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AMF, another (better) 3d printer format (#4774)
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I just read about this interesting newish geometry format intended for 3d printers.
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad...anufacturing_File_Format
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Maybe high-end commercial additive machine builders will have a use for it, but it's more of a wish-list for machine performance than a more useable format. .stl wasn't imposed or even initially proposed as a standard, and it's not 'official' even now, but it's universal. A tough act to follow, and Charles Hull invented it in the mid '80s to suit his machine. Even ten years after that, not many CAD apps wrote .stl output, not that there were many retail or consumer 3D CAD apps until the 2000s anyway. What's kind've amusing about this, is that businesses that offer RP services have been referred to as "bureaus" (should it be bureaux?) for years, and, in a wider sense, it's traditionally understood that it's bureaucrats who've wanted to be the ones to impose standards...
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AMF seems like a potential better step forward. I haven't had a chance to review it entirely, but if AMF can offer some improvements over STL then it should be a better way forward. STL is what people have figured out how to make use of, it is not necessarily the best way forward "forever", it just seems to work for now. I don't mean that STL should be dropped, just that AMF might be looked at as an addition to what is available to output in the future.
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It's certainly clever. Human readable/editable, backwards-and-forwards extractible/convertible to .stl, but I think that the most attractive feature to CAD programmers is that it produces files half the file size of a binary .stl. I understand RP machine producers who want a common format that supports the particular features of their product, but it leaves CAD app writers to accommodate ALL of the format's features to cover ALL RP machines, while the RP machine producers themselves don't incorporate every one on every machine. IGES isn't being developed any more for similar factors. Esperanto to Tower of Babel in 5.3 versions.
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Looks interesting.
What are the chances that it could eventually even eclipse .dwg?
Originally Posted by: zumer It's certainly clever. Human readable/editable, backwards-and-forwards extractible/convertible to .stl, but I think that the most attractive feature to CAD programmers is that it produces files half the file size of a binary .stl. I understand RP machine producers who want a common format that supports the particular features of their product, but it leaves CAD app writers to accommodate ALL of the format's features to cover ALL RP machines, while the RP machine producers themselves don't incorporate every one on every machine. IGES isn't being developed any more for similar factors. Esperanto to Tower of Babel in 5.3 versions.
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AMF, another (better) 3d printer format (#4774)
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