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Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

akse3d-en.skaperiet.no

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Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#21

Post by dofm »

desdenova wrote: post #17
serf wrote: post #10

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suite near useless or incredibly hard to use/clunky for experts. glaring holes, omitted features, zero render or post-process support, poor drawing/print support, etc. i'm convinced this will always be the case and that the right approach, if there is one, is to t…

This is closer to an open Sketchup than a Blender. I think they fill different niches.

Much closer to Tinkercad in operation (negative solids etc.)

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#22

Post by zuzululu »

serf wrote: post #10

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suite near useless or incredibly hard to use/clunky for experts. glaring holes, omitted features, zero render or post-process support, poor drawing/print support, etc. i'm convinced this will always be the case and that the right approach, if there is one, is to t…

I didn't get that impression it was trying to be anything other than a beginner friendly tool, did you ?

Why can't we have both ?

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#23

Post by dofm »

phkahler wrote: post #9
joachimhs wrote: post #2

I run a small makerspace for kids and teens in Norway, and we kept hitting the same wall: the 3D tools we tried were either too fiddly for a 9-year-old or locked behind installs and accounts. So I built Akse — a browser-based 3D modeller for beginners, where the path from idea to a printable STL is as short as I could make it. It's deliberately limited, but with a rather powerfull 2D Blueprint mode where you draw an…

I have similar hopes for Solvespace - that every middle school student can pick it up and design things. We have a couple issues that keep me from recommending it too strongly though - bugs in the boolean code are IMHO the biggest blocker for kids. Any chance you could have the kids make comparisons between the two? Solvespace is completely constraint-based, so it may be a bit harder to learn but also more flexible.…

> that every middle school student can pick it up and design things.

The Solvespace UI is a long, long way from being the sort of UI a contemporary kid has any kind of comfort with, I'm afraid, and will be obtuse even to teachers (many of whom, with subjects that concern technology, do not have time to develop expertise in an obtuse UI and may indeed only be confident they understand the meaning of all the lessons they are teaching and not much more).

I don't think bugs in your booleans are your biggest problem at all.

I think Tinkercad has weaknesses as a classic CAD package, and there are things I would like to see done better, but as a package to teach younger people how core concepts in 3D modelling (rather than the ontologies of bRep) actually work, it is the standard you are working against.

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#24

Post by btown »

serf wrote: post #10

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suite near useless or incredibly hard to use/clunky for experts. glaring holes, omitted features, zero render or post-process support, poor drawing/print support, etc. i'm convinced this will always be the case and that the right approach, if there is one, is to t…

The problem, of course, is the moment you have some aspect of the model not representable by the basic primitives - do you make it impossible to switch back to the beginner interface?

I'm reminded of the concept of "ejecting" from e.g. Create React App a few years back - the idea was that if your beginner-friendly interface is actually built on the same underlying engine (in this case bundler and deployment assumptions) you can have full fidelity when you need customization, albeit with a one-way transition.

In the JS world things moved more towards build systems where beginner-friendly-DX and full-configurability could coexist. I'm not sure that CAD has the same dynamic.

Perhaps something like nested layers could work: you can use a complex model as a layer, but only opaquely, and build things around it with solids-and-holes; you can then lift that to itself a complex model, do things with professional CAD, and then treat the result itself as an opaque complex model if you switch back? That gets complicated fast.

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#25

Post by prmoustache »

lucasoshiro wrote: post #4

Really nice! Do you have plans to release it for desktop (maybe using Electron)? One of my main complains about tools like Tinkercad is that they are browser-based, and it's easier/faster to have everything local. That's one of the reasons that I moved to OpenSCAD

Browser based is not opposite to being local. Given it is open source I guess you can self-host locally on your computer.

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#26

Post by darksim905 »

serf wrote: post #10

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suite near useless or incredibly hard to use/clunky for experts. glaring holes, omitted features, zero render or post-process support, poor drawing/print support, etc. i'm convinced this will always be the case and that the right approach, if there is one, is to t…

I am a very basic beginner/familiar with tools like Solidworks that have every feature under the sun, but I never really took a class or learned beyond experiencing it at work for a company that made cosmetic packaging. What you're saying is somewhat right, because unless you're a trained engineer who even understands what the hell GD & T means, yeah, you're going to be confused as hell from a design perspective.

CAD/CAM software with Cartesian planes are already confusing as is for most folks. Once I started watching some videos discussing tolerances and such from an engineer perspective, the layout, tooling and concepts made a lot more sense to me.

At that point, it's essentially understanding the intention of the tools and if you're performing additive manufacturing or subtractive. A lot of CAD/CAM software is geared toward machine shops and setups and mindsets like that and not necessarily 3D printer-esque communities. I think these solutions are great for the 3D crowd and not so much the engineer.

There are some in-between things that break the mold and do things in unique ways for people who are product designers like Rhino. The node editing in that is so cool. I look forward to seeing what more people can do with AI now and scripting.

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#27

Post by darksim905 »

stiray wrote: post #16

Was preparing a rant about CAD solutions being free as long as people didnt get hooked and then closed behind paywall with ever increasing price. Then I see that I can self host it. This is interesting novelty. But there were so many bad apples in CAD area, that I will stick with FreeCAD and after 20 years, if this will evolve and prove it is just not another scam, happily give it a try.

Bad apples?

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#28

Post by WillAdams »

dofm wrote: post #23
phkahler wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have similar hopes for Solvespace - that every middle school student can pick it up and design things. We have a couple issues that keep me from recommending it too strongly though - bugs in the boolean code are IMHO the biggest blocker for kids. Any chance you could have the kids make comparisons between the two? Solvespace is completely constraint-based, so it may be a bit harder to learn but also more flexible.…

> that every middle school student can pick it up and design things. The Solvespace UI is a long, long way from being the sort of UI a contemporary kid has any kind of comfort with, I'm afraid, and will be obtuse even to teachers (many of whom, with subjects that concern technology, do not have time to develop expertise in an obtuse UI and may indeed only be confident they understand the meaning of all the lessons th…

A UI which seems a bit more in-line w/ contemporary expectations is Dune 3D:

https://dune3d.org/

which I find a little less confusing than the traditional 3D CAD packages I've tried (and failed to learn) --- at least for Dune 3D I've made it through the tutorial successfully.

Re: Akse3D – open-source 3D modelling anyone can master

#29

Post by phkahler »

dofm wrote: post #23
phkahler wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have similar hopes for Solvespace - that every middle school student can pick it up and design things. We have a couple issues that keep me from recommending it too strongly though - bugs in the boolean code are IMHO the biggest blocker for kids. Any chance you could have the kids make comparisons between the two? Solvespace is completely constraint-based, so it may be a bit harder to learn but also more flexible.…

> that every middle school student can pick it up and design things. The Solvespace UI is a long, long way from being the sort of UI a contemporary kid has any kind of comfort with, I'm afraid, and will be obtuse even to teachers (many of whom, with subjects that concern technology, do not have time to develop expertise in an obtuse UI and may indeed only be confident they understand the meaning of all the lessons th…

>> The Solvespace UI is a long, long way from being the sort of UI a contemporary kid has any kind of comfort with...

Respectfully, I disagree. Even adults have used the word "fun" to describe using solvespace. But I don't actually have feedback from kids, hence the question to OP.

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