Same here, perhaps "GitHub announces Diffs for 3D Files" would be clearer. This is a really awesome feature though, I'd be curious to see what other types of files they do this for (if any).
Me too. But as I was clicking and lagging on getting to the page, I was trying to visualize what a 3D view of a file diff would look like. I can't even imagine it.
A always assumed it was fake until a few years later a friend brought an SGI workstation into work to play with, and showed me the file manager.
Now I generally try to keep an open mind when I see things in movies as elements, while they may not be entirely correct, are sometimes based on reality. It just happens to be a portion of reality you are unfamiliar with.
I was thinking the same thing and was wondering how exactly that would look like as the page loaded. In a way I was disappointed. It's still a pretty cool feature though.
Now I think about it, it's super cool that GitHub are putting so much effort into being a useful platform for file formats traditionally not associated (much) with software development.
There is so much cool stuff you could investigate over and above text files: understanding photoshop files and describing layer changes; diffing audio and identifying mixes and how they were mixed.
As much as I don't like meta comments I'm going to have to make one finally, because I think about it every day and just need to get it out there to at least relieve the pressure in my head.
Why is the top voted comment so often about the title of the story? I guess it's because it's the first thing we interact with and it frames our expectations, but man alive, the title is probably the least interesting thing about any article posted to HN but consistently I see top rated comments talking about the title. Maybe it's just lowest-common-denominator.
And it's not that I think the comments themselves are bad, it's just weird to me that I consistently see them at the top of the page.
Apologies for the meta rant, it won't happen again, at least from me. (In fact the reason we have a lot of meta comments might be the same as the reason we have a lot of title-comments making me a bit hypocritical, but I digress.)
I think it's because people upvote most often when they share a particular opinion -- and your first opinion is mostly about the title of the article.
For example. I saw the title, clicked through (also opened comments), gave the page a once-over (didn't even read) -- came back here, and saw that first post. I also agree with the guy said, I thought they came up with some amazing new way to view regular diffs in 3D. So, I would have upvoted. Maybe it's just me, but I'm guessing far more people do that
In this case, possibly because it may provide some value to anyone reading the comments before the article. I too through it was going to be a diff for text files using a different visualization, not a diff of a specific file type. In that respect, it's a clarification of whatever summary you might infer from the title.
In short, I found the comment useful, it not necessarily inspiring of conversation (although a discussion of different visualizations of changes may be worthwhile).
I've thought about this before and attributed it simply to bikeshedding. When something interesting pops up people really want to be part of the conversation but don't have the background to talk about the main topic so they comment about the meta information.
I wonder if they have any plans to add support for other 3D filetypes (.ma, fbx, obj, etc)? It would be great to use this with more organic VFX-type models where some of the intricate detail updates are hard to discern at first glance.
Blue sky thinking, it would even be awesome to have something like this as a plugin in Maya where we could load in a previous version of the model and onion-skin between them with a slider like in the demo.
Going to check out the links in the article. Very cool!
I would unironically love a GitHub developer's conference where they get to do a keynote presenting all the awesome features they churn out at record pace.
I feel more people who aren't unrepentant nerds should get to see what these guys (and gals) are doing.
---
EDIT: They could just do something simple at a local, informal event (say a bar) with a few dozens of people. it doesn't have to be something huge.
It'd also be a great way for everyone at GitHub to get some training in making and delivering presentations, and it's great to have on your resumé.
I'd definitely want to try something like that out as a CEO, and I imagine it'd make it even more fun to work at a playful place like GitHub.
With 3D printers becoming more common, I think they are positioning themselves for the future, rather than fulfilling a strong demand that exists today.
A friend and I built http://www.bld3r.com as a vastly more open 3d file sharing platform than thingiverse. We welcome this move, as we prefer files to be hosted on open platforms like github. I thought I'd plug the site for anyone who wants an alternative. We are still in beta, but are finishing that soon.
I mean open in the sense that they have clear terms such that they don't effectively own your content. In building a 3d printing social network, not having to trust us was important to our design.
If github would make import/export a lot easier than it is today it would qualify as an open platform. Right now only the 'git' part of it is open (and git was open all along).
This is great! Historically, studios has shunned dvcs; github moving in his direction - even if motivated by personal 3d printing projects - may open some eyes and change some minds.
That would be great ... but I think the bigger thing is, just as open-source software has taken over much of the Internet, this is a critical step in helping open-source hardware take over ... well, everything else.
(hehe "Wow. That's a stupidly large amount of work, barfed out with seeming ignorance to the cost of implementation." Yes, well.... libffi helps out a lot.)
This is so great! I'm always working with STL's and always asking myself, "what's different in these models?" I'd love to see meta data and other 3D file types like VRMLs or SolidWorks parts included in the future as well.
SolidWorks seems really difficult to implement unless you're licensing a Windows server + SolidWorks software licenses or running wine and hacking up their dlls.. I would be curious to hear ideas on how to do it.
A neat feature but I wish they had support for 3d source file types instead of exported "binary", for lack of a better term, file types. If you wanted to truly open source your mechanical project you'd need to add an extra step to delete the previously exported STL and export a new one every time you commit. You also lose color/texture data when you export to STL.
STL files aren't sources. They are near the very end of the toolchain. At the front of the toolchain tends to be scripting languages like AutoLISP, OpenSCAD, MGED (BRL-CAD), etc.
Yes, it's the output from a CAD tool and used for 3d printing but STL is a binary file type and not easy to edit. Committing STL files to a repo is analagous to commiting EXE files instead of source code or PDF files instead of TEX.
What I mean is ease of editing in a typical CAD tool: Solidworks, AutoCad, Sketchup, etc. STL is imported as a solid blob and you lose all the individual features from the source model.
Actually there are 10x more OBJ formatted files than STL files. I created a Chrome extension to visualize these on GitHub as well: https://github.com/danielribeiro/three-hub
Collada format is also very popular, particular with WebGL guys. The problem with diffing these is that you start diffing animations as well. Which literally adds a new dimension to the problem. If you take textures and materials into account, then the problem soon becomes really hard to visualize
it's pretty trivial to include your SCAD file (for openSCADders like me) alongside your STLs. That's what I did on my github project (linked to indirectly via my info, and elswhere in this section).
the oral microbiome model system is an anaerobic community; this apparatus allows you to connect a pH probe using the screw side for continuous pH monitoring (we already have a device that does this; but it's suboptimal for other reasons too) plus a second port that will be fitted with a septum to draw gas, draw samples, or add to the medium.
I originally suggested it to them, and was kind of sad that they did away with this feature—that being said, it makes sense they want to streamline their platform.
Then, I’ve found it hard to create these kind of things myself, selfhostable FOSS solutions like Gitorious don’t offer enough possibilites to build upon (no real API)
I am neither authorized nor inclined to speak for GitHub, but if you were to suggest devoting more resources to convincing the people running botnets to go fold proteins, that would be nice.
I wonder if this feature is targeting the growing consumer 3D printing market. Being the goto place for collaborating, and versioning, 3D designs would be a good play for them.
This is nice, but, it feels like a splashy visual tool that took a lot of dev resources and will only be used significantly by a small user base. I personally feel that they would make a lot more users happy by spending a little on improving their existing code diff interface. Some ideas:
- make the context button "..." for the code diff actually do something
They're doing it before a significant user base grows that precipitates a github-for-3D startup. Building this feature also fosters growth of open source 3D modeling and printing, which is a net positive thing.
It is a net positive, I just wish they would focus more on their core users. Their basic code diff tool could use a lot of love to make it on par with the diffs generated from other tools.
I wonder if it really will though. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, STL is an output format (think PostScript) that I would be a little bit surprised to see checked in to a repository. Maybe diffs for 3D source formats will come in the future?
I agree. I think whoever is ok'ing things like the UI changes made in the past months and whoever approved this diff really is not doing what the majority of users are looking for. I think GH provides a great service, but something is wrong.
122 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 195 ms ] threadNot sure how this would work in practise, or even if it'd be useful to be honest...
Cue swordfish music.
Now I generally try to keep an open mind when I see things in movies as elements, while they may not be entirely correct, are sometimes based on reality. It just happens to be a portion of reality you are unfamiliar with.
Now I think about it, it's super cool that GitHub are putting so much effort into being a useful platform for file formats traditionally not associated (much) with software development.
There is so much cool stuff you could investigate over and above text files: understanding photoshop files and describing layer changes; diffing audio and identifying mixes and how they were mixed.
Why is the top voted comment so often about the title of the story? I guess it's because it's the first thing we interact with and it frames our expectations, but man alive, the title is probably the least interesting thing about any article posted to HN but consistently I see top rated comments talking about the title. Maybe it's just lowest-common-denominator.
And it's not that I think the comments themselves are bad, it's just weird to me that I consistently see them at the top of the page.
Apologies for the meta rant, it won't happen again, at least from me. (In fact the reason we have a lot of meta comments might be the same as the reason we have a lot of title-comments making me a bit hypocritical, but I digress.)
For example. I saw the title, clicked through (also opened comments), gave the page a once-over (didn't even read) -- came back here, and saw that first post. I also agree with the guy said, I thought they came up with some amazing new way to view regular diffs in 3D. So, I would have upvoted. Maybe it's just me, but I'm guessing far more people do that
In short, I found the comment useful, it not necessarily inspiring of conversation (although a discussion of different visualizations of changes may be worthwhile).
Blue sky thinking, it would even be awesome to have something like this as a plugin in Maya where we could load in a previous version of the model and onion-skin between them with a slider like in the demo.
Going to check out the links in the article. Very cool!
I feel more people who aren't unrepentant nerds should get to see what these guys (and gals) are doing.
---
EDIT: They could just do something simple at a local, informal event (say a bar) with a few dozens of people. it doesn't have to be something huge.
It'd also be a great way for everyone at GitHub to get some training in making and delivering presentations, and it's great to have on your resumé.
I'd definitely want to try something like that out as a CEO, and I imagine it'd make it even more fun to work at a playful place like GitHub.
If you build it they will come sort of thing.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5519676
(hehe "Wow. That's a stupidly large amount of work, barfed out with seeming ignorance to the cost of implementation." Yes, well.... libffi helps out a lot.)
:)
Collada format is also very popular, particular with WebGL guys. The problem with diffing these is that you start diffing animations as well. Which literally adds a new dimension to the problem. If you take textures and materials into account, then the problem soon becomes really hard to visualize
Only asking here because github is down, otherwise would be looking..
Edit: ah, found this https://github.com/ityonemo/imsocultured/commit/08b57107b757... - "oral microbiome community culturing apparatus" - so the complete apparatus is for culturing whatever bacteria and such you find in your mouth in a mini biome?
I originally suggested it to them, and was kind of sad that they did away with this feature—that being said, it makes sense they want to streamline their platform.
Then, I’ve found it hard to create these kind of things myself, selfhostable FOSS solutions like Gitorious don’t offer enough possibilites to build upon (no real API)
edit: back up yay!
- make the context button "..." for the code diff actually do something
- side-by-side diffs
- syntax highlighting