3 ms·

Impressive, but I don't see any way to do constraints or sketches. (I'm also a bit sad that this is a web app, but, alas, such is progress.)

by rcarmo 1y ago

SamBam 1y ago
As someone who works in a school with Chromebooks, I love that web apps like this exist, especially if students will be able to export the files to a 3D printer. It greatly opens up the number of tools we can use to do fun things. That said, also as a teacher and a parent, I worry that Chromebooks are making kids have no idea about the world of non-web-apps. (And file systems, etc. etc.) I watch my kid create a poster: find an image online, copy & paste into an automatic background remover, c&p into an image editing program to remove the watermark, c&p into Canva for assembling with text etc. Meanwhile I show her that I can do the whole thing on Pixelmator Pro (or Affinity or Photoshop) and she looks at me like I have three heads.
- sirjaz 1y ago
  Chromebooks need to die, we need to get back to native apps. Look with Windows we have msix, with Linux we have flatpack, etc .. Storage is cheap, and our devices are powerful. Let's use that power
  - SamBam 1y ago
    It simplifies things for schools, because everything is easily managed, everything integrates with Google classroom, and the hardware is fungible, you can log into any one and have your files. It doesn't train them how to use real computers, but that's not on the state standards so they don't care.
    - DaSHacka 1y ago
      > It doesn't train them how to use real computers, but that's not on the state standards so they don't care. Arguably, it really should be.
    - franga2000 1y ago
      Google Classroom is the worst LMS I've ever used and the "log in from any machine and have your files" thing was solved by Active Directory decades ago... The reasons schools ate them up os because they're cheap and were the most readily available laptops during a shortage. I really doubt much else was on anyone's mind.
      - pcthrowaway 1y ago
        I also have a few qualms with it: 1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. 2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the connectivity issue.
  - kennydude 1y ago
    For some users, they're perfect (not all - schools etc need Win/Linux/Mac). I have family members who should just have a Chromebook as all they do is browse the internet - copy and paste is a stretch for them!
- phkahler 1y ago
  For CAD you can run Solvespace on a chromebook. I'm not sure I want to promote it for use below high school, as the geometry failures and their workarounds are probably too icky for younger users. I want more polish for kids.
  - rcarmo 1y ago
    Solvespace is hardly polished enough for general use, though. I can use it, but I constantly struggle against the way it handles sketches.
  - regularfry 1y ago
    I think a set of problems where you intentionally create failures and then work through solving them would be quite interesting for anyone learning geometry, beyond a certain point. Understanding exactly why the failures are failures, what about the geometry or the computation makes them fail, would help build an intuition for geometry and topology itself.
- thenthenthen 1y ago
  Let the kids make websites?! I love web based software (minus the logins). This saves soooo much time in a teaching environment. Time that can me used for teaching ideas, approaches, rather than struggling with compatibility issues.
joeevans1000 1y ago
Browsers can be just as powerful as 'native' apps. This is an example of that. Browser apps free the user from proprietary operating systems and their companies. Of course, Linux is a way around that. However, why not just write it once and let students and engineers the world over be able to share and open files easily? UPDATE: On my newer laptop thius is faster than my native apps. And I was literally drawing shapes within 30 seconds of clicking on the link to this app. Compare that to the nightmare of all the other tools out there with registrations, email clutter, 2FA, and on and on. Oh, and cost in most cases! UPDATE 2: I have no connection to this team other than having just seen a post online about this tool. I've been navigating the world of SketchUp/AutoCad/Revit recently so this of course is totally thrilling. Especially for what it means for the future.
- gmueckl 1y ago
  This is just blatantly wrong. There are so many native resources that any serious 3D application requires access to that are blocked by browsers that this statement just isn't true and never will be.
  - joeevans1000 1y ago
    That's why I said 'can'. Once OS's lift restrictions on what browsers can access then we'll finally have something more close to 'write once run everywhere'. But that wouldn't really help the proprietary software systems and companies.
    - capyba 1y ago
      Or just write it in java
      - SunlitCat 1y ago
        Was about to say "If we only have some kind of runtime system, which could run an app exactly the same on every supported operating system without needing to port that app, that would be awesome!". :D
mft_ 1y ago
OFC this being HN people are jumping on the side comment about web apps. BUT the more relevant and valuable point you made was about constraints and sketches. And, related to this, true parametric design, which IMO is vital for a CAD package to be taken seriously.
- the__alchemist 1y ago
  Yep! Would love to try this once he or she adds parametric. We need good-quality reasonably-priced software in this domain.
xiange 1y ago
The current version does not include this, but it will be available as parametric components in the future.

Impressive, but I don't see any way to do constraints or sketches. (I'm also a bit sad that this is a web app, but, alas, such is progress.)

by rcarmo 1y ago

Impressive, but I don't see any way to do constraints or sketches. (I'm also a bit sad that this is a web app, but, alas, such is progress.)

SamBam 1y ago

As someone who works in a school with Chromebooks, I love that web apps like this exist, especially if students will be able to export the files to a 3D printer. It greatly opens up the number of tools we can use to do fun things. That said, also as a teacher and a parent, I worry that Chromebooks are making kids have no idea about the world of non-web-apps. (And file systems, etc. etc.) I watch my kid create a poster: find an image online, copy & paste into an automatic background remover, c&p into an image editing program to remove the watermark, c&p into Canva for assembling with text etc. Meanwhile I show her that I can do the whole thing on Pixelmator Pro (or Affinity or Photoshop) and she looks at me like I have three heads.

sirjaz 1y ago
Chromebooks need to die, we need to get back to native apps. Look with Windows we have msix, with Linux we have flatpack, etc .. Storage is cheap, and our devices are powerful. Let's use that power
- SamBam 1y ago
  It simplifies things for schools, because everything is easily managed, everything integrates with Google classroom, and the hardware is fungible, you can log into any one and have your files. It doesn't train them how to use real computers, but that's not on the state standards so they don't care.
  - DaSHacka 1y ago
    > It doesn't train them how to use real computers, but that's not on the state standards so they don't care. Arguably, it really should be.
  - franga2000 1y ago
    Google Classroom is the worst LMS I've ever used and the "log in from any machine and have your files" thing was solved by Active Directory decades ago... The reasons schools ate them up os because they're cheap and were the most readily available laptops during a shortage. I really doubt much else was on anyone's mind.
    - pcthrowaway 1y ago
      I also have a few qualms with it: 1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software. 2. It doesn't actually replace a USB drive. Most people I know e-mail files to themselves or host them somewhere online to be able to perform presentations, but they still carry a USB drive in case there are connectivity problems. This does not solve the connectivity issue.
- kennydude 1y ago
  For some users, they're perfect (not all - schools etc need Win/Linux/Mac). I have family members who should just have a Chromebook as all they do is browse the internet - copy and paste is a stretch for them!
phkahler 1y ago
For CAD you can run Solvespace on a chromebook. I'm not sure I want to promote it for use below high school, as the geometry failures and their workarounds are probably too icky for younger users. I want more polish for kids.
- rcarmo 1y ago
  Solvespace is hardly polished enough for general use, though. I can use it, but I constantly struggle against the way it handles sketches.
- regularfry 1y ago
  I think a set of problems where you intentionally create failures and then work through solving them would be quite interesting for anyone learning geometry, beyond a certain point. Understanding exactly why the failures are failures, what about the geometry or the computation makes them fail, would help build an intuition for geometry and topology itself.
thenthenthen 1y ago
Let the kids make websites?! I love web based software (minus the logins). This saves soooo much time in a teaching environment. Time that can me used for teaching ideas, approaches, rather than struggling with compatibility issues.

joeevans1000 1y ago

Browsers can be just as powerful as 'native' apps. This is an example of that. Browser apps free the user from proprietary operating systems and their companies. Of course, Linux is a way around that. However, why not just write it once and let students and engineers the world over be able to share and open files easily? UPDATE: On my newer laptop thius is faster than my native apps. And I was literally drawing shapes within 30 seconds of clicking on the link to this app. Compare that to the nightmare of all the other tools out there with registrations, email clutter, 2FA, and on and on. Oh, and cost in most cases! UPDATE 2: I have no connection to this team other than having just seen a post online about this tool. I've been navigating the world of SketchUp/AutoCad/Revit recently so this of course is totally thrilling. Especially for what it means for the future.

gmueckl 1y ago
This is just blatantly wrong. There are so many native resources that any serious 3D application requires access to that are blocked by browsers that this statement just isn't true and never will be.
- joeevans1000 1y ago
  That's why I said 'can'. Once OS's lift restrictions on what browsers can access then we'll finally have something more close to 'write once run everywhere'. But that wouldn't really help the proprietary software systems and companies.
  - capyba 1y ago
    Or just write it in java
    - SunlitCat 1y ago
      Was about to say "If we only have some kind of runtime system, which could run an app exactly the same on every supported operating system without needing to port that app, that would be awesome!". :D

mft_ 1y ago

OFC this being HN people are jumping on the side comment about web apps. BUT the more relevant and valuable point you made was about constraints and sketches. And, related to this, true parametric design, which IMO is vital for a CAD package to be taken seriously.

the__alchemist 1y ago
Yep! Would love to try this once he or she adds parametric. We need good-quality reasonably-priced software in this domain.

xiange 1y ago

The current version does not include this, but it will be available as parametric components in the future.