Hello inkscape-devel!
basing on the suggested ideas of last year (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Google_Summer_Of_Code), I'd really love to tackle one of the suggestions, actually the 3d file import stuff.
Open Asset Import Library (http://sf.net/projects/assimp) is a sort of generic importer library for 3d models, it supports two douzens of file formats from various 3d apps, frameworks, games, such as 3ds, obj, Collada, x, md5, ... Project exists since 2008, is hacked on by a team of 5-6 people. I'm currently the main committer, always trying to keep things together.
Basing on the '3D Polyhedron' extension, the idea would be to integrate Assimp as model importer to get access to a wide range of formats. After importing, display a sort of real-time preview (in a separate window with OpenGL, maybe?) so the user can choose his preferred view point, lighting, whatever. When he's done, the model would be projected onto the drawing plane, converted to inkscape polygons and grouped together. Fancy stuff such as flat-shading and other things would be quite easy to accomplish. Also, Assimps development will surely continue, so format support might be improved in future (Diederik van Lierop pointed out that CAD file formats are mostly missing, also there's no support for Blenders native format yet).
A few words to myself: I'm currently 18. Attending the german equivalent of highschool in year 12 of 13. A bit computer-addicted (just a little bit, you know :-) Worked with a few software technologies, in terms of programming languages mostly C, Python, C++. Also, I do like anything related to computer graphics. No development experience with Inkscape' source code yet (biggest achievement so far: it compiles), but I like the app and use it regularly and would like to contribute in future. GSoC seems a great opportunity.
Please tell what you think.
Regards Alexander Gessler