Hi all,

I'm new to this site and programming system. I stumbled upon your site through rAndom International's website. I'm a structural engineering student and I've been looking for a 3D modeling system that I could use to rapidly illustrate the modeling of structures. What I'm looking for in this system is as follows:

- use input data files of nodes and lines and generate 3D (wireframe) views of the model. (I think processing is capable of doing this)
- rotate, zoom, pan the model (again I think processing can do this)
- annotate the lines with things such as the material, section properties and connection details. What I have in mind in terms of annotating is having the user either hover-over or click a line and get this information in a tool-tip or balloon. I would prefer to have these information included in a data file as well where they are indexed to the lines.
- as a huge bonus, have the lines rendered as sections (such as pipes, I beams, etc.) based on the section properties and the orientation of the line defined by an auxiliary point. That is to say give the user the option of seeing a rendered view of the model instead of the wireframe.

I think a system like this is very useful to people doing modelling and needing to illustrate to others what they have been doing and why. At the moment I have an excel application that manages the data for my models and unless I use an finite element analysis system (such as ADINA or SAP) I cannot visually inspect my model. I feel that the process of creating the model should be handled with a lightweight, free, and multi-platform system and once the model is perfected visually it should be processed using the sophisticated finite element analysis systems. For presentations and for my own general understanding of a model I’ve been using SketchUp, but the software is very static and cannot create a model based on input data.

Anyways that was a long introduction to a quick question that I had about processing. Is this possible through Processing? Is it a reasonably easy thing to do? I’m willing to spend the time to learn the system and figure it out, but I need to know if I’m being realistic as to what the system is capable of. If Processing is not the best program for this application, does anyone know of another open-source system that could be used for this?

I hope this post makes sense to everyone. If I need to clarify something, please let me know. Oh, and any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

Ali