Hi,

I am interested in doing a project with the OpenSCAD standard library and/or
forms parameterization for Google Summer of Code 2015.

The Standard library project is described here:
https://github.com/openscad/openscad/wiki/Ideas-for-Development-Tasks
You can see the current progress here:
https://github.com/openscad/MCAD/tree/dev
https://github.com/openscad/scad-utils

The forms parameterization project is described here:
https://github.com/openscad/openscad/wiki/Project%3A-Form-based-script-parameterization

I am a master's candidate at Georgia Tech conducting a thesis in improving
CAD useablity. I believe CAD is a great tool for identifying and achieving
goals. I would like to make it more available. An OpenSCAD standard library
with forms-like access (or something like it) would be extremely useful for
my research. I am in the planning stage of creating such a tool already so I
was excited to see that it had interest in the OpenSCAD community. I believe
the mentorship, funding, and community provided by GSoC will help focus my
work.

In addition to being a (self-funded, part-time online) student, I work full
time as a product development engineer at a mechanical engineering
consulting company. I have extensive experience with Solidworks and
mechanical design. I also have extensive experience with Matlab/Scilab and
processing/arduino. I am rapidly gaining experience in C++ (I would use C++
in this project). I think that my domain knowledge of mechanical engineering
and budding programming competencies would match well with the GSoC/OpenSCAD
community/mentor guidance. I can commit 35-45 hrs per week to this project
and be available for communication outside 8am-6pm EST.

Please contact me if you would like more information or to discuss this
project further.

Thank you,

Mitch

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Hi Mitch,

Your background sounds very interesting.
One of the longer-term goal of OpenSCAD is to help improve CAD usability, focusing on non-traditional CAD domains (i.e. provide a tool for others than mechanical engineers). On of the key components in this is a good, curated, standard library of primitives, parts and operations.
If you could provide some ideas in this domain based on your existing research, that would be a valuable contribution to your application.

The standard library is largely not a C++ project, but as you say you want to use C++: in order to evaluate your C++ skills, it would be beneficial if you could engage with the community; get openscad built from source, read some code, perhaps fix a bug or clean something up, and chat with us on IRC so we can get a feel of your communication skills and domain knowledge.

Kind Regards,,

-Marius

Hi Marius and OpenSCAD community,

Thanks for your feedback in this and on the IRC.

Here is a status update and proposed path forward:
-I discussed the status of the MCAD libraries with Kintel and teepee.
-I built openSCAD from source on ubuntu. (I am primarily a windows user but
expect to use ubuntu for this project)
-I ran some models with the the MCAD library and read through the library's
structure.

Path forward:
-I will reach out to hyperair who has been working on the MCAD library.
-I will make a sample parts library for MCAD to demonstrate my capability.
-I will draft a list of MCAD content and requirements
-I will sketch a rough MCAD organization plan and documentation structure.
--I intend to do this work tonight into the next couple of days. Look for me
on IRC.
--I welcome any suggestions or comments.

Thank you!

Mitch

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Three things for your review:

1. Draft proposal

2. Rough project notes

3. Customizer concept demo

4. I have a draft GSoC application up and welcome feedback. You can see it
   here:
   https://github.com/mitchdraft/scaddergories/wiki/Draft-GSoC-2015-Application

5. I have a very rough outline of some of the things the standard library
   project will include in the Readme of what will be the working directory
   here:
   https://github.com/mitchdraft/scaddergories

6. I think the standard library will be most useful if developed alongside a
   customizer-like interface. I have a demo of an early experimental GUI
   prototype which is part of my master's research. This will help to inform my
   development of the standard library. You can check out a video here:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiY9SCviUyg&list=PLxsFfCmwjpYzLGdtEqEz2kOl2svx-7uc0

I'll be submitting tonight, pardon the short notice. I welcome your feedback
on all of the above.

Thanks,
Mitch

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Hi!

With the proposal deadline already in sight, I have some general comments
regarding the procedure first...

• Please have a look at http://brlcad.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code/Checklist with
  BRL-CAD as umbrella organization for our GSoC participation, the checklist
  does apply for our projects too (e.g. Application Format).

• As GSoC requires the project to be mainly about coding, I think it would
  be good to clarify which steps of the proposal will involve writing code.

• Make sure you also submit something to the melange site. It's even
  suggested to post some outline or even just the link to the Wiki as early
  as possible and just edit later. Without that, it will not be possible
  to accept the proposal in melange (and GSoC deadlines are strict).

ciao,
Torsten.

Thanks for the link Torsten! I'm embarrassed for having missed that until
now, I'll get right on it.

Mitch

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Here's my proposal:

http://brlcad.org/wiki/User:Mitchdraft/GSoC15/Proposal#Detailed

Thanks!

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Thanks Tim, I'll look into that.
I started a project log here:
https://github.com/mitchdraft/scaddergories/wiki/Project-Status-Monitor

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