Beginning Work on Protocase Designer 4

[dronne]

Now that Protocase Designer 3.12 is out and its bugs seem to be under control, it is time to turn our attention to Protocase Designer 4. With this build we are switching from using Python and wxPython to using Java, Swing, and JOGL. We are taking the lessons we learned from Protocase Designer and starting fresh with an architecture that will hopefully take us a very long way into the future. Some reasons we are choosing Java instead of Python:

• More complete documentation
• JOGL much more stable than pyOpenGL
• Better Install Support
• Better Web Integration
• Cleaner, more professional look and feel
• Enforces better programming standards

As we are currently working on the architecture for the new designer, now is the time to suggest sweeping new features so that even if they aren't in Designer 4, they will be possible in some future release.

Thank you!

[whant]

Have you given any thought to being able to create 3D shapes for objects that users place inside the chassis or mount to front / rear panels, rather than just the cutout itself. This would make it easier to place items and get spacing correct - for those of us that do not use a MCAD system. I would like to be able to define an area (HxWxD) for several objects and be able to move them around in the chassis design to ensure I do not have conflicts and everything fits the first time.

[dronne]

We have definitely Thought about this, and will eventually implement it. We have some pressing internal software we need to finish, and we are going to be adding limited machining at some point as well. That said, the machining addition will give us most of what we need to do that.

--Douglas