0.16 Features We'd Like To See

[ickby]

One feature I would realy like to see but for which I won't find time to work on:

An alternative Tree Representation to show the dependency graph instead of the current hirarchy. One could add a little button on the tree view to switch between both representations. This would IMHO be highly useful for understanding your model and fixing problems. Especially when eivinds work will come in there would be nearly no alternative to such a representation, as it would otherwise become almost impossible to track the dependencies correctly in your model. (I know that there is the dependency graph tool, but this is not practical at all for quick looks. also does not support the same things as the tree items (hiding, menu, selection))

The classic tree hirarchy jsut comes too often to its limits, I think a alternativ graph view makes freecad way more understandable.

[wmayer]

An alternative Tree Representation to show the dependency graph instead of the current hierarchy.

And with what kind of widgets would this be possible? As a simple example use a diamond structure where you have an object A, then B and C which depend on A and then object D which depends on B and C. If a tree is used you can solve this only by showing multiple items of certain objects -- i.e. show A as a child of B and C in this example.

How do commercial cad applications handle this?

[microelly2]

If a tree is used you can solve this only by showing multiple items of certain objects -- i.e. show A as a child of B and C in this example.

Dependencies can become very complex and a tree is not an adequate way to visualize them. Dependencies are directed graphs and need in most cases networks. My idea is to use the gui of the python simulation editor (pse) to generate and maintain such structures. the pse has already a good graphical editor and to create representations of freecad objects inside it is possible. After creation the views can be modified by hand.
however it needs some time and a published version of the pse.

[DeepSOIC]

For the tree view, I can suggest a relatively easy to implement idea.
The idea is, when expanding a fusion, it will show all the objects it fuses even if they are already somewhere else in the tree. I.e., a single object can appear in tree in multiple places. Also, it might be useful to display a list of all references (e.g., when a sketch is mapped to something, it should be expandable to see the object it was mapped to). This can potentially be confusing at first...

Another idea is to be able to disable automatic arrangement of the tree, and let the user do it.

As for the graph (like the one graphviz makes), it would be cool to add a bit of interactivity to it, but it's obviously too bulky to replace the tree view.

[ickby]

And with what kind of widgets would this be possible?

Non that is ready to use. One would need to create a new custom widget based on an abstract item view which shows a directed graph. Maybe one could utilize http://www.adaptagrams.org/ for the layout, they have some very nice tools in their library. I did not say it is easy, mostly because for plain viewer widget the graph layout would need to be done automaticly. But it would be helpful IMHO.

@microelly2: I don't think pse is suited for what I have in mind as I think of a pure viewer with no reordering/editing capabilities, which should work well in the restircted area of the treeview (to allow direct switching). As the items are small, the amount of them high and the area restricted this is no trival task.

@ DeepSoic: that is a good improvement idea, but still makes it hard to visualize the data flow of your project. IMHO a very good addition to the tree view anyway, but not a replacement for a graph view.

[rockn]

My little wishlist :

• - General : Add Texture in Display Mode and a Textured Draw Style
  - Part Design/Sketcher : Add Curved surface to Sketch support
  - Draft : Implement Group and Visgroup in Draft Toolbars
  - General : Enhancement of Mods and Macros manager
  - Oh and merging of ickby's new UI work

[wmayer]

Non that is ready to use. One would need to create a new custom widget based on an abstract item view which shows a directed graph. Maybe one could utilize http://www.adaptagrams.org/ for the layout, they have some very nice tools in their library. I did not say it is easy, mostly because for plain viewer widget the graph layout would need to be done automaticly. But it would be helpful IMHO.

But that's more or less exactly the same as graphviz. But for a Qt widget it's too complicated to interact with.

the pse has already a good graphical editor and to create representations of freecad objects inside it is possible

Do you have a screen shot to see how this would look like?

The idea is, when expanding a fusion, it will show all the objects it fuses even if they are already somewhere else in the tree. I.e., a single object can appear in tree in multiple places.

Showing an object multiple times is what I above suggested too and this can be implemented using Qt's "model-view-controller" classes. In FreeCAD there is already some code but this has never been fully implemented.

Again, how do other cad applications solve this?

[DeepSOIC]

Showing an object multiple times is what I above suggested too

Yep, I missed it

[microelly2]

the pse has already a good graphical editor and to create representations of freecad objects inside it is possible

Do you have a screen shot to see how this would look like?

there is only one regular freecad object in the net, but you can imagine the connections
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... 659BgaxutQ

[dubstar-04]

General : Add Texture in Display Mode and a Textured Draw Style

That would be quite cool!