[freearchitecture] Blender-Developments

[Lars O. Grobe]

Hi!

> http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/19/2130248&from=rss
> ("*FSF supports average users with high-priority list"  May 1, 2006)
> 
> *Since it is close to achieving it's old "high priority" free software
> targets (Flash support, Java support for Open Office, etc), the
> Free Software Foundation will likely be identifying the next
> set of areas that need urgent developer attention -- "Software
> application areas that need to be freed", as it were.
> 
> Should we be aiming to get "Collaborative 3D CAD" on that list?

That is a nice hint!

> But I don't think there is (as yet) "one right project" to back on
> this goal -- there is rather a number of promising puzzle pieces
> that don't quite fit together yet.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> I'd be happy to compose an email advocating a course of action,
> but I am not myself sure what the right course is.

I have the following in mind. I do not think as much about promoting the
development of an application at the moment, more to bring a workflow
environment (or however I could call it) some steps further.

I see that for architecture, we could define a certain typical workflow
including

- import of plans, pictures, text, sketches
- sketching (by hand, 2d, 3d), early designs
- development, both in-office and collaborative with others, maybe based
on a common shared model
- communication and application, mainly by 2d-representations, that have
to be cleaned, get dimensions, layouts, colors, ...
- all kinds of feed-back data which will change / correct the model
- archiving, maintaince, all kinds of services after the actual building
is completed, documentation, ...

So this is a big puzzle already. I think in big parts you could apply a
lot of this to other engineering fields, too. On the other hand, we have
a puzzle of tools that in parts find their counterparts in the process
steps above. In my opinion, the main task now is to make the puzzle fit
together. For that to happen, I see the following needs:

- common data exchange, without loosing information as in classic
export/import steps
- common / consistent user interface. maybe just by facelifting some
menus, more advanced by plug-in-like technologies, at least common
terminology.
- only the last step is concentrating on some core apps (3d cad, 3d->2d
extraction,...)

The whole, with a common documentation, some kind of
application-specific library, an active community, could grow to
application-workbenches, without the need to develop one mechanical
3d-cad, one architectural 3d-cad, ...

I think it would make sense to form a small group of interested people
(not more then 10) with a limited time frame (one month) to define an
initial draft of the work environment, the way it should be implemented,
and candidates for applications to be used, including lists of necessary
development for each. If we have a draft of such an engineering
workbench and clearly defined design goals for the tools it consists of,
 it will be much easier to get the software for it work.

What do you think?

Lars.

BTW: I am not really a software developer. I am working as an architect,
and I have my open source background from my work at a university lab
which we founded as students, where I migrated the core services (from
network to office) from propietary software to open source and standard
conforming solutions. Finally I spend lots of my spare time on a
reconstruction / archeology project, where we are confronted with the
lack of standards to represent model information.
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