Re: [GMG-Devel] OpenSCAD media type

[Christopher Allan Webber]

> Yes, there's definitely an overlap with the STL plugin. As soon as the
> STL file is generated by OpenSCAD it could be passed on to the stl
> plugin pipeline. Currently I am rendering both STL and PNG from
> OpenSCAD because it was easier to implement. I am not sure which is
> best, OpenSCAD or an external renderer.
>
> We could abstract rendering out of the stl plugin, that is, have
> alternative 3D renderes plugged through an interface. POV Ray makes
> really nice renders. OpenSCAD makes nice renders in its own way. I
> intend to support other 3D formats in the future, like PLY, and maybe
> we'll need other renderers for that matter as well.

I think it might make sense to have multiple renderer support at some
point also, if it makes sense... Aeva has mentioned something similar
herself, in case Blender is too heavy of a requirement for some.  But
for now I think we're fine.

> Parts of the STL view could be generalized too - I just copy/pasted
> what I needed.
>
> As what regards to SCAD media rendering, there are basically two
> situations: the medium is just one part, then we can just use the nice
> blender-themed render; or the scad medium is an assembly with many
> parts, and the author has put color on different parts to
> differentiate them and we want to present this information. The thing
> is that there is no way to pass on this color information to the STL
> model, so one can only have color information through the OpenSCAD
> preview.
> 
> It would be nice to get Aeva's input.

Cool, I'm excited to hear about this; I've left myself a note to ping
Aeva at some point over IM about what she thinks.

> BTW, right now I am working on an interface which presents parameters
> to the user pretty much like Makerbot Customizer. The trick is how to
> have the 3D model rendered again every time a parameter changes.