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Text-to-CAD

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Re: Text-to-CAD

#31

Post by optshun »

Falimonda wrote: post #18
optshun wrote: post #7

The only LLM-as-a-service I use is phind for the sole reason that it allows me to use it without "signing up" first. If the sign up is a necessary barrier for your needs is for you to decide, but I just wanted to let you know that I was excited to try your product for my wood working and 3d printing needs until the required signup. Just some anecdata that even a little friction can be a hindrance in people using your…

If I may ask, why are you so against signing up for these tools?

A number of reasons.

Chiefly, a desire for privacy and anonymity. A signup will identify my interactions with an endpoint dedicated to me circumventing other privacy and anonymity measures I take such as fingerprint resisting and use of VMs and VPNs.

Also, sharing my email puts me at risk of having my email forwarded against my will or without my consent, as well as potentially clogging my inbox with endless "promotional updates".

Finally, I am unable to make an informed decision whether the risks of sharing my email with this company is worth the utility of the tool it provides until after I try it.

I think a fair response to your question is a question of its own: What do they want with my email?

Re: Text-to-CAD

#32

Post by 1-6 »

huytersd wrote: post #6
dugite-code wrote: post #5

When ever I see CAD mentioned on hackernews it's always 3D and never the more ubiquitous (in the construction industry) 2D documentation CAD. I wonder if this would be able to generate 2D vector files.

It’s trivial to take a 2D image DALLE3 or midjourney generate and vectorize it (illustrator etc.)

A machine should be able to interpret topographic lines and generate an architectural floor plan that minimizes cut and fill.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#33

Post by 1-6 »

Prompt: Text-to-CAD, read this website full of building codes and generate 10 different floorplans that satisfy all requirements.

Response: Sorry, there are codes that counteracts other building codes.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#34

Post by nirav72 »

I’ve used ChatGpt to generate OpenSCAD code. Using GPT 4, it does a decent enough job to generate code for a basic shape of something as a starter.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#35

Post by batch12 »

optshun wrote: post #31
Falimonda wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may ask, why are you so against signing up for these tools?

A number of reasons. Chiefly, a desire for privacy and anonymity. A signup will identify my interactions with an endpoint dedicated to me circumventing other privacy and anonymity measures I take such as fingerprint resisting and use of VMs and VPNs. Also, sharing my email puts me at risk of having my email forwarded against my will or without my consent, as well as potentially clogging my inbox with endless "promoti…

So I have struggled with this when building services that need to store a user's data or manage a user identity. I'd prefer to not collect an email address. For me it comes down to whether or not I need to support features that most users expect like resetting an account password or notifying the user about some event.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#36

Post by iancmceachern »

dugite-code wrote: post #5

When ever I see CAD mentioned on hackernews it's always 3D and never the more ubiquitous (in the construction industry) 2D documentation CAD. I wonder if this would be able to generate 2D vector files.

They're one and the same.

We use 3d CAD to generate 2d drawings, that's the standard way 3d cad is used, to generate 2d drawings that let you make stuff.

Many people get 3d modeling like for games or computer graphics confused with CAD, which is different.

CAD is fundamentally 2d and 3d in nature both, as a function of how we use it to make parts

Re: Text-to-CAD

#37

Post by kragen »

iancmceachern wrote: post #36
dugite-code wrote: post #5

When ever I see CAD mentioned on hackernews it's always 3D and never the more ubiquitous (in the construction industry) 2D documentation CAD. I wonder if this would be able to generate 2D vector files.

They're one and the same. We use 3d CAD to generate 2d drawings, that's the standard way 3d cad is used, to generate 2d drawings that let you make stuff. Many people get 3d modeling like for games or computer graphics confused with CAD, which is different. CAD is fundamentally 2d and 3d in nature both, as a function of how we use it to make parts

i've definitely used 2-d cad programs that can't handle 3-d, and 3-d cad programs that are at best anemic for making 2-d drawings

they're not one and the same, although some programs are capable enough to do both

Re: Text-to-CAD

#38

Post by liotier »

kragen wrote: post #37
iancmceachern wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're one and the same. We use 3d CAD to generate 2d drawings, that's the standard way 3d cad is used, to generate 2d drawings that let you make stuff. Many people get 3d modeling like for games or computer graphics confused with CAD, which is different. CAD is fundamentally 2d and 3d in nature both, as a function of how we use it to make parts

i've definitely used 2-d cad programs that can't handle 3-d, and 3-d cad programs that are at best anemic for making 2-d drawings they're not one and the same, although some programs are capable enough to do both

That a CAD program can only handle 2D doesn't mean that it doesn't describe 3D. Even when plans where physical large format blueprints, 2D, the product they described was of course always 3D. In French, the draughtsman was called a "dessinateur projeteur" - as projecting the 3D objects to a 2D plane (the plan !) was his core skill.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#39

Post by optshun »

batch12 wrote: post #35
optshun wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A number of reasons. Chiefly, a desire for privacy and anonymity. A signup will identify my interactions with an endpoint dedicated to me circumventing other privacy and anonymity measures I take such as fingerprint resisting and use of VMs and VPNs. Also, sharing my email puts me at risk of having my email forwarded against my will or without my consent, as well as potentially clogging my inbox with endless "promoti…

So I have struggled with this when building services that need to store a user's data or manage a user identity. I'd prefer to not collect an email address. For me it comes down to whether or not I need to support features that most users expect like resetting an account password or notifying the user about some event.

I get it, and labor on the question as well with the tools I make.

The problems you present seem easily managed with an option to sign up while limiting certain use cases to those using the service anonymously.

I like a limited local first design, and a “demo login” with a simulated fully featured account that I feel allow a person to make the decision to share a piece of their identity with our product without any stress or coercion.

I tried to acknowledge that they may think the sign up is necessary for them, and that is a completely acceptable decision to make. I was just pointing out that it carries the risk of turning away weirdos like me.

If I was to build something in the LLM space I would likely try to glean some answers to these questions by cold emailing the phind team to ask them what considerations went into their decision to provide their tool in the way they do.

Re: Text-to-CAD

#40

Post by duped »

optshun wrote: post #7

The only LLM-as-a-service I use is phind for the sole reason that it allows me to use it without "signing up" first. If the sign up is a necessary barrier for your needs is for you to decide, but I just wanted to let you know that I was excited to try your product for my wood working and 3d printing needs until the required signup. Just some anecdata that even a little friction can be a hindrance in people using your…

That's why it's a good filter. Friction isn't a bad thing if it filters out poorly matched leads.
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