My gut instinct would be to merge sooner so the number of changes is smaller and bugs in the merged code can be more easily targeted.
I personally like smaller changes for stuff like this rather than humongous all in one changes, but looking at the commit log I can see that not all people agree with this. :) Jon On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 5:30 PM, Cirilo Bernardo <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi folks, > > I'd like people's opinions on how to introduce the changes in the > management of > 3D models. The existing refactored code introduces the following: > > 1. configurable model filename resolution: this allows the user to have > model files > in different root paths, for example the model directory installed by > kicad plus the > user's own model directory + system-wide non-kicad model directory etc. > This > model resolution scheme also includes the current project directory in the > search > path for additional flexibility. The resolver paths can be configured via > a GUI which > is accessible from the File Browser. > > 2. 3D model parser plugin: the data for rendering a 3D view within kicad > can now > be managed by plugins. This allows the development/debugging of plugins > without > recompiling the bulk of kicad. In contrast the current system makes > changes to > the 3dviewer library which forces the re-linking of pcbnew and cvpcb while > touching > any related headers can force a broader recompile. It is possible to > develop the > plugins out-of-tree and versioning control can be used to ensure > compatible APIs. > > 3. 3D model caching: model data can now be cached in a binary file format; > this > can speed up loading of some model types, for example any MCAD model which > uses NURBS to describe surfaces. The cache can also write its data to a > VRML2 > compliant file thus providing an automatic conversion from the plugin's > model type > to VRML. > > 4. Model preview: in the Footprint Properties dialogs you can see the 3D > model in > a window and interactively adjust the scale/offset/rotation parameters. > The original > concept was to provide a 3D preview within the File Selector dialog as > well but > that would require much more work (patching wxWindows + additional testing > on > Linux/MSWin/OSX) so I'll drop that idea. > > Ultimately 3Dviewer will be replaced by a new rendering system which Mario > is > working on and there will be great improvements in the maintainability of > the code > as the entire 3D rendering code is cleaned up and its entrails removed > from other > code such as MODULE. However, that it a large task and may not be ready for > quite a few months. So I propose we take advantage of the current > improvements > by pulling in a subset of the new code. The code will provide everything > listed > above in 1-3 but will not yet provide the much desired removal of S3DMASTER > from MODULE - that step depends on the rewriting of the Renderer. Part 4 > above > depends on the implementation of working 3D parser plugins; this is a work > in > progress and it will take a few months to reimplement the existing X3D/VRML > parsers as plugins. > > I estimate 2 or 3 weeks to prepare a branch to merge a subset of the > existing > code which will provide improved 3D file browsing. Model parsers are > currently > in development but should be ready in the first quarter of 2016. > > What do people think - should we introduce the current changes as soon as > possible, providing improved browsing, or wait a few months so that we can > include the preview window in the Footprint Properties dialogs? > > - Cirilo > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > >
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