Google Season of Docs/2019
Contents
A Beginner’s Guide to BRL-CAD
Project description
This project aims at introducing students to the world of BRL-CAD. It is a beginner’s guide so the main focus is on making the reader familiar with this software and getting them started. The project is a step by step tutorial to model a chess set. Since the target audience is high school students, therefore, this project makes sure the students are well-fed with the required information and keeping it simple at the same time.
Results
Here's the documentation produced under the 2019 Google Season of Docs:
Summary of the current state of the project
Currently, the project provides complete documentation to model a chess set. It introduces the new users to the BRL-CAD software and helps them successfully model a chessboard and the chess pieces: Rook, King, Queen, Pawn, Bishop, Knight. The next steps are the preparation of the document in the Docbook/XML format so the PDF and HTML forms can be auto-generated and keep it up to date with development changes.
A list of challenges and learning
- BRL-CAD requires a lot of practice to master. I modeled a lot of shapes to understand the commands so that I can explain them in an easier manner.
- Modeling BRL-CAD changed the way I look at designs.
- The major challenge I faced was when I tried to model the chessboard and the first chess piece pawn. Mentors helped me improve and then I could model any piece in very less time.
- Another challenge I faced was to explain the measurements and dimensions in an easier fashion so that the readers don’t leave confused.
- I learned a lot about keeping your readers in mind while writing the doc which is one of the key ingredients for writing anything. I learned this by looking at my mentors.
