3 ms·

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suit

by serf 4mo ago

it's a valid idea to try to make an 'easy' modeling/cad system -- the problem is that every such version of software that takes on that challenge makes the suite near useless or incredibly hard to use/clunky for experts. glaring holes, omitted features, zero render or post-process support, poor drawing/print support, etc. i'm convinced this will always be the case and that the right approach, if there is one, is to take an industrial grade cad/modeling suite and attach a guided 'novice' interface onto it rather than making a novice-based cad system from scratch. I haven't seen an example of that, either -- but it feels like an easier approach.

desdenova 4mo ago
This is closer to an open Sketchup than a Blender. I think they fill different niches.
- thenthenthen 4mo ago
  Agree, this is very much needed.. is there a repo? Would love to add fillets at some point
- dofm 4mo ago
  Much closer to Tinkercad in operation (negative solids etc.)
zuzululu 4mo ago
I didn't get that impression it was trying to be anything other than a beginner friendly tool, did you ? Why can't we have both ?
btown 4mo ago
The problem, of course, is the moment you have some aspect of the model not representable by the basic primitives - do you make it impossible to switch back to the beginner interface? I'm reminded of the concept of "ejecting" from e.g. Create React App a few years back - the idea was that if your beginner-friendly interface is actually built on the same underlying engine (in this case bundler and deployment assumptions) you can have full fidelity when you need customization, albeit with a one-way transition. In the JS world things moved more towards build systems where beginner-friendly-DX and full-configurability could coexist. I'm not sure that CAD has the same dynamic. Perhaps something like nested layers could work: you can use a complex model as a layer, but only opaquely, and build things around it with solids-and-holes; you can then lift that to itself a complex model, do things with professional CAD, and then treat the result itself as an opaque complex model if you switch back? That gets complicated fast.
darksim905 4mo ago
I am a very basic beginner/familiar with tools like Solidworks that have every feature under the sun, but I never really took a class or learned beyond experiencing it at work for a company that made cosmetic packaging. What you're saying is somewhat right, because unless you're a trained engineer who even understands what the hell GD & T means, yeah, you're going to be confused as hell from a design perspective. CAD/CAM software with Cartesian planes are already confusing as is for most folks. Once I started watching some videos discussing tolerances and such from an engineer perspective, the layout, tooling and concepts made a lot more sense to me. At that point, it's essentially understanding the intention of the tools and if you're performing additive manufacturing or subtractive. A lot of CAD/CAM software is geared toward machine shops and setups and mindsets like that and not necessarily 3D printer-esque communities. I think these solutions are great for the 3D crowd and not so much the engineer. There are some in-between things that break the mold and do things in unique ways for people who are product designers like Rhino. The node editing in that is so cool. I look forward to seeing what more people can do with AI now and scripting.

by serf 4mo ago

desdenova 4mo ago

This is closer to an open Sketchup than a Blender. I think they fill different niches.

thenthenthen 4mo ago
Agree, this is very much needed.. is there a repo? Would love to add fillets at some point
dofm 4mo ago
Much closer to Tinkercad in operation (negative solids etc.)

zuzululu 4mo ago

I didn't get that impression it was trying to be anything other than a beginner friendly tool, did you ? Why can't we have both ?

btown 4mo ago

The problem, of course, is the moment you have some aspect of the model not representable by the basic primitives - do you make it impossible to switch back to the beginner interface? I'm reminded of the concept of "ejecting" from e.g. Create React App a few years back - the idea was that if your beginner-friendly interface is actually built on the same underlying engine (in this case bundler and deployment assumptions) you can have full fidelity when you need customization, albeit with a one-way transition. In the JS world things moved more towards build systems where beginner-friendly-DX and full-configurability could coexist. I'm not sure that CAD has the same dynamic. Perhaps something like nested layers could work: you can use a complex model as a layer, but only opaquely, and build things around it with solids-and-holes; you can then lift that to itself a complex model, do things with professional CAD, and then treat the result itself as an opaque complex model if you switch back? That gets complicated fast.

darksim905 4mo ago

I am a very basic beginner/familiar with tools like Solidworks that have every feature under the sun, but I never really took a class or learned beyond experiencing it at work for a company that made cosmetic packaging. What you're saying is somewhat right, because unless you're a trained engineer who even understands what the hell GD & T means, yeah, you're going to be confused as hell from a design perspective. CAD/CAM software with Cartesian planes are already confusing as is for most folks. Once I started watching some videos discussing tolerances and such from an engineer perspective, the layout, tooling and concepts made a lot more sense to me. At that point, it's essentially understanding the intention of the tools and if you're performing additive manufacturing or subtractive. A lot of CAD/CAM software is geared toward machine shops and setups and mindsets like that and not necessarily 3D printer-esque communities. I think these solutions are great for the 3D crowd and not so much the engineer. There are some in-between things that break the mold and do things in unique ways for people who are product designers like Rhino. The node editing in that is so cool. I look forward to seeing what more people can do with AI now and scripting.