Where to next?

[dronne]

So it seems to me we have a pretty decent piece of software now - it serves the purpose for the majority of electronics enclosures. So where do we go from here?

We could:
1) Continue to improve Protocase Designer, adding features and enhancements
2) Develop something new

One of the features we would like to add is the ability to put in brackets and such. However, most brackets are going to be very custom. So what if we try to make a new program that can design brackets? Then we can give Designer the ability to place those brackets.

Lets look at what it would take to build Generalized Sheet Metal Designer -

1. Ability to edit sheet metal designs - particularly must be able to make flanges

I guess that is all we really need. There are 3 interfaces I can envision:

1. cut -n- bend - cut out a flat pattern and place bends on it
2. pull flanges - select an edge and pull a flange out from it
3. solid to sheet metal - start with a solid block and hollow it out, then translate that to sheet metal

#1 could be done very easily. It might not be the most intuitive but it will be the easiest to handle constraints and it may teach a lot to a user about sheet metal.