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FreeCAD in the Browser

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Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#31

Post by gucci-on-fleek »

NavinF wrote: post #12
ebspelman wrote: post #10

The launch graphic says "Ported end-to-end by Fable, an AI agent" and it definitely feels that way. Buggy, glitchy, needs some love and human eyes before it's really usable.

FreeCAD on desktop is much the same in my experience. If LLMs were mainstream a few years ago I would have assumed the UI was 100% AI generated with zero human input besides a oneshot prompt.

When was the last time that you used FreeCAD? Even 18 months ago, I would agree with you that it was a buggy mess, but I tried it a few weeks ago and it was super stable. The UI is still a little confusing, but that just comes with the domain, since AutoCAD and Fusion 360 aren't much better.

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#32

Post by jazzyjackson »

gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #31
NavinF wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FreeCAD on desktop is much the same in my experience. If LLMs were mainstream a few years ago I would have assumed the UI was 100% AI generated with zero human input besides a oneshot prompt.

When was the last time that you used FreeCAD? Even 18 months ago, I would agree with you that it was a buggy mess, but I tried it a few weeks ago and it was super stable. The UI is still a little confusing, but that just comes with the domain, since AutoCAD and Fusion 360 aren't much better.

I couldn’t get the results described by the intro tutorial 3 months ago, in the parts bench drawing a polygon, snapping was broken.

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#33

Post by [deleted] »

throwup238 wrote: post #30
SequoiaHope wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

Heh, me too. I'm on my third rewrite after a bunch of promising false starts. Unfortunately geometric kernels are one of those things where unknown unknowns will bite you in the ass really hard because none of the content is really in the training data for LLMs and pathological/degenerate cases aren't just common but expected. IME it's not something that can be vibe coded with current models, if ever, without intimat…

[deleted]

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#34

Post by SequoiaHope »

throwup238 wrote: post #30
SequoiaHope wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

Heh, me too. I'm on my third rewrite after a bunch of promising false starts. Unfortunately geometric kernels are one of those things where unknown unknowns will bite you in the ass really hard because none of the content is really in the training data for LLMs and pathological/degenerate cases aren't just common but expected. IME it's not something that can be vibe coded with current models, if ever, without intimat…

Thanks! I had a lot of false starts too. I asked fable in my repo about your question and it said there are two schools of thought on tolerance tracking. My kernel uses exact predicates which fable says eliminates the need to track tolerances the way ACIS does. I tried to paste the full reply but my comment seemed to have been auto flagged.

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#35

Post by Leonard_of_Q »

Evidlo wrote: post #14
cui wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The browser as a universal platform.

Like electron, but it's fine this way for some reason.

It is fine 'cause it uses the browser you're already using anyway instead of importing a new one for each and every application. Run the backend on a server somewhere and you can get to your application anywhere you can reach that server which - using a self-hosted VPN - can be anywhere you have internet access.

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#36

Post by nchmy »

SequoiaHope wrote: post #18
throwup238 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s a professional system from the founders of Solidworks that competes with all the top CAD tools. Because it's built on Parasolid, the same geometric kernel as everyone else. With ACIS pretty much out the door, almost all the professional CAD packages are just window dressing on the same CG implementation.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

Very cool. You mentioned it is mit licensed - is it shared publicly somewhere?

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#37

Post by throwup238 »

SequoiaHope wrote: post #34
throwup238 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh, me too. I'm on my third rewrite after a bunch of promising false starts. Unfortunately geometric kernels are one of those things where unknown unknowns will bite you in the ass really hard because none of the content is really in the training data for LLMs and pathological/degenerate cases aren't just common but expected. IME it's not something that can be vibe coded with current models, if ever, without intimat…

Thanks! I had a lot of false starts too. I asked fable in my repo about your question and it said there are two schools of thought on tolerance tracking. My kernel uses exact predicates which fable says eliminates the need to track tolerances the way ACIS does. I tried to paste the full reply but my comment seemed to have been auto flagged.

I think Fable gave you a load of nonsense. Like I said, this stuff isn’t really in the training data and academic research is disconnected from commercial CG (and I’m pretty sure its wrong about ACIS - iiuc ACIS used global tolerances and its one of the reasons it lost to PS).

Robust/(adaptive) exact predicates and tolerance tracking solve two different things and a geometric kernel needs both, especially if you plan on letting models use meshes, lattice, or freeform surfaces (which is where the industry is headed for simulation driven design). The constructions you feed the exact predicates need to already account for tolerances to be correct (i.e. pcurves, vertices, etc) and the second you do any math on them - before feeding it to the predicate - you need tracking. Predicates don’t eliminate the floating point math.

(Grain of salt and all that, I don’t really know what I’m talking about)

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#38

Post by jayemar »

SequoiaHope wrote: post #18
throwup238 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s a professional system from the founders of Solidworks that competes with all the top CAD tools. Because it's built on Parasolid, the same geometric kernel as everyone else. With ACIS pretty much out the door, almost all the professional CAD packages are just window dressing on the same CG implementation.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

What is your issue with OnShape that prompted you to undertake this project? Is it because it's not open source?

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#39

Post by SequoiaHope »

nchmy wrote: post #36
SequoiaHope wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

Very cool. You mentioned it is mit licensed - is it shared publicly somewhere?

Here ya go https://github.com/sequoia-hope/waffle-iron/tree/main

Re: FreeCAD in the Browser

#40

Post by SequoiaHope »

jayemar wrote: post #38
SequoiaHope wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I’m not OP but for six months I’ve been using Claude to build a from-scratch CAD kernel based on Rust and WASM, MIT licensed. The actual UI still needs a lot of work, but I’ve been focused on the kernel. Fable has helped a lot though Opus was already making great headway. I’m an OnShape power user going back about ten years, Solidworks before that. I need a CAD system that absolutely works. There is a lot of…

What is your issue with OnShape that prompted you to undertake this project? Is it because it's not open source?

Basically. Moreover though it’s cloud based so you can’t run it with a poor connection or no connection. They could change their mind at any time about free accounts and lock users out. Free accounts can’t make private files. And I don’t know if OnShape is accessible to everyone in every country.
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