Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#31

Post by _carbyau_ »

ramboldio wrote: post #29
samwillis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That confirms the impression I had, I guess they are just so complex that building a new open source one from scratch would be Herculean effort. Guess OCCT is the only option for now. The itch I would love to scratch is an online real-time collaborative parametric cad app using CRDTs. Current thinking is combining OpenCascade compiled to WASM [0] with Yjs[1], but frankly don’t have the time. A kind of Figma but for 3…

that sounds very exciting! I also think that a physics / game engine environment would make CAD a lot more accessible. Right now, these two world are very distinct from each other..

I use Blender for simple 3D printing stuff. There have been a few times where I found the bottom of something by simply turning on gravity.

I do hope that Blender becomes more capable in this regard though.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#32

Post by pmayrgundter »

samwillis wrote: post #22
ramboldio wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same itch here. Here are two quite remarkable statements from a MIT lecture on CAD ( https://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/6/fa19/6.807/courseMaterial... ): "[there are] ASIC and Parasolid, others are not really as good" and "[CAD] Research disconnected from reality [compared to CG research]" One might expect a whole range of CAD kernels floating around, since these kernels are such a fundamental part of civilization in s…

That confirms the impression I had, I guess they are just so complex that building a new open source one from scratch would be Herculean effort. Guess OCCT is the only option for now. The itch I would love to scratch is an online real-time collaborative parametric cad app using CRDTs. Current thinking is combining OpenCascade compiled to WASM [0] with Yjs[1], but frankly don’t have the time. A kind of Figma but for 3…

Doing just this. Starting with BIM/IFCjs but have near-term plans for integrating a STEP-compatible engine soon.

Thanks for the opencascade/wasm link.. looks like a nice option!

github.com/buildrs/Share

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#33

Post by sigstoat »

ramboldio wrote: post #29
samwillis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That confirms the impression I had, I guess they are just so complex that building a new open source one from scratch would be Herculean effort. Guess OCCT is the only option for now. The itch I would love to scratch is an online real-time collaborative parametric cad app using CRDTs. Current thinking is combining OpenCascade compiled to WASM [0] with Yjs[1], but frankly don’t have the time. A kind of Figma but for 3…

that sounds very exciting! I also think that a physics / game engine environment would make CAD a lot more accessible. Right now, these two world are very distinct from each other..

they have very different goals. game engines and such make all sorts of performance compromises you positively wouldnt want your CAD software making.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#35

Post by ur-whale »

Already__Taken wrote: post #7

I tried this a couple of months ago, I found what it's trying to do very pleasant to use but the tooling around it is very annoying. The up-to-date version 2 isn't on pypi, conda is thoroughly unpleasant to have as an environment. There seems to be a drive to using it inside it's own editor https://github.com/CadQuery/CQ-editor while nice seems like wasted engineering effort in developing an editor when the language…

> conda is thoroughly unpleasant to have as an environment.

Understatement, if there ever was one.

Installing conda will maim your system irrevocably.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#36

Post by ur-whale »

defterGoose wrote: post #25
ur-whale wrote: post #24

Cut and paste of a recent comment I made in a similar thread: I've started to switch to Cadquery from OpenSCAD because OpenSCAD lacks proper fillets and chamfers. I usually prefer the CSG (arithmetic tree of union/difference/intersection + transforms + base shape leaves) to model 3D objects, as opposed to Cadquery's "draw on 2D surfaces and extrude" approach, but OpenSCAD's lack of fillets / chamfers combined with th…

AFAIK there isn't really another reasonable way of rendering other than having render meshes attached to everything (due to GPU architecture), but they shouldn't be getting used for any calculations so it also shouldn't matter very much.

> it also shouldn't matter very much.

There is usually a point at which you need to take your model out of the CAD out of the CAD tool.

For example to 3D print or to render.

And at that point, fine control on the meshing is rather important.

Sure, if you have a manufacturing tool that can directly handle NURBS, great.

That's certainly not the majority of the the hobbyist / prosumer market.

And the actual pros ... they don't use stuff like Cadquery, they use solidworks and the like.

So, yes: proper conversion to a polygonal mesh with fine control matters a great deal.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#37

Post by rgoulter »

mikebannister wrote: post #5

I made this keyboard case with CadQuery. In the long run I'm working towards generating cases (and PCBs) for keyboards with many parameters available for configuration (e.g. number of columns, number of rows, number and position of thumb keys, case style, rotary encoders, etc). https://imgur.com/a/VfOyAjP https://github.com/possibilities/unkeyboard Note I chose a somewhat non-idiomatic approach (in terms of cadquery)…

Ergogen is a project in a similar spirit; it takes a YAML as an input and uses this to generate files for plates, or (unrouted) Kicad PCBs.

I was also interested in having parametric CAD related to custom keyboard PCBs. The approach I took was to copy the PCB module data to a format the CAD program could use. That way, the Kicad PCB files would still be the "source of truth" for the PCB design, but I could use OpenScad to come up with the plates for the case. https://github.com/rgoulter/keyboard-labs/

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#38

Post by mikebannister »

rgoulter wrote: post #37
mikebannister wrote: post #5

I made this keyboard case with CadQuery. In the long run I'm working towards generating cases (and PCBs) for keyboards with many parameters available for configuration (e.g. number of columns, number of rows, number and position of thumb keys, case style, rotary encoders, etc). https://imgur.com/a/VfOyAjP https://github.com/possibilities/unkeyboard Note I chose a somewhat non-idiomatic approach (in terms of cadquery)…

Ergogen is a project in a similar spirit; it takes a YAML as an input and uses this to generate files for plates, or (unrouted) Kicad PCBs. I was also interested in having parametric CAD related to custom keyboard PCBs. The approach I took was to copy the PCB module data to a format the CAD program could use. That way, the Kicad PCB files would still be the "source of truth" for the PCB design, but I could use OpenSc…

Yeah Ergogen looks cool but I'm learning a lot writing my own code (about CAD, PCBs, and keyboards). I generate geometry based on parameters that are just plain old data structures and then I feed that into 1) Cadquery for the case and 2) A simple library (that will be replaced with Kicad scripting later) to output a PCB. So the whole thing is idempotent and deterministic depending on the inputs.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#39

Post by mikebannister »

mikebannister wrote: post #38
rgoulter wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ergogen is a project in a similar spirit; it takes a YAML as an input and uses this to generate files for plates, or (unrouted) Kicad PCBs. I was also interested in having parametric CAD related to custom keyboard PCBs. The approach I took was to copy the PCB module data to a format the CAD program could use. That way, the Kicad PCB files would still be the "source of truth" for the PCB design, but I could use OpenSc…

Yeah Ergogen looks cool but I'm learning a lot writing my own code (about CAD, PCBs, and keyboards). I generate geometry based on parameters that are just plain old data structures and then I feed that into 1) Cadquery for the case and 2) A simple library (that will be replaced with Kicad scripting later) to output a PCB. So the whole thing is idempotent and deterministic depending on the inputs.

BTW started out with OpenScad but, among other things, CadQuery allows me to do it all in one language and access to many useful libraries.

Re: CadQuery –- A Python parametric CAD scripting framework based on OCCT

#40

Post by mikebannister »

mikebannister wrote: post #38
rgoulter wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ergogen is a project in a similar spirit; it takes a YAML as an input and uses this to generate files for plates, or (unrouted) Kicad PCBs. I was also interested in having parametric CAD related to custom keyboard PCBs. The approach I took was to copy the PCB module data to a format the CAD program could use. That way, the Kicad PCB files would still be the "source of truth" for the PCB design, but I could use OpenSc…

Yeah Ergogen looks cool but I'm learning a lot writing my own code (about CAD, PCBs, and keyboards). I generate geometry based on parameters that are just plain old data structures and then I feed that into 1) Cadquery for the case and 2) A simple library (that will be replaced with Kicad scripting later) to output a PCB. So the whole thing is idempotent and deterministic depending on the inputs.

To be frank actually OpenScad is a steaming pile.
Post reply on HN