CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser • Hacker News Board

Re: CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser

#241

Post by eliasson » Sat, May 25, 2024, 2:32 PM UTC

onthecanposting wrote: post #114

samwillis wrote: post #30

I'm very excited about what Matt is building, the world desperately needs a good open source parametric CAD package. One where the UI/UX is designed to be as "easy" to use a SolidWorks. The biggest reason this hasn't happened so far is the lack of a truly capable parametric kernel, Truck, the kernel that Matt is using looks like an incredible project and exactly whats needed. The only other kennel till now that been…

"The biggest reason this hasn't happened so far is the lack of a truly capable parametric kernel" Does parasolid not fit this requirement? The capabilities I've seen in Plasticity are very impressive. Or do you specifically mean FOSS? The more I use CAD platforms, the more I develop the sense that general-purpose CAD is much less useful than single-purpose applications that provide tailored solutions to narrow proble…

Absolutely agree. I just finished a project were where users can design / construct solutions in a specific domain in either 2D or 3D, with support for exporting CAD and STP.

The user works with rich domain objects that limit the possibilities to what actually works or is practice; much like a game level builder. This allows non-experts to design solutions in this particular domain, which of course is great for business / sales.

Re: CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser

#242

Post by ecjhdnc2025 » Sun, May 26, 2024, 9:02 PM UTC

btreecat wrote: post #198

hathawsh wrote: post #86

I really hope CADmium can wean me off of OpenSCAD. With OpenSCAD, I don't really have to think at first; I use a simple language to write modules that build on other modules. The problem with OpenSCAD is there's no solver: I have variables, but no constraints. As I make changes, suddenly I have to think hard and solve the constraints manually and it's easy to introduce errors. However, the problem isn't severe enough…

FreeCAD has a built in OpenSCAD engine. I started with OpenSCAD but found FreeCAD to be way more productive for me when it came to actually producing 3d objects. Sometimes I want to start with a square, then delete a line, and add a semi circle. But I don't always know that until I start sketching. With OpenSCAD I feel you have to know the shape primitive you need, then the exact way to modify it, and the fact that i…

Belatedly: this engine has one absolutely fantastic advantage, too.

Because it interprets the file as a sequence of Part object manipulations, it's a very useful way of getting a bRep representation of an OpenSCAD document, so you get the opportunity to generate a clean, minimal STEP file.

OpenSCAD cannot do this itself, and the other conversion approaches just get you a triangle mesh packaged in a STEP file.

It's not perfect -- you get a mesh if you use Minkowski or hull operations. But it's good.

Re: CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser

#243

Post by CarlJW » Mon, May 27, 2024, 1:20 AM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #140

geph2021 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know a lot about these tools, but I've used QCAD[1] for home improvement projects, drawing schematics and layout diagrams, and been very happy with it. It seems quite powerful. It's also open source, although not browser based. I'm just wondering why QCAD doesn't seem to get much if any mention on HN when CAD tools and open source comes up. 1 - https://www.qcad.org/

Qcad is commercial software. The author is doing his best to ride the line between commercial and OSS, but most free software developers don't want to play. LibreCad was forked from an earlier version of Qcad and fell behind. Now they're doing a whole new LibreCAD but it's been years in the making.

As a user of QCAD I am more than happy to pay the extra for the features in the commercial version and support the developer (Not vastly different but adds a few tools that make certain constructions easier). I used it free for a while and appreciated it enough to exchange some money. The extra features are a bonus but it's worth the money even for the free version.

I think it's a shame that LibreCAD has stagnated and diverted, particularly on usability. QCAD has one of the best 2D CAD UX I've used, akin to AutoCAD but more light and nimble. Exactly what is needed for most 2D CAD.

If you need a powerhouse, then you really need 3D anyway, and most likely you aren't a hobbiest if that's the case. For 2D, it's QCAD all the way. 3D is nice, but 2D gets the job done 9/10 times. 3D is overrated.