors in the documentation albeit only a missing "," so I absolutely need a native english speaking proof reader!

[dubstar-04]

Would it be useful if I did something about the tooling?

[chrisb]

Would it be useful if I did something about the tooling?

Yes, of course!

[herbk]

Like said elsewhere, i jump in here to, but i need the rights for the Wiki page first (a mail to wmayer is out for it).

[chrisb]

Like said elsewhere, i jump in here to, but i need the rights for the Wiki page first (a mail to wmayer is out for it).

Great, but it's not wmayer, it is a PM to yorik and jmaustpc and NormandC, see https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6830

[EdgarRobles]

im almost newbie in python scripting so i'm not consider as a expert the only way a can help is with wiki spanish translation
...sending PM .

[JoshM]

I will start with some Path documentation tonight. The basic idea is to give a quick walk through with a simple to-be-milled-object where PathContour and PathPocket are used. Along that walk through there will be linked pages with the details of Job, Tooltable, ...
A detailed description of the Path Operations will follow.

Any objections? Further Ideas?

This structure has the well known wiki advantage that it does not have to be a one man show as soon as the main page is designed. So please don't lean back, join the show.

I hate to make errors in the documentation albeit only a missing "," so I absolutely need a native english speaking proof reader!

I like proof reading if I can be of assistance to you Chrisb.

I am of the opinion that FC-Path users are likely Hobbyist/Small-Scale business. I could be wrong, but in its existing state, it seems unlikely to be used for large scale manufacturing. I know for myself, and from observing questions here, that in many cases, the partitioning of the overall system is often not understood. I think it might be beneficial to generate a graph--much like the Dependency-Graph does for FC generally--that shows the relationships between: CAD/CAM/Post-Processing/and CNC-Controller. I know that setups vary, but I think that for many, having a graphical depiction of the relationships between various elements would help. For example, it's often unclear to new users what issues creep into Path-WB from 3D CAD (FC or imported). Similarly, they will often not understand the distinctions between what FC-Path-WB is doing with it's limited GCode-Dialect, versus what is happening in the Post-Processor. They may not understand the job of the Post-Processor. Also, within Path-WB, there are relationships between the Setup-Spreadsheet and the Tool-Controllers, and the Operations. This is something I would be happy to start work on if others agree that it might be valuable to understand the work-flow and setup of their Jobs...

Just a couple of thoughts,
-j