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OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

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Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#61

Post by throwgfgfd25 »

microtherion wrote: post #56
throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #18

If you want to do code-CAD for anything substantial and you haven't yet developed a significant dependency on OpenSCAD, do your brain a favour and spend at least some time with CadQuery, Build123D or (if you prefer JS to Python) Replicad. As impressive as NopSCADlib and BOSL2 are (and OMG they are, when you consider what they have to work with!) , OpenSCAD is a one-way, declarative CSG environment that essentially on…

The alternatives you suggest look interesting and worth checking out. I certainly have my annoyances with OpenSCAD, but one reason I keep coming back to it is that many of my models have user adjustable parameters, and as far as I know, OpenSCAD is the only tool supported by the thingiverse customizer. Personally, I rather like the constraint based approach in FreeCAD and miss that a lot in OpenSCAD.

> and as far as I know, OpenSCAD is the only tool supported by the thingiverse customizer

I am sure you are right that this is still the case. This is a big plus for OpenSCAD.

One of the alternatives I mention takes customisation to a different level that makes me hopeful.

Replicad can be used as a library in a web app:

https://replicad.xyz/docs/use-as-a-library

And they have a demo here (a React app):

https://sample-app.replicad.xyz

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#62

Post by jdevy »

throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #18

If you want to do code-CAD for anything substantial and you haven't yet developed a significant dependency on OpenSCAD, do your brain a favour and spend at least some time with CadQuery, Build123D or (if you prefer JS to Python) Replicad. As impressive as NopSCADlib and BOSL2 are (and OMG they are, when you consider what they have to work with!) , OpenSCAD is a one-way, declarative CSG environment that essentially on…

To add, there's a new CAD kernal that is in slow development called truck [1]. Is is written in Rust and you script/make models in Rust. It doesn't have any geometric constraints though.

There was a very short attempt at starting to make a GUI for truck [2] but development has seemed to have halted. There was discussion and hype about this here a couple months ago [3].

[1]: https://github.com/ricosjp/truck

[2]: https://github.com/CADmium-Co/CADmium

[3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40428827

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#63

Post by throwgfgfd25 »

jdevy wrote: post #62
throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #18

If you want to do code-CAD for anything substantial and you haven't yet developed a significant dependency on OpenSCAD, do your brain a favour and spend at least some time with CadQuery, Build123D or (if you prefer JS to Python) Replicad. As impressive as NopSCADlib and BOSL2 are (and OMG they are, when you consider what they have to work with!) , OpenSCAD is a one-way, declarative CSG environment that essentially on…

To add, there's a new CAD kernal that is in slow development called truck [1]. Is is written in Rust and you script/make models in Rust. It doesn't have any geometric constraints though. There was a very short attempt at starting to make a GUI for truck [2] but development has seemed to have halted. There was discussion and hype about this here a couple months ago [3]. [1]: https://github.com/ricosjp/truck [2]: https…

Ahh! That was the name, thanks. I was trying to remember it to find the blog post for [3] again. It is uncommonly well-written.

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#64

Post by wiw2 »

WillAdams wrote: post #33

One notable new development is the Python-enabled OpenPythonSCAD: https://pythonscad.org/ which finally made it possible for me to finally have the ability to write out G-code (allowing one to use OpenSCAD as a CAM tool) and DXFs (allowing one to have fully control and to create not-closed/unconnected geometry, and to write out arcs rather than only polylines): https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview For the curren…

Thank you! I have seen your posts in the PythonSCAD subreddit. They have been very helpful!

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#65

Post by dgroshev »

wlesieutre wrote: post #60
dgroshev wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SOLIDWORKS for Makers includes a full copy of SOLIDWORKS and costs $48/year https://www.solidworks.com/solution/3dexperience-solidworks-...

For non-commercial use, files are watermarked and can’t be opened later in a commercial or academic licensed version

Sure, but I believe the majority of OpenSCAD users are fine with non-commercial use.

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#66

Post by le-mark »

h2odragon wrote: post #7

the "manifold" renderer makes possible some stunts that couldn't be done before. for example, i made this "usa counties" outline from a png : https://www.printables.com/model/895723-usa-counties its under the "features" preference, doesn't work for everything yet, but is worth investigating if you haven't.

The manifold geometry kernel library is a truly impressive piece of work imo; well worth checking out;

https://github.com/elalish/manifold

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#67

Post by nanolith »

seveibar wrote: post #44
nanolith wrote: post #28

I've never been comfortable drawing or drafting with GUIs. This is true for "drawing" graphics, laying out boards, or building 3D models for printing or CNC. OpenSCAD has been invaluable to me. Usually, I'll hand draw what I need, then work out the equations, then build the models. No need to figure out what certain icons mean or to learn accelerator commands. I've built some fairly intricate designs with OpenSCAD. C…

You might like the PCB constraint system we're building at tscircuit for laying out boards, the biggest issue with most systems imo is that you can't cleanly specify constraints. In tscircuit you can just use a component to lay out PCB elements https://github.com/tscircuit/cli/blob/main/example-project/s...

That is really cool. I've been threatening to do something like this for years. Thanks for this!

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#68

Post by WillAdams »

wiw2 wrote: post #29
throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #18

If you want to do code-CAD for anything substantial and you haven't yet developed a significant dependency on OpenSCAD, do your brain a favour and spend at least some time with CadQuery, Build123D or (if you prefer JS to Python) Replicad. As impressive as NopSCADlib and BOSL2 are (and OMG they are, when you consider what they have to work with!) , OpenSCAD is a one-way, declarative CSG environment that essentially on…

I poked around with CadQuery and Build123D. The learning curve required a paradigm shifted in abstraction. That was too much. I just want OpenSCAD simplicity, but with modern programming language syntax. I ended up settling with PythonScad. I was able to hit the ground running and leverage what I already know about python within a day. It's new, but the author is extremely active and collaborative on github ( https:/…

The amazing thing to me is that PythonSCAD is useful just for allowing access to variables and being able to write out files --- and it allows encapsulating those capabilities in "normal" OpenSCAD so that it is then possible to use them in a supporting tool such as:

https://github.com/derkork/openscad-graph-editor

see:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview/mai...

and the matching:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview/mai...

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#69

Post by WillAdams »

wiw2 wrote: post #64
WillAdams wrote: post #33

One notable new development is the Python-enabled OpenPythonSCAD: https://pythonscad.org/ which finally made it possible for me to finally have the ability to write out G-code (allowing one to use OpenSCAD as a CAM tool) and DXFs (allowing one to have fully control and to create not-closed/unconnected geometry, and to write out arcs rather than only polylines): https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview For the curren…

Thank you! I have seen your posts in the PythonSCAD subreddit. They have been very helpful!

My pleasure!

I just hope we can get more folks using PythonOpenSCAD (or ideally, get it merged into the main branch).

Just finished up unit tests for the current state of gcodepreview:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview/mai...

as part of my reading https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39996759-a-philosophy-of... and applying what I learn from each chapter to it --- a bit more than a third of the way through, and it has already helped immeasurably.

Re: OpenSCAD: The Programmer's Solid 3D CAD Modeller

#70

Post by coryrc »

WillAdams wrote: post #34
throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a totally reasonable question! I am using a throwaway to limit my HN usage, to be honest. I wish I had a better way to manage my addictive social media behaviour than torching accounts after a few discussions. But I do not. I saw this thread only because it's clearly a followup to the FreeCAD discussion the other day that I have contributed to. -- People do get oddly grumpy when you criticise OpenSCAD; there…

The great thing about OpenSCAD is that it makes creating models which may be described mathematically/programmatically easy. The awful thing about OpenSCAD is that what one can create in it is strongly bounded by one's facility with and fluency in mathematics. I'm curious how the new Python-enabled (I really hope it gets added in to the program itself) will affect this.

The awful thing is that you can only export triangles, so you can't make any true curves. If it was capable to true circles it would do everything I have ever needed to make.
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