Hello All,
WARNING: newbie
I'm trying to check out the design for a solar concentrator, but alas
am unable to figure out how to convert the text file containing the
bare-bones measurements to a DXF for viewing in my CAD tool (qcad).
The 27k text file can be seen here:
http://www.harbornet.com/sunflower/matrix.txt
I appreciate the help!
Happy New Year!
-mt
Maybe I'm just dense, but what the &%^$ is that file supposed to be? It
looks like mostly a simple coordinate file. Where did that information
come from?
Yes, it's a file containing a numbered list of coordinates for drawing
lines, etc. I think it can be used in a 'script' file, perhaps?
However, I can't believe it's just straight lines and it doesn't contain
any dxf format or headers.
The real question is - how to get that information into AutoCAD?
snipped-for-privacy@NScix.co.uk (B. W. Salt.) wrote in message
The page from whence this CAD file is linked reads "This file can be
modified to be compliant with most CAD programs". That page is
http://www.harbornet.com/sunflower/pvdish.html
Hmmm... wonder what the modification is that's required.
thx again,
-mt
snipped-for-privacy@perilith.com (mt) wrote in message
Having Dxfed files before I can tell you that "From My experiance"
It seems there are alot of "Machine" languages out there and this
file might have been placed in the wrong association.... I think we
are probably looking at the file in that way....just a guess... Maybe
I should go look at the file before I shoot my mouth off huh?.....LOL
:) BRB
Cartesian coordinates thay are. Not from a CNC though. No code. The points
in this file could be plotted in Autocad but, as there is no indication of
start/stop points, it would be quite the trick to connect the points into
anything meaningful.
I did a quick manual plot, using the first few lines. Nothing meaningful,
since there is nothing to indicate whether it's meant to be a line between
two points that then continues to the next point, or pairs of points
producing separate lines. Just gives a series of lines zooming about in
3D!
Is it a file containing contour points, perhaps?
This is my idea:
The first part (until 9999 9999 9999 9999) defines indeed just 406
points.
The next part (after the 9999 9999 9999 9999 separator) is a numbered
list of connections:
connection 1 connects point 1 and 2 with color 2.
connection 2 connects point 3 and 4 with color 2
etc...
There are thus 697 lines, connecting the 406 points.
3 different colors are used.
I have not tried it out in Autocad so far.
Ben.
wrote in message
Using ascpoint.lsp (an old LISP from Tony Tanzillo) at first I draw a
point at each of the coordinates of the first part. In a 3D view I could
see that the points form a solar concentrator (at least nearly) and I
thought they must be connected to 3DFACES. But in the second part of the
source file (1 2 2, 3 4 2, ...) I could not find any sense. After
reading your posting I connected the points in the way you suggested
(with a little LISP). But what do we do with this bunch of lines? (I
can't attach the result because this ng doesn't allow binary files)
Juergen
BTW: the point# 6 is not used.
Ben schrieb:
Aha! That is it. The first part of the file is a list of
points in space. The second part of the file is a list
of triangles made from these points in space.
Maybe.
So the second part are lists of indices into the first
part. This is just how meshes are organised in DXF files...
--
http://www.ransen.com /
Repligator - Easy graphics effects
Gliftic - Easy decorative tilings
No, that I can't believe. The third value in each line of the second
part is only 1 or 2 or 3. It makes no sense, that all triangles should
be connected to the point 1 or 2 or 3. I'd agree to Bens interpretation,
that the last value in each line of the second part can be a color code
(maybe) and the first two values are the numbers of the startpoint and
endpoint coordinate of a line..
Juergen
I wrote the following quick and dirty VBA code to verify my interpretation
which seems to be correct:
(first part are point definitions, second part are lines connection them)
Copy and paste the following two routines in the VBA editor and run
subroutine readpoints.
It produces a wireframe which looks like a parabolic collector.
However, it looks quite poor and it seems to me this dates from the early
years of CAD.
kr
Ben.
Private Sub ParsePoints(line As String, ByRef posx As Double, ByRef posy As
Double, ByRef posz As Double)
i = 2
While Mid(line, i, 1) <> " "
i = i + 1
Wend
While Mid(line, i, 1) = " "
i = i + 1
Wend
sstr = ""
While Mid(line, i, 1) <> " "
sstr = sstr + Mid(line, i, 1)
i = i + 1
Wend
posx = Val(sstr)
While Mid(line, i, 1) = " "
i = i + 1
Wend
sstr = ""
While Mid(line, i, 1) <> " "
sstr = sstr + Mid(line, i, 1)
i = i + 1
Wend
posy = Val(sstr)
While Mid(line, i, 1) = " "
i = i + 1
Wend
sstr = ""
While Mid(line, i, 1) <> " "
sstr = sstr + Mid(line, i, 1)
i = i + 1
Wend
posz = Val(sstr)
End Sub
Private Sub ReadPoints()
Dim TextLine As String
Dim x As Double
Dim y As Double
Dim z As Double
Dim BeginPoint(0 To 2) As Double
Dim EndPoint(0 To 2) As Double
Dim PointList(0 To 1000, 0 To 2) As Double
'put the correct file location here
Open "D:\Documents and Settings\......\matrix.txt" For Input As #1
'to distinguish between the first part of the file (point defs) and the last
part(line defs)
ImportingPoints = True
PointNumber = 1
While Not EOF(1)
Line Input #1, TextLine
'Debug.Print TextLine
Call ParsePoints(TextLine, x, y, z)
If ImportingPoints Then
If x <> 9999 Then
PointList(PointNumber, 0) = x
PointList(PointNumber, 1) = y
PointList(PointNumber, 2) = z
PointNumber = PointNumber + 1
Else
ImportingPoints = False
End If
Else
If x <> 9999 Then
BeginPoint(0) = PointList(x, 0)
BeginPoint(1) = PointList(x, 1)
BeginPoint(2) = PointList(x, 2)
EndPoint(0) = PointList(y, 0)
EndPoint(1) = PointList(y, 1)
EndPoint(2) = PointList(y, 2)
Set LineObject = ThisDrawing.ModelSpace.AddLine(BeginPoint, EndPoint)
LineObject.color = z
LineObject.Update
End If
End If
Wend
Close #1
End Sub
I got also the wireframe model of this "object". Because I'm not so
familiar with VBA I wrote some lines LISP, but I guess we see the
similar results. (If someone is interested I can post the LISP code I
used). We interpreted the first two values of each line in the second
part as startpoint and endpoint of a line and not - as PR suggested - as
"a list of triangles made from these points in space". This was my
point. And my other question was: what can we do with this wireframe
model, what is it useful for?
Juergen
I tried ascpoint.lsp by removing the line numbers from part of the txt
file and adding the required values to the file. By that I mean converting
a 0 into 0.0 and so on. I did that for the first 200 lines.
Unfortunately, I could not get ascpoint.lsp to open the file. Kept giving
"can't open the file" error messages!
1.: Maybe you must specify the path where the source file is stored
("C:/DIR1/DIR2/.../textfile.txt").
Use a slash (/) or two backslashes (\\).
2.: In the original source file the columns are separated by tabulators.
ASCPOINT.LSP can't read tabs. You must find all tabs and replace them by
a space (this can be done in nearly each text program).
HTH
Juergen
I know, Toni wrote "Note that all numeric values must have at least one
digit to the left and the right of the decimal point", but you can
believe me, in this case it's not necessary to convert all "0" to "0.0".
Try it ...
Juergen
HiHO All;
They are Pt.Num X Y Z
and when inserted into a autocad drawing they show
a solar concentrator with a probe and some point approximatly
6000 feet away. The simulated sun? I sent the drawing, R14,
to newbie and hope it helps him. Since the points arn't in
order my software wont connect it properly. A mesh dropped
on the points could be shaded and displayed as a 3d concentrator.
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