scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > looks like there's a free 3D CAD package out there that can generate
> > POV-Ray files, yet hasn't gotten any attention in these newsgroups yet
> > whatsoever.
>
> Unfortunately it seems to convert all geometry to a mesh before
> exporting to POV :-( I was hoping that finally someone had written a
> proper POV exporter from CAD data...
>
> As a CAD tool though it looks an excellent introduction and hobby tool.
> Perfect for creating those "engineered" type objects (especially with
> lots of rounded edges) with the same parametric flexibility that you
> have in SDL.

I started using FreeCAD because of its scripting capabilities.  I've been using
it to build a model of a spaceship (Tajemnica, from a novel by Rolf Nelson).
It's a nice tool for that job because I can place walls and attach stuff to
them, then move them and everything just follows.

And yes, the POVray export machinery generates meshes, which is not a good thing
for anything that isn't flat.  But here too, the Python scripting machinery can
help.  I added machinery to define the desired POVray object definition as part
of the definition of the objects in my model.  That works very nicely.

So I get a way to interact with a model, then once I like it I get a POVray
equivalent I can raytrace.

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