STEP export of board - automatic substitute of wrl model with STEP 3D model if exists

[Oivind Toien]

When exporting a board to STEP format, correct inclusion of 3D models of the components will only take place if .STEP or .STP files (both extensions work) are specified in the 3D model dialog. However in the official footprint libraries WRL is defined as the default 3D model (which is fine) while lately also STEP models are supplied.

The wish is for the STEP export to look for a .STP and .STEP file with the same name base and location if a WRL model is defined as 3D model the for the footprint. This is the way Maurice's STEPUp import of KiCad boards into FreeCad works. I do not know is this is the way KiCad native STEP board export is eventually planned to work, so I put it up in the wish list. This would provide seamless functionally of STEP export of the project without need to edit file names of 3D models to have a STEP/STP extension for all of the footprints, and allow KiCad to use the WRL file internally (which in some cases might provide a more realistic view).

Tested with nightly:
OS: Windows 7
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.11749 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: 6c4bdf24dfd697ee212ec5950969125851a0907c
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.1.0
Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)

[Frank Severinsen (shack)]

I really hope this will be implemented in V5, since all the new models are available in step they could be used directly. The librarians (including me) agrees this to be the slickest way to add the step support without having to change the fileending in all footprints (which would provide other problems)

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

Unless someone steps up and implements this, I doubt it will make it in the stable 5 release. My bandwidth is maxed out at the moment. With the stable 5 release coming soon, I don't see this situation changing.

[Oliver (schrodingersgat)]

Unless Cirilo steps up (no pun intended) to take this, I'm willing to take a look. This feature is already on my list of priority items for library integration and I agree with Frank that the step-up approach is a sensible one.

[Cirilo Bernardo (cirilo-bernardo)]

Hi Oliver,

 I won't be able to have a look at this; I've been too busy to do much
at all for Kicad in the past year. This wish list item should be easy
enough; in the mechanical exporter (a project in the 'utils'
directory) instead of ignoring *.wrl files you can convert the *.wrl
to *.stp or *.step. Good luck.

- Cirilo

On Wed, Nov 1, 2017 at 9:28 AM, Oliver <email address hidden> wrote:
> Unless Cirilo steps up (no pun intended) to take this, I'm willing to
> take a look. This feature is already on my list of priority items for
> library integration and I agree with Frank that the step-up approach is
> a sensible one.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1710796
>
> Title:
> STEP export of board - automatic substitute of wrl model with STEP 3D
> model if exists
>
> Status in KiCad:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
>
> When exporting a board to STEP format, correct inclusion of 3D models of the components will only take place if .STEP or .STP files (both extensions work) are specified in the 3D model dialog. However in the official footprint libraries WRL is defined as the default 3D model (which is fine) while lately also STEP models are supplied.
>
> The wish is for the STEP export to look for a .STP and .STEP file with
> the same name base and location if a WRL model is defined as 3D model
> the for the footprint. This is the way Maurice's STEPUp import of
> KiCad boards into FreeCad works. I do not know is this is the way
> KiCad native STEP board export is eventually planned to work, so I put
> it up in the wish list. This would provide seamless functionally of
> STEP export of the project without need to edit file names of 3D
> models to have a STEP/STP extension for all of the footprints, and
> allow KiCad to use the WRL file internally (which in some cases might
> provide a more realistic view).
>
> Tested with nightly:
> OS: Windows 7
> Word size of OS: 64-bit
> Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
> Version: 0.17.11749 (Git)
> Build type: Release
> Branch: master
> Hash: 6c4bdf24dfd697ee212ec5950969125851a0907c
> Python version: 2.7.8
> Qt version: 4.8.7
> Coin version: 4.0.0a
> OCC version: 7.1.0
> Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1710796/+subscriptions

[Frank Severinsen (shack)]

@oliver you are the man!

[Oliver (schrodingersgat)]

It is done. Just waiting on merge.

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

Fixed in revision 30455092c83671fbff75b568a03fdfbab4249c23
https://git.launchpad.net/kicad/patch/?id=30455092c83671fbff75b568a03fdfbab4249c23

[Oivind Toien (otoien)]

Just tested with the 2017-11-07 nightly+FreeCad v. 0.17 from 2017-11-01, and I can confirm that this works with both .stp and .step extensions. Thanks so much @oliver for the quick effort implementing this!

Application: kicad
Version: (2017-11-07 revision 7d24a576e)-makepkg, release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.3
    libcurl/7.54.1 OpenSSL/1.0.2l zlib/1.2.11 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.23.1 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.3 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.60.0
    Curl: 7.54.1
    Compiler: GCC 7.1.0 with C++ ABI 1011

Build settings:
    USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

OS: Windows 7
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.17.12539 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: adc24f8c8ffb81ce5b85af9ac6ed67054ae0030d
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.1.0
Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)