Universal CAD artists

[tomvanmele]

What type of change is this?

• Bug fix in a backwards-compatible manner.
• New feature in a backwards-compatible manner.
• Breaking change: bug fix or new feature that involve incompatible API changes.
• Other (e.g. doc update, configuration, etc)

Checklist

Put an x in the boxes that apply. You can also fill these out after creating the PR. If you're unsure about any of them, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help! This is simply a reminder of what we are going to look for before merging your code.

• I added a line to the CHANGELOG.md file in the Unreleased section under the most fitting heading (e.g. Added, Changed, Removed).
• I ran all tests on my computer and it's all green (i.e. invoke test).
• I ran lint on my computer and there are no errors (i.e. invoke lint).
• I added new functions/classes and made them available on a second-level import, e.g. compas.datastructures.Mesh.
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works.
• I have added necessary documentation (if appropriate)

[tomvanmele]

Based on @gonzalocasas recipe for making nurbs functionality pluggable...

Added compas.artists.Artist and pluggable factory compas.artists.new_artist, and plugins compas_rhino.artists.new_artist_rhino and compas_blender.artists.new_artist_blender.

This enables artist instantiation without CAD-specific imports.

from compas.artists import Artist
from compas.datastructures import Mesh
from compas.geometry import Polyhedron

shape = Polyhedron.from_platonicsolid(12)
mesh = Mesh.from_shape(shape)

artist = Artist(mesh)
artist.draw()

print(type(artist))  # compas_rhino.artists.meshartist.MeshArtist (if executed in Rhino)
                     # compas_blender.artists.meshartist.MeshArtist (if executed in Blender)

[beverlylytle]

I'm confused why this is on the base Artist and not on the BlenderArtist.

[tomvanmele]

ha perhaps the name is confusing. was mean to be a static method to draw many objects at the same time. is not related to the "collection" of blender. but since there is no implementation for it anywhere, perhaps it can just be removed...

[tomvanmele]

haha, apparently, because i am the original author of the PR i can't approve the changes, since "pull request authors cannot approve their own pull requests" :)

[tomvanmele]

i guess @gonzalocasas this means that you will have to approve of yourself :)

[beverlylytle]

Here I come to save the day!

[tomvanmele]

merging still blocked since @gonzalocasas requested changes at some point...

[gonzalocasas]

how picky this thing gets! ;)
I approved the changes, but I could add the missing shape artists to this before we merge.. or shall I do it in a new PR?

[tomvanmele]

since @beverlylytle will also still add the primitives for blender in a separate PR i would vote for merging!