[Proposal] List of supported external software

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sgrogan
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by sgrogan »

waebbl wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:06 pm Beside python-collada is there direct support to import / export collada files?
No. What is confusing is that .dae is listed as import/export file type and appears in the import/export preferences and an error is only thrown when actually trying to import/export a .dae file if pycollada is not available.
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sgrogan
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by sgrogan »

waebbl wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:06 pm
9. I found reference to the elmer and z88 solvers in the FEM workbench in FreeCAD. For z88, what is actually needed to have support in FreeCAD? At https://z88.de/ there are several pieces of software: Z88OS, (also availabe at https://github.com/LSCAD/Z88OS), z88aurora and z88arion, of which the latter two are only available under a very restrictive license, allowing it's use only in academic or R&D areas. What is actually needed to have support for z88 in FreeCAD? Will z88os be enough or is any of the aurora or arion applications needed?
The z88r executable is all that's needed for FreeCAD. Not many constraints have been programmed for FreeCAD using z88r, so it doesn't add much functionality. It's main use was to test the framework for adding additional solvers to the FEM WB.
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yorik
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by yorik »

sgrogan wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:27 pm No. What is confusing is that .dae is listed as import/export file type and appears in the import/export preferences and an error is only thrown when actually trying to import/export a .dae file if pycollada is not available.
It's something I did for other formats too (DWG, IFC...). I find it better that the user sees that it is possible to use such or such format, then is informed of a missing component when trying to use it. Otherwise, someone could never know that a file format is available...
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waebbl
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by waebbl »

yorik wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:25 pm
sgrogan wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:27 pm No. What is confusing is that .dae is listed as import/export file type and appears in the import/export preferences and an error is only thrown when actually trying to import/export a .dae file if pycollada is not available.
It's something I did for other formats too (DWG, IFC...). I find it better that the user sees that it is possible to use such or such format, then is informed of a missing component when trying to use it. Otherwise, someone could never know that a file format is available...
I see your point here. Actually there are several ways to inform the user about supported (file) formats (current implementation, manual / wiki, build or run-time deps). With current implementation the user or package maintainers are free to decide how to handle it.
sgrogan wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:58 pm
waebbl wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:06 pm
9. I found reference to the elmer and z88 solvers in the FEM workbench in FreeCAD. For z88, what is actually needed to have support in FreeCAD? At https://z88.de/ there are several pieces of software: Z88OS, (also availabe at https://github.com/LSCAD/Z88OS), z88aurora and z88arion, of which the latter two are only available under a very restrictive license, allowing it's use only in academic or R&D areas. What is actually needed to have support for z88 in FreeCAD? Will z88os be enough or is any of the aurora or arion applications needed?
The z88r executable is all that's needed for FreeCAD. Not many constraints have been programmed for FreeCAD using z88r, so it doesn't add much functionality. It's main use was to test the framework for adding additional solvers to the FEM WB.
I see, thanks for this info. The z88r executable is actually part of the mentioned Z88OS, so only this is needed to support it with FreeCAD. What I noticed from skimming through the code is, that the software also delivers a way to convert DXF files.
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sgrogan
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by sgrogan »

yorik wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:25 pm It's something I did for other formats too (DWG, IFC...). I find it better that the user sees that it is possible to use such or such format, then is informed of a missing component when trying to use it. Otherwise, someone could never know that a file format is available...
No worries, not a criticism just an observation. Now that you've mentioned it I knew of this for .ifc.

Great topic waebbl! I've been packaging FreeCAD for a while now and I've learned new stuff from this thread. :)
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waebbl
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by waebbl »

Started the topic in the wiki (WIP): https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Install ... by_FreeCAD

Is it ok to have it as a subsection on the main install page or should I create a separate page? The list will become quite large.
I'm ordering the packages in alphabetical order. I thought about categorizing them somehow but then it's not easy to get good categories, some packages might be related to more than one category and the ordering of those categories could imply an implicit weighting to the reader. Categories coming first will supposedly be more important, more loved, ... .
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sgrogan
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by sgrogan »

waebbl wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 6:08 pm Started the topic in the wiki (WIP): https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Install ... by_FreeCAD
Looks good to me.
I noticed that OpenSCAD is missing.
I also found a new one git-python, this will be used by the addon-manager at least. It may also be used by Arch WB or this functionality might have been moved to the external WB.
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waebbl
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by waebbl »

sgrogan wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:21 pm I noticed that OpenSCAD is missing.
I also found a new one git-python, this will be used by the addon-manager at least. It may also be used by Arch WB or this functionality might have been moved to the external WB.
There's more missing than only OpenSCAD. I provided a direct link on the first post of the topic to the packages which I made an initial subsection. If there's no link, it's not yet written.

Will the addon-manager depend on git-python or will it use the package as an alternative way to access git repos? In the first case, wouldn't it qualify for a build-time dependency?
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sgrogan
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by sgrogan »

waebbl wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:29 pm Will the addon-manager depend on git-python or will it use the package as an alternative way to access git repos? In the first case, wouldn't it qualify for a build-time dependency?
The addon-manager uses git-python by default, if it's not available it falls back to downloading the .zip file automatically. I don't know how much is implemented, but using git-python would enable better automatic updates of addons. git-python is not a build time dependency.
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waebbl
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Re: [Proposal] List of supported external software

Post by waebbl »

sgrogan wrote: Fri Oct 26, 2018 9:33 pm The addon-manager uses git-python by default, if it's not available it falls back to downloading the .zip file automatically.
Thanks for pointing this out. I added it to the first post.
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