CAD program written in Lazarus / FPC

[zamtmn]

I'm not familiar with the world of 3D printers, my interests lie more in the area of electrical engineering

[Fred vS]

I'm not familiar with the world of 3D printers, my interests lie more in the area of electrical engineering

Ok, thanks and bravo for your ZCAD 

[zamtmn]

Hi All
Dimensions in DXF complicated and confusing thing. Added initial support for the dimensional primitives and styles. ZCAD becomes like a complete CAD program

Fred vS
Thanks!

[Fred vS]

Hello everybody, hello zamtmn 

After research, it seems that the standard type of file for 3d printers is stl .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_%28file_format%29

This technology is growing very fast... 

And the best 3d printer comes from.. the Netherlands : Ultimaker.
https://www.ultimaker.com/

Ultimaker 3D printer seems to be better than the US "champion" : Makerbot. http://www.makerbot.com/

There is also a factory (from Netherlands too) who prints your 3d object and sent it to your home with DHL.
You only have to sent them your stl file.
https://www.shapeways.com/

So it will be very nice if ZCAD could deal with stl files.

Many thanks.

[zamtmn]

Hi Fred vS!
So far my plan is to :
- full implementation of the dimension styles and entities
- improvement of the engine, separate graphical part from DXF entities, additional of low-level graphics primitives, implementation of spatial tree for low-level graphics primitives
- improvement of existing DXF entities
- maybe to add nonOpenGL (canvas) renderer
- maybe to add raster DXF entity


So soon I will not be able to implement any new format. But I can provide all possible assistance to you if you want to do it.
Coming soon all you need:
- Implement a mesh primitive
- Implement a solid primitive
- Implement load and save to STL procedure
At my first glance it is not that difficult.
Really complicated thing that need it boolean operations for 3D solid

[Fred vS]

@ zamtmn : ok, i gonna (try to) understand how you developed zcad and then see if i can do something.

I really think there is a place for fp-zcad in that new 3d world.

Thanks

[EDIT] Hum, only to present me, i used (for loooot of time) AUTOCAD and 3D studio and few time MICROSTATION.

When i switched to Linux, in the begining i used BLENDER.
Now my working app is FREECAD http://www.freecadweb.org/.
It is fast, do all i want and, for me, better than LIBRECAD and QCAD...

[Wodzu]

And the best 3d printer comes from.. the Netherlands : Ultimaker.
https://www.ultimaker.com/

Hi, I just wanted to tell you that there is a cheap 3d printer that you can buy for yourself but you need to build it from parts at home 
Atleast I saw that few months ago on a kickstarter page

[zamtmn]

@Fred vS
Unfortunately I have not a programmer, so the source code is not called many things by their right names. I also often "invent" some ways, and then learn from the books they have to look right.
No comments in the code, in the next few days I try to comment out the key points and to describe here on the forum, what is worth paying attention.
ZCAD until more research than complete system. Some of the same things I'm doing differently in different places, that reveal how to make them more convenient and faster

[Fred vS]

@  Wodzu : Yep, of course, there are the DIY (Do It Yourself) kits, starting at 200 euros ! example : http://printrbot.com/

What i love in that new techno is that there are some open-source producers.

The UltiMaker products are open-source too.

If i noted UltiMaker and Makerbot it is because they sell complete machines, working out of the box.

[Fred vS]

@Fred vS
Unfortunately I have not a programmer, so the source code is not called many things by their right names. I also often "invent" some ways, and then learn from the books they have to look right.
No comments in the code, in the next few days I try to comment out the key points and to describe here on the forum, what is worth paying attention.

No problems, im a explorer 

[Fred vS]

Hello.

There is a dxf to stl converter : http://code.google.com/p/meshmagick/source/browse/trunk/dxf2stl/dxf2stl.py

It is in python language but maybe it can help.

Usage :

dxf2stl.py infile.dxf > outfile.stl

[zamtmn]

@Fred vS
Can you attach here an example STL file?

[Fred vS]

Can you attach here an example STL file?

With pleasure 

[zamtmn]

As I understand it, they can be binary and text. To start the text will be more evident

[Fred vS]

As I understand it, they can be binary and text.

Ooops, yes, and i give you a binary one.
Gonna try to give you a  asci one...