antoniovazquezblanco wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 4:11 pm
1. Will assembly 3 evolve in a non-breaking and backwards compatibility manner? I don't mind having to update my models from time to time but it would be madness if I had to redo all my assemblies in a six month time because of a breaking change.
I will try my best to maintain backward compatibility.
2. Will assembly 3 evolve into a more "native" solution like the original assembly solution? I know this may not be easy to answer but from what I've read, this solution seems the most in line with the original planning. I would like to pick a 'long term oriented' solution and not have to abandon an old model or completely redo it (same complaint as in 1).
The decision of using Python to implement this assembly workbench is to test and verify that my changes to the FC core is good. So far, I myself am satisfied with the result. But there is still a risk that my changes is not accepted upstream. So maybe you can wait a bit longer. I expect to discuss again about the merging at the start of 0.19 development cycle.
3. Most of the parts we use come from KiCad directly in STEP format. Some others are provided by other manufacturers either in STEP and IGES. My workflow usually would be to create a FreeCAD document from those existing models. After that I would create a "assembly document" where I would link the other documents and assemble them. I have not yet tested this workflow in depth but I have found that I can drag and drop models from one document into another creating an external link. It seems that this link only works while both documents are open. Is there any way to overcome this limitation?
May I ask why you think it a limitation? When you use link to external document, it only stores the object placement and external file location in the assembly file. So the external file has to be opened at least once to obtain the actual model data. The reason the file is kept open because the link also uses the 3D view representation from the other document. If you think that multiple document items in the tree view is annoying and confusing, the upcoming asm3 release will have a feature inherited from upstream to only show the active document in the tree view. If you are worried about excessive dependency in the external file, then there is the partial document loading feature implemented in asm3. For example, say you have a external FC file used as a component library with all types of resistor components, and you linked a few types in your PCB assembly. After you save and reopen the assembly, that library will still be opened, but only the used resistor models will be loaded. If you want to distribute you assembly, there is command (Treeview context menu
Link actions -> Import all links) to copy all external linked object and repoint the external links to the copied object, or, you can use the STEP export.
4. The model I've imported in my test is a small pcb with 30 to 40 components. When I create a link to that document from my assembly document Freecad slows down and is unable to show the linked model in the assembly document. Unfortunatelly I cannot send the file due to privacy and licensing issues. Is this a know issue or should I try to create a file that I can send to you?
Yes please. At least show me a screencast of what you did. This is mostly like a bug.