Peter L. Peres wrote:

> y
>
> On Mon, 27 Dec 2004, Lawrence Lile wrote:
>
>> The 3D capability is a nice feature.
>>
>> In Eagle, the 3D feature is provided in Wetware (he said sarcastically)
>>
>> In other words, I would export the EAGLE file to AutoCad using the 
>> DXF.ULP script, then I would draw the 3D components in Autocad.  The 
>> library I used was the actual dimensions of the parts, usually 
>> rendering them as cylinders or rectangular boxes to save effort. Then 
>> this would get ported into ProEngineer, usually as some kind of STL 
>> solid.  It comes in white as a ghost and can't be edited, but at 
>> least you can see it and run interference checks on it.
>>
>> I nearly bought Protel because it supposedly makes this 3D capability 
>> automatic.
>>
>> None of this 3D stuff is needed if you don't do anything complex 
>> mechanically.  A simple 2D AutoCad port of your board, showing 
>> mounting hardware locations, and a box around the board for clearance 
>> and component areas is usually fine.
>
>
> Fyi someone made a ulp script for Eagle that turns a design into a 
> Pov-Ray file and then runs Pov-Ray on it. Pov-Ray is a photorealistic 
> renderer (3D). The script uses a database of 3d models of the parts 
> you use. The ulp script takes the parts from the design, and their 
> placement, combines it with the 3d model database, and makes the 
> Pov-Ray script. The result is a photorealistic rendering of the 
> completed project, in several views (3-views or whatever you select). 
> This is only available on Linux as far as I know. The 3d model 
> database models each part using relatively simple graphical primitives 
> (cylinder, cube, prism), and textures/colors. The results are visually 
> impressive (you can see the image of a tall cap mirrored on the top of 
> a TO-18 transistor when viewed in perspective etc).
>
> Peter

Yes, good stuff, for example, here's some generated views of a board I 
designed: http://embeddedloconet.sourceforge.net/throttle.html
David


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