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Plasticity Is CAD for Artists
- danboarder 5y agoI find this to be a very cool NURBS-based CAD project, can't wait to play with it more. From what I can see it borrows a lot of concepts from solid modeling CAD tools like Solidworks, but also has UX similarities to other common surface modeling tools like Blender. Here is a video of how it works: Plasticity - Fresh NURBS Modeler for Everyone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l16YkZnT5zM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l16YkZnT5zM
- hnarayanan 5y agoThis is really cool, both in terms of what it can do, the approachable pricing model and the video that shows it off. (Since I’m not aware of the details…) Is this similar to using NURBS as the representation in Blender? As in what makes this more CAD-ey?
- semi-extrinsic 5y agoBlender as a tool is very far from CAD-ey, in the sense that precision work - this should be 120 mm and that should be 1.41 times this - is not really a supported workflow. There isn't even a constraint solver in Blender. You can make Blender work as a CAD-ish tool with practice and self-discipline and lots of keyboard shortcuts. But e.g. Fusion360 or even SketchUp is what a CAD-oriented workflow feels like. There is a big difference. Haven't tried this yet, but I expect it to retain enough of the CAD-oriented approach that the workflow still feels quite different from Blender.
- ur-whale 5y ago> There isn't even a constraint solver in Blender. Not 100% correct. There are a number of add-ons that do this. I even think someone managed to hook-up the solvespace engine in a blender add-on There are also a whole slew of add-ons that can make Blender more CAD-friendly. However, you are correct, this is not the primary intent of Blender.
- nkallen 5y agoI think the main thing to understand is that blender has minimal nurbs support. For example, try doing booleans, fillets, or offset surfaces with blender nurbs. You can’t. Nurbs are good for some shapes and bad for others. In addition to manufacturing, nurbs are great for hard surface / scifi assets for video games and movies. Plasticity is for artists. It is more in the tradition of MoI3d than say solidworks. It has a very powerful geometry kernel and the user interface is meant to be familiar to blender users and modern looking. It’s still very beta and changing every day
- S0und 5y agoI get PTSD when i heard the acronym of NURBS. Decades ago when Subdivision modelling wasn't a thing YET, people though that NURBS was a viable modeling method.
- ur-whale 5y agoExports both to STEP and OBJ out of the box, they did get that part right. But ... what's a "nupkg" ? [EDIT]: looks like you'll have to pull in all of mono just to install and try this :-( [1] [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38118548/how-to-install-nuget-from-command-line-on-linux https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38118548/how-to-install-... [EDIT 2]: my bad, there is a .deb in release 0.5.27 https://github.com/nkallen/plasticity/releases/tag/v0.5.27 https://github.com/nkallen/plasticity/releases/tag/v0.5.27 [EDIT 3]: now that I've been able to install try it on Linux: this is really nice, very pleasant UI, and for those familiar with blender, the interaction style will be familiar. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this.
- colordrops 5y agoFor those of us who are not familiar with the domain, what differentiates this from Blender? Does Blender not support NURBS? If not, why is that the case?
- hirako2000 5y agoBlender supports NURBS. What differentiates this from Blender? Blender is a full fledged pipeline of tools, not to CAD, extensive modeling tools, texturing, rigged animation, post production, multiple rendering engines. It's like comparing a specific photo editor that say focuses on filters and color adjustments, with Photoshop.
- eurasiantiger 5y agoIn other words, Blender is the Emacs of the 3D world.
- hirako2000 5y agoit probably deserves the comparison with Linux altogether as it's even more multi purpose and has become, at lead since v2.8, not only appealing to total geeks. I can't think of any other open source software, other than Linux, that represents such a threat and valid alternative to commercial products. Autodesk be damned, even merging with Adobe wouldn't solve the Blender problem.
- skykooler 5y agoRight. It's even got things like a text editor with syntax highlighting and an image editor. If someone spliced a browser in there, it could practically be a whole OS on its own.
- danboarder 5y agoBlender has supported NURBS (Non-uniform rational B-spline) modeling since 2.9 (fairly recent). https://www.makeuseof.com/nurbs-curves-3d-modeling-blender-tutorial/ https://www.makeuseof.com/nurbs-curves-3d-modeling-blender-t...
- eps 5y agoThere's also MagicaCSG [1] , from the same person who made MagicaVoxel [2]. [1] http://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=magicacsg http://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=magicacsg [2] http://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=mv_main http://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=mv_main
- Jarmsy 5y agoMagicaCSG is cool but implicit modelling is a world away from a NURBS tool like this.
- avian 5y ago> Plasticity is mostly Open Source. When Plasticity reaches 1.0, it will cost $25 to use (no subscription). I'm curious how this will be implemented. According to the LICENSE file in the repo, the current source is available under LGPL. What will cost $25? Will the repo be taken off-line after 1.0 release? Or will further updates after 1.0 be binary only?
- walrus 5y agoIt appears to use C3D as its CAD kernel, which is proprietary. You can't build it without a copy of C3D. I'm guessing the source will be available for inspection, but the binary will cost money.
- nkallen 5y agoA full build from scratch would require the c3d headers, which I can’t provide. What I am planning is to something like this: divide the app into two pieces, an npm wrapper around the kernel and the electron front end that uses the module. You will need a license key to “activate” the node module. You would then use the electron app or the module directly if you’re a programmer. You will be able to build your own fork of the electron app, but not the npm module. In effect you will be paying for a license key, not the binary
- nkallen 5y agoI will say I’m constantly bewildered by which license to choose. I’m using copyleft to defend myself a bit. But weak copyleft because I’ve hate that the gpl prevents blender plug-ins from being closed source or linking against something closed source. Plasticity will allow plug-ins to do whatever they want, that’s the goal. There is some possibility I will switch to MIT since philosophically I’m more in that camp
- jcelerier 5y ago> I’m using copyleft to defend myself a bit. But weak copyleft because I’ve hate that the gpl prevents blender plug-ins from being closed source or linking against something closed source So you're ok with using copyleft to defend yourself, but not ok with others to use copyleft to defend themselves ? This is bewildering
- fsloth 5y agoA side note not intended as hostile or disparaging for any stakeholders: Plasticity seems to use c3d toolkit for it's solid operations. That may - or may not be - soon problematic as the company that produces is based in Russia (https://c3dlabs.com/en/company/about/ https://c3dlabs.com/en/company/about/). Are other c3d users finding this problematic? There aren't that many solid kernels in the market.
- nkallen 5y agoThis is a significant issue for anyone doing business with Russia. I’m happy with c3d in general but there is a possibility I will be forced to use another kernel
- dsign 5y agoIt hurts what is happening in Ukraine now, and still Putin has support of more than 50% of the Russian people. Please, don't support them.
- fsloth 5y agoI think all recognize the necessity for general sanctions due to the heinous, illegal and genocidal invasion of Ukraine. This however, is a slightly tangent topic to that. Some software companies with operations in Russia are Russian, other have their IP licensed by a legal entity outside of Russia. Not sure into which category c3d falls into. Which partially motivated my question. One really can't stop using code a native Russian has ever touched - it's like deciding never to read Tolstoy again, only much harder since Russians are very prolific in software technology. Also, for code for whose IP has been already purchased, it would not be very effective as a sanctioning tool. The point is not to "cancel" Russian culture or technological output as such - only to stop trade to put economic pressure on the population and hence their government. The domain of the licensing entity in that sense is relevant here, but not to simply "stop using anything from Russia".
- fsloth 5y agoDo you see any other reasonable options in the intended pricepoint besides OpenCascade?
- rkagerer 5y agoAre there parametric features? eg. Can I say "this line is 35mm long"?
- nkallen 5y agoI want to emphasize to everyone that this is for concept artists. It’s nurbs used to create interesting shapes and fillets. While there are some parametric features, they’re completely de emphasized compared to something like fusion or solidworks
- k2enemy 5y agoSome very basic parametric features might open this up to a large woodworking community that wants to sketch out design ideas before building. Sketchup used to be the goto but now people are hungry for a replacement (which seems to be Fusion360 at the moment) but don't want or need a full CAD solution.
- finder83 5y agoThat was exactly my thought. I've tried to use fusion/freecad/etc for woodworking, but this looks amazing for it. But I'd like to set some basic dimensional parameters
- nkallen 5y agodon't sleep on shapr3d which is also very awesome
- k2enemy 5y agoThank you! I hadn't heard of it and will check it out.
- ushakov 5y agowelcome to 2022 where even CADs run on electron!
- tinybrotosaurus 5y agoMight as well package it as a snap.
- tomc1985 5y agothe "gift" that keeps on giving
- criddell 5y agoIsn't Fusion 360 similar? I don't think it's Electron, but it definitely doesn't feel native. Despite its jankiness, it works and is free for hobbyists.
- lagrange77 5y agoCould someone explain this recent surge in CAD OS projects to me? Nevertheless, looks really cool!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bwda 5y agoLooks interesting, but why opensource if you plan to sell it and are "not okay" with other people benefiting - only you can benefit? :( Sad for a prospective app I would use in my workflow.
- Oddskar 5y agoIf the end price is 25 dollars isn’t that quite an affordable price?
- wlesieutre 5y agoIt's built on C3D which costs them money to license http://web.archive.org/web/20210412124037/https://c3dlabs.com/en/products/licensing/ http://web.archive.org/web/20210412124037/https://c3dlabs.co...
- GrumpiNerd 5y agoWhat does it run on? It doesn't say.
- s1mon 5y agoThis is very interesting to me. However if it’s truly for “artists”, linking to a GitHub page isn’t going to reach that demographic. You need a proper product web site with an explanation of the features and benefits using images and videos. And you need a simple download link. I’ve been using and managing CAD professionally for product engineering for 30+ years and I’ve had GitHub accounts to review code for work things. My eyes still glaze over and I close the tab if someone dumps me in their GitHub and expects me to find the right pieces to download. It’s user-hostile.
- nkallen 5y agoWhen I get to version 1.0 I will do all of those things. For now this is a beta, more for artists who are interested offering feedback to affect the design of the app.
- s1mon 5y agoEven in beta, how you present your work is as important or possibly more important than the "work" itself. (It's actually a significant part of the work.) I've been involved with beta programs for other CAD tools and constantly give feedback to the Onshape team for their design and development of their app. I've worked at major design firms (IDEO, Pentagram, Lunar, etc) and have an ID background. I'm very enthusiastic about CAD and its creative uses. I'm part of what I understand your core audience to be. I'm trying to give you constructive feedback that a GitHub link which dumps me into a directory is a huge turn off. Go look at Shapr3D [1], Gravity Sketch [2], or even FreeCAD [3]. Look at how they have calls to action, download links and key benefits shown visually in 2 seconds. [1] https://www.shapr3d.com https://www.shapr3d.com [2] https://www.gravitysketch.com https://www.gravitysketch.com [3] https://www.freecadweb.org https://www.freecadweb.org
- s1mon 5y agoWatching some of the videos on your YouTube page [0] gives a much better impression and clarity of what you're trying to do. Particularly this one [1]. The workflow and ease of creating so many features with so few keyboard/mouse commands is intriguing. I understand that you're trying to focus on game asset creation, but since it does do STEP import/export, there's really no reason this can't be used for ID or engineering work, at least at the initial concept level. Don't ignore those markets. [0] https://www.youtube.com/user/nickkallen1/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/nickkallen1/videos [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC2MBvb1_Fk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC2MBvb1_Fk
- linsomniac 5y agoThe linked page doesn't give a good feel, here's a video from the author that gives a feel for what it's like: https://youtu.be/_yceBZmeW0Q https://youtu.be/_yceBZmeW0Q Looks pretty slick, I've been using TinkerCAD for my simple needs, but this looks compelling.
- camtarn 5y agoHere's another nice video where the author is doing some more involved modelling, without any talking. It's good at 2x speed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7h-8McvQe0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7h-8McvQe0
- alexk307 5y agoHow does this compare to Fusion360?
- edward 5y agoI fixed some spelling mistakes: https://github.com/nkallen/plasticity/pull/52 https://github.com/nkallen/plasticity/pull/52
- rib3ye 5y agoCould this be a replacement for SketchUp?