Hi!
I have a dream, to make models in blender which you can make technical drawings, calculate a construction, making schema or anything else which is useful to project a building.
My idea to solve this problem is not to change the direction of the current way blender is going. My idea is to add a new branch of blender, in clear text: make an extension with all necessary features.
This sounds great, but now come my problems, I’m not a developer. I start to develop things, then after some time I stop because I have other things in my mind, new visions etc. (I’m not a hacker)
This “BlenderCAD” - extension has stayed in my mind from the first time I saw blender. Now I want to share this dream with you, what do you think about it?
It’s been discussed extensively in these forums. Search around and see what you find. I seem to remember that some of the discussions were really well thought out.
there were also quite a few scripts written, like Caliper, to display inside/outside dimensions/distances between points. There is also a Ruler script that you set to have certain ranges (meters, feet), and it shows you a horizontal and vertical rule - helpful for keeping track.
There was a branch very near to this dream, called instinctive-blender http://www.linux.com/articles/44024 . The Layer Manager was the most interesting contribution. Soon it was dtpblender http://dtpblender.instinctive.de . Snap in object mode was a new contribution (snap from one object to another).
I think other necessities for architectonic-branch of blender was covers for the actual versions and many specialized script . But, a good administration of layers on native Layer Manager and effective system of snaps are fundamental developments to approach for architectonic branch of blender.
There was a nice article on blendernation recently about someone doing some kind of parametrics within blender - very handy for CAD-type work. (My work PC can’t get to blendernation for some strange reason, or I’d give you a link.)
I think the “adjustments” required to the basic philosophy behind blender as it currently stands would just be too large for any one person to undertake. Additionally, getting a talented team of contributors (however many it would take) all on the same page in terms of project goals is a significant hurdle in itself. IMO you would be far better off starting from the ground up with CAD in mind for an open source effort. There’s just too much that needs changing with “branching” blender. Sure, some of the concepts (e.g. blender’s object-oriented data structure) and maybe even some of the code, could be “borrowed”. But it just may not be the best foundation to start with for this. There are such efforts already begun that you may find interesting, such as open-CASCADE or BRL-CAD. Or if architecture is more your thing, check in to Archimedes.
Another consideration is that the cost of entry for existing CAD systems continues to be lowered (there are several free options that I’m aware of today) - particularly in relation to the profit that can be made using them - such that the motivation to produce a free, open source package continues to erode. Its the old “why re-invent the wheel” syndrome.
The difference with blender’s development effort is that it had something very good to start with and was strongly motivated by the “wow” factor of media production. Neither of these exist in your current situation: blender (as is) is not really that good of a starting foundation for a CAD app, and you’re totally lacking the sexy-wow factor when you start talking about making “technical drawings, calculate a construction, making schema” and such. (Sorry to say that engineers don’t get laid because they’re engineers. Sad but true.)
All this to say, I would love to have my hands on an open-source fully parametric 3D CAD system that does everything SolidWorks does at no cost. Let me know when you get there, and I’ll be glad to beta test!
One solution I have thought about, it’s to use the Empty-object to control a mesh-object and you’re unable to edit that mesh in an “edit-mesh-mode”. In this empty-object you can store any technical data and then blender could render it.