Fidget
mattkeeter.com
Fidget
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Re: Fidget
#2Phenomenal to have a new open source CAD kernel out there! I couldn’t tell from the article if this supports export to common formats like STEP. But if so (or once that’s possible) it should be a great foundation for some of the open source CAD libraries out there.
Re: Fidget
#3> Here's the intersection of two exactly-coincident cylinders
The picture looks like the union of two cylinders?
Re: Fidget
#4> Here's the intersection of two exactly-coincident cylinders The picture looks like the union of two cylinders?
You're correct, fixed!
Re: Fidget
#5Phenomenal to have a new open source CAD kernel out there! I couldn’t tell from the article if this supports export to common formats like STEP. But if so (or once that’s possible) it should be a great foundation for some of the open source CAD libraries out there.
It does not support STEP export, unfortunately, because STEP files use a completely different underlying representation.
Most STEP files represent shapes as a set of surfaces (e.g. trimmed NURBS). These surfaces have to form a watertight manifold, which can be treated as a solid volume.
To make this actually work, you need a kernel for boundary representations (b-reps), rather than Fidget's functional representations (f-reps). Writing such a kernel is a much harder problem – as one example, the intersection of two NURBS surfaces doesn't always have a closed-form representation! In conversations with someone in the industry, they estimated it would take 6 engineers about a year to write a decent b-rep kernel, if they had done it before.
If you'd like to learn more, I've coincidentally also written a STEP file viewer, which includes a far-from-industrial-strength b-rep kernel: https://www.mattkeeter.com/projects/foxtrot/
Re: Fidget
#6Oh neat. I’ve been meaning to explore SDF/implicit surfaces.
Optimizing for enjoyment/time and writing from scratch are useful exercises!
Re: Fidget
#7Phenomenal to have a new open source CAD kernel out there! I couldn’t tell from the article if this supports export to common formats like STEP. But if so (or once that’s possible) it should be a great foundation for some of the open source CAD libraries out there.
It does not support STEP export, unfortunately, because STEP files use a completely different underlying representation. Most STEP files represent shapes as a set of surfaces (e.g. trimmed NURBS). These surfaces have to form a watertight manifold, which can be treated as a solid volume. To make this actually work, you need a kernel for boundary representations (b-reps), rather than Fidget's functional representations…
Could this or the other "Studio" be used to avoid using OpenSCAD when creating models for 3D printing?
Re: Fidget
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
It does not support STEP export, unfortunately, because STEP files use a completely different underlying representation. Most STEP files represent shapes as a set of surfaces (e.g. trimmed NURBS). These surfaces have to form a watertight manifold, which can be treated as a solid volume. To make this actually work, you need a kernel for boundary representations (b-reps), rather than Fidget's functional representations…
Could this or the other "Studio" be used to avoid using OpenSCAD when creating models for 3D printing?
I've been using Studio as my primary way of generating models for 3D printing for years now, no OpenSCAD involved. Write some scheme, get an STL.
I do wish Matt would cool it with his constant brilliant endeavors and go back and give Studio some love though. At this point I can't get it to build and can only launch an old version I compiled years ago that breaks if I'm not in some specific working directory in my Downloads folder.
Re: Fidget
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could this or the other "Studio" be used to avoid using OpenSCAD when creating models for 3D printing?
I've been using Studio as my primary way of generating models for 3D printing for years now, no OpenSCAD involved. Write some scheme, get an STL. I do wish Matt would cool it with his constant brilliant endeavors and go back and give Studio some love though. At this point I can't get it to build and can only launch an old version I compiled years ago that breaks if I'm not in some specific working directory in my Dow…
Thanks!
Re: Fidget
#10Coincidentally I was just reading this other wonderful post from the author https://www.mattkeeter.com/projects/constraints/