7 ms·
Text-to-CAD
- poniko 3y agoImpressive!
- monkmartinez 3y agoGreat start! I have a feeling this is going to cascade (no pun intended) in ways we haven't quite wrapped our heads around. What is the underlying technology here? Is this an LLM driven workflow or Image generation driven workflow? I can imagine a way to do something similar either way given a dataset geared a particular direction. Speaking of... anyone have a lead on a CAD-esque dataset? I have been trying to use local llm's for openSCAD code generation. My results have been quite terrible, and I would rather use Fusion or Solidworks if I am going to "sit down" and CAD something. I would really like to see the dataset used for this or something similar. My guess is this is an openSCAD or similar workflow.
- rjsw 3y agoDo people really want train a LLM on CAD models treating them as text? I would be more interested in trying to work from the conceptual model behind the exchange file format.
- regularfry 3y agoThere's probably mileage in just generating python that calls the FreeCAD API.
- regularfry 3y agoIt says they're generating a STEP file, and that's just a text format. Fine-tuned LLM would be my guess.
- cyanydeez 3y agoDXFs are also text files.
- rjsw 3y agoMost programming language source is just text, how often does GitHub Copilot get things wrong when generating code fragments? There is an ISO directive to not use any of their standards when training an LLM, would be interested to know what this group has done.
- tpmoney 3y ago>There is an ISO directive to not use any of their standards when training an LLM What? This seems mind bogglingly short sighted. You would thing a standards body of all places would want AIs outputting standards compliant output.
- itishappy 3y agoLooks like it's using a language model to create a modeling script. > ... In the future, we will give you the generated KCL (KittyCAD Language) code so that you can edit it in our Modeling App!
- sakex 3y agoThat will be great to make video games, this can easily be imported into blender, then the textures can be made with stable diffusion or DallE
- dugite-code 3y agoWhen ever I see CAD mentioned on hackernews it's always 3D and never the more ubiquitous (in the construction industry) 2D documentation CAD. I wonder if this would be able to generate 2D vector files.
- huytersd 3y agoIt’s trivial to take a 2D image DALLE3 or midjourney generate and vectorize it (illustrator etc.)
- dheera 3y agoThat kind of vectorization is a royal pain to edit.
- cyanydeez 3y agoinkscape is pretty go at everything except simplification.
- fouc 3y agothat's not really suitable for the manufacturing/building route
- ben_w 3y agoIf you're getting your engineering plans from Midjourney etc., something is likely to explode.
- optshun 3y agoThe only LLM-as-a-service I use is phind for the sole reason that it allows me to use it without "signing up" first. If the sign up is a necessary barrier for your needs is for you to decide, but I just wanted to let you know that I was excited to try your product for my wood working and 3d printing needs until the required signup. Just some anecdata that even a little friction can be a hindrance in people using your product.
- Falimonda 3y agoIf I may ask, why are you so against signing up for these tools?
- krasin 3y agoI am not the OP, but I also skipped on trying the demo, because I didn't want log with my real email into a random website (a few too many times it led to unwanted interactions), and I didn't bother to create a temp account. It's just easier to wait another few months until somebody does it in the open.
- optshun 3y agoA number of reasons. Chiefly, a desire for privacy and anonymity. A signup will identify my interactions with an endpoint dedicated to me circumventing other privacy and anonymity measures I take such as fingerprint resisting and use of VMs and VPNs. Also, sharing my email puts me at risk of having my email forwarded against my will or without my consent, as well as potentially clogging my inbox with endless "promotional updates". Finally, I am unable to make an informed decision whether the risks of sharing my email with this company is worth the utility of the tool it provides until after I try it. I think a fair response to your question is a question of its own: What do they want with my email?
- batch12 3y agoSo I have struggled with this when building services that need to store a user's data or manage a user identity. I'd prefer to not collect an email address. For me it comes down to whether or not I need to support features that most users expect like resetting an account password or notifying the user about some event.
- canadiantim 3y agoCan you use this for architectural plans? Or is that too complex?
- iamsaitam 3y agoWhat about dimensions? It's a good starting point, but which software can use this to alter the dimensions precisely? This should have been called Text-to-3D.
- regularfry 3y agoIf it's spitting out STEP files, just about any of the major CAD packages will do it.
- itishappy 3y ago> Today, you can take the generated STEP file of any CAD model from Text-to-CAD and import it into an existing CAD program and edit it. Even more exciting, in the future, we will give you the generated KCL (KittyCAD Language) code so that you can edit it in our Modeling App!
- Robotbeat 3y agoOh great, it's like a more advanced OpenSCAD but cloud-only, not open-source, and pay-as-you-go.
- cyanydeez 3y agothis is gonna be worse than clients who send jpg pictures of hand drawings
- Falimonda 3y agoPrompting for "A robot arm" turns up a blank design ;(
- swalsh 3y agoI'd be surprised if a prompt that general would actually yield anything useful.
- rjsw 3y agoAs a prompt "An aircraft enough like a 737 that pilots don't need to recertify but with newer engines", what could go wrong?
- causality0 3y agoI'm really looking forward to the future of this area, especially parallel developments in image-to-CAD. It would be incredible to get an accurate model by taking a couple of photos and then inputting measurements. Sure, you can 3D-scan something, but that makes a messy point cloud when real world objects are mostly make out of primitives that could be far more exactly duplicated.
- swagmoney1606 3y agoSame here, I've been doing chatGPT -> scad or blender scripts, but it ain't the same at all
- causality0 3y agoHuh, I never thought of trying to use GPT for scad. Does that actually work?
- Animats 3y agoIs the site working? It accepts input, but the windows just show "Generating", even though the message "You are all caught up" appears.
- Robotbeat 3y agoTry refreshing.
- Animats 3y agoCame back after dinner, and it was done. Trying some prompts: - "1/4 inch bolt, hex head" -- result is a cylinder with no bolt head. - "1/4 inch bolt" -- "The prompt must clearly describe a CAD model" - "1/4 inch threaded rod, 3 inches long" -- same - "0.25in threaded rod, 3 inches long" -- same - "Plate, 3in x 5in, with rounded corners." -- same - "Plate with rounded corners" -- blank result Now it's too overloaded to do anything. This is kind of an interesting idea. It's a good project to get a large language model and a constructive solid geometry model on speaking terms. This needs to be a dialog. Something like this: > Create a flat plate, 100mm x 300mm x 3mm thick. > Round corners, 20mm radius. > Drill four holes in the corners. > Holes are inset 20mm from edges. > Holes are 6mm diameter. > Allow extra hole diameter for standard 6mm screw. > Round edges of top surface of plate. Those are all things you can express to Autodesk Inventor through its GUI. What you'd really like to say is: > Import this file. Here is a mounting plate for a motor. OK > The four holes near the center are mounting bolts for a standard NEMA motor. OK. > What motor frame size is it for? NEMA 42 > Change the bolt holes to fit a NEMA 56 at the same position. OK. (Drawing changes).
- Animats 3y agoNow it's working under Firefox. Weird, though, I asked for "6 inch by 6 inch plate with four bolt holes for NEMA 42 motor frame, centered on plate".[1] That should get me four holes in a square pattern. It got me three holes. It has no clue what the standard NEMA motor frame sizes are, because I asked for a nonexistent NEMA number and it accepted it. That's an LLM hallucinating, probably. It's not an acceptable feature in engineering. [1] https://text-to-cad.zoo.dev/view/fac162c0-0d5e-4e33-a2d8-2c3d75e6480c https://text-to-cad.zoo.dev/view/fac162c0-0d5e-4e33-a2d8-2c3...
- 1-6 3y agoPrompt: Text-to-CAD, read this website full of building codes and generate 10 different floorplans that satisfy all requirements. Response: Sorry, there are codes that counteracts other building codes.
- nirav72 3y agoI’ve used ChatGpt to generate OpenSCAD code. Using GPT 4, it does a decent enough job to generate code for a basic shape of something as a starter.
- mmcwilliams 3y agoThis is the approach I've tried in the past although I'm interested in models that generate an AST that could then be translated back into code.
- kelvie 3y agoI've also done this (and use github copilot while editing scad files in Emacs). I really wish there were more audio programming languages and examples so that we could create music like this, too.
- frontiersummit 3y agoAs someone who has used 3D CAD professionally for decades, I must confess I had low expectations for this tool. My expectations have been greatly exceeded, and there is real value in something like this. The value is not in creating models of new/custom parts, but in quickly generating models of standard parts such as pipe fittings, bolts, connectors, and stuff you could buy from a catalog. Prompts like "m4 cap screw which is 50 mm long" or "2 inch ASME B16.5 pipe flange" seem to reliably generate adequate results. Design of large assemblies often requires locating or drawing dozens (or hundreds) of such models (though there are sometimes libraries available). It's almost like the model was trained on the entire McMaster-Carr catalog! (maybe they scraped it?) The models will still need to be checked to ensure quality, but this is true regardless of whether a human or AI creates them. Modeling even simple fixtures and brackets with a system like this is cumbersome: I tried, but requires paragraphs of metes-and-bounds language. Nevertheless I got the parts I wanted. Much of engineering happens at the interfaces, so accurately describing things like hole patterns and mating surfaces is critical. This can certainly be done in text, just not time-efficiently. Additionally, the output (STEP files, etc) are what we call in the business "dumb solids." They don't include any parametric logic, and the sorts of edits which can be made to them are limited and often require serious creativity. Another drawback: this thing is slow! A good CAD user could draw a lot of these parts in less wall-clock time. I assume this can be overcome by throwing more iron at the problem. The UI/UX is has a ton of rough edges (and I'm still not sure if I made an account or not) but is totally fine for a proof-of-concept. I went into this with incredibly low hopes: I've heard many promises of software which promises to make CAD faster and easier and accessible to non-experts. These look great in sales pitches, but the engineers and designers in the audience invariably wince (or worse). This is something that I could actually use and would make my life easier.
- BillyTheMage 3y agoI'm sure there are instances where you have to model these parts manually, but I've never run into a situation where McMaster-Carr[1] didn't have the models I'm looking for. - [1]: https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/
- jessfraz 3y ago
- lrvick 3y agoDisappointing to see Jessie Frazelle building closed source centralized tech. This approach mirrors "Open"AI sending all queries to central servers with no mention of any privacy measures. The admins surely get to see who is making sex toys, prop weapons, or medical parts and that data will be sold or leaked, as is tradition. This is a great idea though and I look forward to supporting whoever makes an open source alternative I can run locally as a Blender, FreeCAD, or OpenSCAD extension.
- doubloon 3y agoAs someone who spent an enormous amount of free time with zero pay contributing to one of those open source cad tools you mentioned, i say good for her. Make that bag. I work in a low level job thats got nothing to do with open source nor with CAD because i spent way too much time waiting for open source to magically produce income. There is a spectrum between open source dreams and pragmatic reality. People who judge you are almost universally wrong in their assumptions and their worldview and listening to them was a waste of time. I hope she makes a million dollars and uses it to support open source projects.
- BillyTheMage 3y agoI'm inclined to believe that the people who make proprietary software are the ones with the "wrong worldview", if there is such a thing. People with morals are not the ones at fault for making the world parasitic to its core. You say you had to stop with the open source because you needed money. That has nothing to do with open source, and everything to do with the fact that you're not allowed to access the basic necessities of life if you don't allow yourself to be exploited for profit.
- swells34 3y ago>the fact that you're not allowed to access the basic necessities of life if you don't allow yourself to be exploited for profit. This is the underpinning of capitalism. Some people speculate that denying basic necessities is the only way to ensure that common people will be productive enough to make the wealthy people wealthier.
- minroot 3y agoI think our definition of 'text' is changing
- ancd 3y agoGear
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]