Another approach to assembly solver (A2plus)

[kbwbe]

@tripuls,

found some bugs in fixed them. Find attached latest version a3-0.0.1. In my test, new version could solve the problematic file. Perhaps you have to flip plane-constraint with align/opposed options.
I also deactivated the projectFolder stuff.

Hi to all others,
find here attached a new version of my "assembly2relaunched"

System requirements now:
- for fc0.16
- Win and Linux should work (Win not tested, do not have a machine, but all Linux-specific stuff is removed)

How to work with:
- Just copy extracted folder to your mod-folder
- start fc0.16
- find a3-Symbol within available workbenches
- activate a3
- do work analog to assembly2 (best test it with all your fcstd-files newly created)
- use the symbol with the two champagner-glasses to make your assembly transparent and check it always

Enjoy (I hope...)

Limitations:
- before setting of an constraint, orient the new part nearly correct for placing ( helps solver to find correct solutions)
- if constraints are not solvable, atm you will get a wrong solution without warning and undo-function. (save your file often)
- solver atm only does 3000 steps to find a solution, ignoring the reached accuracy. Hitting solve-button more than once will increase accuracy
- atm only 3 type of constraints

Future:
- adjust solver-steps to required accuracy
- give warning if not model is not solvable
- undo of the last solvingprocess
- more constraints
- move to fc0.17

thanks for downloading and testing..

kbwbe

[triplus]

If i understand you correctly you likely are interested in this area and the interest could lead to more long term development? Will you port your solver/workbench to work with Py3/Qt5? I am asking as we are trying to figure out the situation regarding Assembly 2 workbench (has no active maintainer ATM). And maybe somehow you and your solver/workbench can play a role and lead to a viable solution.

[kbwbe]

@triplus

that's correct. I intend to do some more work on this workbench. My efforts should result to a simple, easy to use assembly-workbech, based on hamish's work. I need such a workbench and want to control its stability and features for long term usage.
I also prefer a pure python standalone workbench, so that i do not to have to dive into the C++ Code of FreeCAD.

Shure i have to switch from fc0.16 to the newer ones and will try. Within some time, fc0.16 will be obsolete.

Porting the solver to Py3 should not be a very big problem. The code is not very big and simple. Most work is to get solver running at all.
Qt5 is more difficult to me. Until now i did no project with PyQt anyway.
Perhaps i need some help. Up to this point i only analysed Hamish's code to reach this state of my workbench now.

P.S. I do not intend to maintain the old assembly 2 workbench, as my version is to far away now. I only invest time into the new variant.

[triplus]

Sounds good.

You shouldn't have much (likely none) issues with Py3/Qt5 port (as long as you are interested in supporting it). Likely you should have a repository somewhere as "ZIP" approach will quickly start to show its limitations. As for FreeCAD end users using Assembly 2 workbench and for it to potentially stop working (Py3/Qt5). I guess now there will be another option to try out and migrate. Some sensible workbench name i guess wouldn't hurt. That depends if you want to position yourself as Assembly 2 successor (to maybe add an addition letter to it for it not to be too long) or maybe something like Assembly 4 or something totally unrelated but unique. As Assembly 3 workbench domain name is already taken.

Good luck!

[kbwbe]

I already noticed that my workbench-naming is conflicting with RealThunder's work. (which is great)
Have to think about new naming.

Any good tip where to locate a repo (without costs) ? Microsoft's GITHUB ?

[easyw-fc]

I already noticed that my workbench-naming is conflicting with RealThunder's work. (which is great)
Have to think about new naming.

What about A2+ or A2plus

Any good tip where to locate a repo (without costs) ? Microsoft's GITHUB ?

GitHub is still free, but you can consider bitbucket or gitlab

[kbwbe]

thanks for the tips.

[kbwbe]

Before going on developing new features and a placing a new version, I did a quick-test with newest freecad-daily.

I cannot see constraints in object tree anymore. (they are created via featurepython). Within freecad-0.17 they are show, but not correct sorted.

What ist changing there form 0.16 -> 0.17 ->0.18 ? Any ideas ?

[easyw-fc]

Before going on developing new features and a placing a new version, I did a quick-test with newest freecad-daily.

I cannot see constraints in object tree anymore. (they are created via featurepython). Within freecad-0.17 they are show, but not correct sorted.

1) I strongly would suggest you to enable 'Report View' to see errors when loading/using the WB
2) I changed your code:

Code: Select all

from PyQt4 import QtGui,QtCore

to

Code: Select all

from PySide import QtGui, QtCore

in
a3_versionmanagement.py and a3_toponamer.py
then the WB should work fine

What ist changing there form 0.16 -> 0.17 ->0.18 ? Any ideas ?

a lot of stuff... but with often small modifications you can manage the changes...

PS I would suggest you to change the WB name from A3 to i.e. A2plus o similar, because, as you already noticed, A3 is already adopted by the new Assembly FC branch...

[kbwbe]

Hello Maurice, tx for quick answer.
Will rename wb with next version. If i see a point where the wb is ready for real public testing, i will migrate to github.