I think they are somewhere.
I checked an old email message about the LHC Danger thread.
http://www.physforum.com/index.php?showtop...80&#entry384684

I was able to click on the link and open the thread but can't find it using the index.

If I wanted to I"m sure I could get the last word in it. (Assuming no one else can find the thread.)

Hello Enthalpy;

Have you tried clicking on Enthalpy, then find all posts?

Lasand

Try the Lofi version? That worked for some even while this place was 'down for maintenance'...

Hey, nice to see you all again!

As Physforum was down, I went to a more pretentious forum. Experience:
- They have contributions in, how to say, non-mainstream physics as well
- Got a warning because I told IR car locks are easy to tamper. Already known by thieves, but mods there feel more secure not to tell it
- Month-old meaningless discussion closed for being nonsense once I had brought sensible information
- Banned from a discussion because I pretended separating transplutonium elements doesn't require isotopic separation.
=> It just confirms experimentally that I prefer free speech.

Sapo, I considered your forum as well. It is really interesting and pretty and full of nice people, but it's uncomfortably slow on my PIII @1650MHz. Is it filled up with Java, or what?

----------------

The older thread about converting 2D drawings to 3D:
- It had only one single post, yes. That's the thread I haven't found.
- I found it only in Google's cache as a Hi-Fi version.
- The Lofi version was available but now I don't find it any more. Never mind, I have every form of copy needed. Got cautious over time.
- Yes, I've checked all my posts, accessible from my profile. This thread has simply vanished.

So if nobody finds the old thread, I'll just paste it again soon. And I've a Pdf as a timestamp anyway.

Older threads in readonly mode: yes, some complete thread groups have now disappeared from Physforum's menu. I can access some through my old navigator shortcuts. They can still be read, but are closed for new posts. This includes the one about LHC dangers, but not mine.

I haven't searched much, but my proposal for drawings conversion doesn't seems absolutely new nor original, is it? Certainly not a reason for torpedoing Physforum and removing the thread!
OK, just kidding.

Well, as it looks, my original post is really lost.

But never mind, here is a copy of it :

------------------- Posted: Sep 17 2008, 09:44 PM

Hello everybody!

Here is a big project for Artificial Intelligence programmers.

You probably know that for decades, engineers made drawings first on paper, and later with 2D (two-dimensional) CAD, where the method and result is very similar to paper drawing. Nowadays, people have switched to 3D-CAD, where the designer describes objects in 3D to the software which then makes cutaways and views as needed from the 3D model.

Over time, companies accumulated huge amounts of 2D drawings which shouldn't be lost. On the other hand, redrawing them in 3D consumes an awful lot of time, so it's done only if immediately necessary.

AI would be really helpful here. I imagine a program, used by a helping designer, that takes a 2D file as input (some formats are standard), analyses it and creates - with little help - the corresponding real 3D model (some formats are standard as well).

The next step would be to take paper drawings at the input instead of 2D files. But these two steps can be separated. And ink drawings tend to get scarce and less valuable now.

Engineers like to believe that a technical drawing gives all necessary information... This isn't quite true and a drawing always needs some interpretation. Most drawings have small mistakes as well. And anyway, the rules to read a drawing are so complicated and interleaved that classical programming just couldn't cope with it, hence the need for AI programming methods.

So the AI program could apply all rules, make assumptions for the missing information (10 holes, only one diameter, are they identical?) and ask an engineer for confirmation.

This project is nothing simple, but it would be really useful. I haven't heard that such a program would be commonly used up to now.

Gentlemen, start your inference engines...
Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy

Id like to convert some Quick Time files to AVI, MPEG and so forth. I gather that for 30 I can upgrade my QuickTime to the "Pro" version, but Ive been reading scandalously bad reviews of the program - even on Quick times site. Gripes seem to focus on the converted files coming out as very poor quality video, regardless of how good the original is.

Id also like to capture some internet video, but thats not my priority. If the software can only do one thing, the conversion is most important.

Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations?

Hi friend,
Google's SketchUp.This is an amazing 3d modeling program and incredibly simple to get to grips with.

A similar task, also needing AI:

Check if all dimensions are defined and compatible in a drawing. Needs to be done in 2D CAD as well as in cuts and views of a 3D CAD design.

It needs AI because drawings usually don't define each and every dimension and don't need to, especially if several features (many holes for instance) have the same size. Dimensions are usually defined through several views, requiring some autonomous behaviour from the programme as well. Also, some chains of dimensions can be rather long, and checking if they're complete, compatible and not redundant is more easily done with AI programming techniques.

Somewhat easier than the 2D to 3D conversion, and very useful as well, as many projects lose much time because of missing dimensions on drawings.

---------------

Much more difficult:

Check if all tolerances are compatible.

But I fear this one is just too difficult. It needs too much knowledge outside drawing rules, and leaves many uncertainties even among humans.

Marc Schaefer, aka Enthalpy

wow! this is good to see this post and 2d to 3d convert is not a huge work its very easy,yah of course when I'm starting design in the primary age I found this kind of problem but I just search and found two my topic related site www.totallyace.co.uk and www.totallydesignlondon.co.uk these two site helps me a lot,I think these must helps you.
Thankx and keep post cont.........