DraftSight 2019 no longer free

[vocx]

So I revisited this thread this morning and I just thought I'd ask.. would the need for a more "performant" 2D drafting system possibly be addressed with the pivy_trackers module I've been building?....

Have you seen the code of Draft? It's huge and arcane. Of course having a nicer set of 2D tools would be great!

I've been busy with other things so I haven't actually looked into your pivy_trackers code and wiki documentation. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be developer documentation, or actual user documentation.

But what would be cool is to have prototypes. Say, how can I create polylines and all that with you pivy_trackers code?

Can you do this?

Code: Select all

from FreeCAD import Vector
import Draft
Draft.makeLine(Vector(0,0,0), Vector(10,0,0))  # Draft line

import pivy_tracekrs
pivy_trackers.makeLine(Vector(0,0,0), Vector(10,0,0))  # Pivy line?

[carlopav]

stepping in mainly to subscribe to the topic

Therefore having a group feature capable of propagating individual element properties, like color. And at the same time suppressing such element document object. That would be needed?

There is an old small topic about that: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35466

P.S. Edit mode of such group would i guess need to support individual element, restoring its document object.

@Moult started to add support for subelement modifiers in Draft. At the moment I dont think it works with Part Compounds, but maybe it could be a good starting point

ping

Besides, it might be a good way to prototype a 2D drafting system with 'intermediate' drafting objects - objects which have permanence during a drafting operation or task, but don't exist (yet) as FreeCAD document objects or OCC geometry.

This could be really interesting... I always thought about it as Draft Trackers: objects that are not made to be permanent but help to not touch too much document objects during visual editing. Do you mean we can make use of them inside the viewProvider of a new kind of Draft Compound Object? (sorry to be using big words that i dont completely manage to understand...)

[Joel_graff]

I've been busy with other things so I haven't actually looked into your pivy_trackers code and wiki documentation. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be developer documentation, or actual user documentation.

It's a support library, so I'd say the users and developers are the same thing.

Can you do this?

Code: Select all

from FreeCAD import Vector
import Draft
Draft.makeLine(Vector(0,0,0), Vector(10,0,0))  # Draft line

import pivy_tracekrs
pivy_trackers.makeLine(Vector(0,0,0), Vector(10,0,0))  # Pivy line?

Not quite that simply, really, but it's not terribly complex, either.

[Joel_graff]

This could be really interesting... I always thought about it as Draft Trackers: objects that are not made to be permanent but help to not touch too much document objects during visual editing. Do you mean we can make use of them inside the viewProvider of a new kind of Draft Compound Object? (sorry to be using big words that i dont completely manage to understand...)

I developed pivy_trackers to function in the context of a "task" - it's what happens when you click on a command and the left-hand task panel loads with a dialog specific to that task. Once you've initiated the task, you've established a context for the trackers to function in. So it has a limited scope. That doesn't mean that it couldn't be adapted for other applications, but it seemed the most sensible approach to me.

You'll have to look at the example docs to better understand what I mean without my going into a lengthy explanation here.

[Piero69]

if you need to work in 2d "autocad style" with native dwg/dxf files you can use nanocad free.

Nanocad is a perfect clone of autocad like draftsight

[triplus]

@Joel_graff and @carlopav

Yes, basically document objects are rather resource heavy. That is in use cases, where a lot of (2D) geometry is involved. One could use a single document object, to put more geometry in, like compound. But then you don't have the ability anymore, to use Draft tools on individual elements in a compound, can't set custom properties for individual elements ... Therefore tackling this should result in gaining more performance, when it comes to managing large amounts of 2D geometry. OCCT and Coin3D can highly likely handle it.

[Joel_graff]

Therefore tackling this should result in gaining more performance, when it comes to managing large amounts of 2D geometry. OCCT and Coin3D can highly likely handle it.

That's basically why I built pivy_trackers. In order to manage the object vs. performance issue, I basically rebuild the document objects as 'tracker' objects which are just classes wrapping pivy/Coin3D objects. Of course, they're temporary and don't carry the attributes of the document objects (though the aesthetics can be carried over easily enough). That's why I also require they function in the context of a task. Document objects are translated into trackers when the task begins and translated back to document objects when it terminates...

[carlopav]

Document objects are translated into trackers when the task begins and translated back to document objects when it terminates...

I still didn't exactly figure out it... I mean I cant imagine it from user point of view... But I'm really interested to understand, can you make an example?

[Joel_graff]

I have example code in the wiki:
https://github.com/joelgraff/pivy_trac ... ragtracker

github:
https://github.com/joelgraff/pivy_trac ... elect_drag

[carlopav]

Thx Joel, this I did get it. I mean, could we have a document object that stores geometry like a whole dxf, but represent it through pivy trackers constantly? Or just represent it as a compound but turn it into pivy trackers when we need to edit it? And how difficult do you envision to use draft tools on it? And draft snap?
It's not to stalk you, I'm really curious to understand how do you envision it
Sorry for the probably silly questions (at least from a technical pov)