User:Deekaysharma/GSoC2015/Proposal
Contents
Online Geometry Viewer Proposal[edit]
Name: Deepak Kumar Sharma
Email Address: deeky.sharma@gmail.com
IRC Username: ih8sum3r
Background Information[edit]
Final year B.Tech student of Information Technology at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, India. Google Code-In 2014 mentor with BRL-CAD.
Project Description[edit]
Brief Summary[edit]
With the desire of glimpsing BRL-CAD’s native file format (.g format) on the browser, OGV was commenced in 2013. JavaScript and Three.js are its other main ingredients. In the year 2014, some extensive development was performed when the unified project was reworked in JavaScript's full stack framework that is termed as “Meteor”. With its use, it is developed into cleaner, extra functional and also it has increased more opportunities for improvements. In GSoC 2013, Harmanpreet Singh gave kick start to this project in php and In GSoC 2014, Inderpreet Singh worked on it. It’s an online 3D geometry viewer that runs on WebGL using three.js. Older version of OGV uses vanilla PHP on server side whereas JQuery and Bootstrap on the front-end. This proposal is aimed at continuing the project by adding essential features and fixing bugs thus improving the overall project to achieve the ultimate goal of making OGV a production ready web application.
Improvements in OGV[edit]
There are lot many things on which work needs to be done in order to improve OGV functionality.
- Multiple Error / Success Notifications
Notifications are important to your users because they let them know the status of their jobs. OGV has a notification module, but it’s not working properly. For an example:-
When the user tries to submit data with an empty input field, an error message is shown. If the same is repeated again, newer notification along with the previous ones is displayed and the notifications would keep on popping up whenever the user clicks on the submit button. I have solved this error and submitted as patch but there are other problems too. Whenever the image with exceeding limit is uploaded, a red bar without any error message is shown. One may not learn the reason of failure.
I am proposing to re-factor the notifications module so that these errors can be identified and removed. Notifications.js a file that hosts all the code for notification, needs close inspection and refactoring. For example this error can be removed by passing the correct parament of msg to the notification.
Following logic can be used:-
If (notification.seen) {
delay(5000);
notification.delete();
} else {
notification.show();
}
- oAuth Module
Nowadays, creating new account for different application seems a difficult task to every user. Most of us try to use oAuth login like with Google, Facebook, Yahoo account as it’s easy, effective and efficient way to create/logging an account. So oAuth acts as one of the most important feature of every application, but OGV lags this crucial feature. Previous year, the idea to implement oAuth was taken into account but no steps were taken to implement it. This time I would consider it as one of the primary features to be implemented in OGV. For oAuth I’m going to use oauth1 package.
Available functions listed below initiate the login process with an external service (eg: Facebook, Google, etc), using OAuth.
Meteor.loginWithFacebook Meteor.loginWithGithub Meteor.loginWithGoogle Meteor.loginWithTwitter
- Undertaking it to the current meteor
Instantly meteor is active in the venerable form and conceding that there can be a fighting chance if it is switched over to the latest version, it will give birth to complications or it can be discontinued. Nevertheless, I will lift it to the current version and take flight. Currently. OGV in running on meteor version-1.0.0. My target is to shift it to latest release of meteor and clean bugs, errors, make changes in code etc. which may appear during version upgrade.
Enhancement[edit]
- Production Ready
Online geometry viewer is not yet production ready lot of work need to done on it to make it production ready web application. So production ready is one of the primary goal for this GSoC. One of the problems is that it’s not deployed on BRL-CAD servers, for that I propose meteor up package to bundle and deploy. After that there are things like debug outputs in JS console and two accounts are registered by default, whose passwords are written directly in the code. Such things are security risks and need to be removed before deploying. Currently we do it manually by going to specific files and removing details. I will add a web interface from where we can directly shift between production and development snapshots.
- Different modes such as wireframe in model viewer
Wireframe model visualizes real-world 3D object in skeletal form. It represents the underlying design structure of a 3D model. If wireframe models are available, one may easily obtain the visualization of final result.
Wireframe models are popular due to their efficiency. They can be used for preview purpose. Rendering a complex model or an animation sequence could become very much time consuming if all objects are to be rendered.
Three.js can serve us to create a wireframe. This can be done by setting the wireframe property to true when instantiating a material.
- Support for Other CAD Formats
Every CAD software package have their own and number of file formats available. OGV supports to .g and .obj formats which needs to extended further.
Availability of the different file formats is the necessity for export/import module and it too defines interoperability of the software. The main focus would be to widen its scope by providing the support for the other CAD file formats that are commonly used like g-stl, g-dxf, g-step etc.
This can be accomplished by using BRL-CAD’s inbuilt converter and creating Javascript converter scripts for each of the new supported file formats. There’s a conversion script in cfs-uplaoder.js for g-obj conversion. I propose to make it generic. Like it will have variables which can be changed depending upon type of input file.
filetype = InputFile.extension ; output = g; converter = filetype-g;
these variables can then be changed. when we get the .g file, to convert it to obj file. Conversion from g to obj already exists in our codebase. So nothing to worry about that.
- Online Converter Module
CAD industry is filled with variety of file formats. There is STL, DXF, DWG, G, OBJ and what not. BRL-CAD has state of the art conversion support. A module, a special part can thus be made to convert one file format to another. BRL-CAD has lot of converters, so if we are accepting more cad formats, and doing conversions so it also makes sense to not only import from various formats but also export to various file formats.
- Embedding Model
As listed in todo list, embed model feature is not yet implemented in OGV. Embed feature help our models to post on social media, blogs, forums or any website.
Advantage of sharing model is that just like we share, videos, images on internet similarly in that way now we can share models too with the addition of this feature.
For embedding models we need to generate an iframe as it’s generated when we share youtube videos.
- Optimize obj conversion
Currently we are saving obj files twice, once when they are converted and once when they are transferred via collections. This leads to wastage of space and duplication of files. I propose to delete those unused obj files as new files are created. There are following ways in which this can be done
* delete instantly, when new files are added to collection * delete regularly, at the end of day (or other such perioidic time)
I will use nodejs file api for deletions. We already use some functions of it in our current conversion.
- Loader indication
Whenever the entity loads, some kind of notification must be given. For successful loading, notification should be provided with the simple confirmation message, or if, the entity has already loaded user must be given indication with help of message. In case, if any exception occurs along with the error message user must be guided to step forward.
This makes the Application itself more intuitive and user friendly. A notification will help user how move forward. If its uploaded successfully, user may continue viewing/editing otherwise if an error occurs he might look towards solving the error itself.
For this I’ll use tympanus Creative loading effect or SVG Loader. Example :-
$(function() {
$("#container").progressbar({ value: 50 });
$("#container").progressbar();
});
- Camera position
Presently, the position of camera is fixed and the entity size is sometimes too small or too big. As a consequence, user have to find it by zoom -in/ zoom -out in either case.
The entity should always be in the focus of camera as soon as entity is drawn. Either there must be an option to scale or the position of the camera should be adjustable accordingly.
The approach followed to sort out this would involve the calculation and comparison of bounding box and window width, as a result camera would be resized.
if (window.width < boundingbox.width ) {
camera.reposition();
}
- Allow to change colors
Sometimes the materials used in the model are of different types, may be steel, iron, brass, plastic, glass or such, Differentiating these could be easier with support of colours moreover the models themselves might be made of different coloured attributes for example a jeep might have a yellow body, black tires, grey rims, orange indicators this could also be differentiated with the help of colors support.
Data will be passed to JavaScript functions like vertex shader, fragment shader which will be turned into pixels displayed in the WebGL canvas on the screen.
Milestones[edit]
- Week 1 (25th May) : Upgrade to new meteor version. Solve issues, bugs for new version.
- Week 2 (2nd June) : Add oAuth module to login with google, facebook and github.
- Week 3 (9th June) : Loader indication while uploading models.
- Week 4 (16th June) : Improvise obj conversion
- Week 5 - 6 (30th June) : Add wireframe mode in model viewer. Test and document code before mid term evaluation.
Mid-Term Evaluation
- Week 7 (7th July) : Automatic Camera reposition.
- Week 8 (14th July) : Allow to change colors.
- Week 9 (21st July) : Support for Other CAD Formats.
- Week 10 - 11 (4th August) : Test the working, check for bugs and code cleaning.
- Week 12 (11th Aug) : Deploy on production server.
- Week 13 - 14 (18th Aug) : Start documentation (using LaTeX or any other tool) including developers documentation, user’s documentation.
Final Evaluation
Time Availability[edit]
I will be available 40 - 50 hours / week, if needed can spend more. No restriction of time.
Why BRL-CAD?[edit]
OGV being a lightweight geometric viewing software is very effective for visualizing BRL-CAD files on browser. The software has full potential to accumulate much more in the sphere of geometric figures and visuals. With some proper investment in it’s development, it could definitely exceed many expectations and become a Swiss knife for geometry viewers.
Why me?[edit]
Graphics, combined with programming, is my passion. Together, they work as a stimulus for my thought processes and I’m really excited to work on a project entirely related to graphics. What really motivates me to do my best is the idea about contributing to an open source project that people may use around the globe.
I’ve been using 2D and 3D graphics softwares for quite a while and as a user, I have the basic idea about what people look for, when they use such softwares. I have also been through various sites which serve the same like OGV eg: Sketchfab, Grabcad and I am really positive that this project will definitely help me build a better outlook as a developer and will certainly enhance my ability to better understand the necessities that people may expect from Online Geometry Viewer and provide solutions for the same.
I will definitely be a part of OGV development even after this project is finished because I believe that delivering the product is not the end stage yet, maintenance of the same is crucial after developing a software, for its ultimate success. So I will continue to enhance and extend its capabilities.
