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I’ve been playing in this space as a moderately experienced hobbyist - mainly for 3D printing functional parts. I’m using a single repo for all my models and C

I’ve been playing in this space as a moderately experienced hobbyist - mainly for 3D printing functional parts. I’m using a single repo for all my models and Claude with build123d (plus a VS Code viz extension). Over time, I’ve built up a little folder of useful skills and I’m generally getting satisfactory results. That said, I have had my eye on CadQuery and am looking for an excuse to try it. For those in the know: how does it compare to build123d?

dofm 14d ago
The fundamental difference is that CadQuery uses that jQuery-inspired fluent syntax, with a sort of metalanguage for some aspects, and Build123D is more pythonic with two different more procedural syntaxes. The other big difference (which I have only read about) is in the way their assembly constraints work; again Build123D takes the more procedural approach (declaring "joints" etc.) CadQuery came first; Build123D is sort of a more pythonic, robust restatement of it.
johndoe18637 14d ago
I've also been playing around in this area and starting getting somewhat useable around Opus 4.8. It has been able to generate some quite impressive designs, but for me it has been quite hard to get the model to understand what exactly I want modeled. Are you willing to share your work? Mine is available at https://jnslmk.github.io/build123d-models/?model=drill_storage https://jnslmk.github.io/build123d-models/?model=drill_stora... One of the things I've found more useful is the generation of a static site to view and download the models. With WASM you can make minor adjustments directly in browser
- jetter 13d ago
  "Downloading WASM: 40mb of Python and build123d" - this hurts :( This is exactly the good thing about OpenSCAD: its WASM build size is minuscule compared to Python build, and you can edit/customize a model right in the browser. https://modelrift.com/models/desktop-organizer-with-drawer https://modelrift.com/models/desktop-organizer-with-drawer
- dofm 13d ago
  > but for me it has been quite hard to get the model to understand what exactly I want modeled I like your approach so much more and I wish you the best of luck with it, but I think this is the kind of fundamental flaw with text-to-CAD isn't it? CAD is show, don't tell territory. Humans can make things we can't describe, and we can extrapolate spatially from what we can describe.
  - johndoe18637 9d ago
    I think you're right. I'm going to test the freecad mcp workflows in the future and hope to be able to get AI designs that can then be edited by traditional CAD workflows

dofm 14d ago

The fundamental difference is that CadQuery uses that jQuery-inspired fluent syntax, with a sort of metalanguage for some aspects, and Build123D is more pythonic with two different more procedural syntaxes. The other big difference (which I have only read about) is in the way their assembly constraints work; again Build123D takes the more procedural approach (declaring "joints" etc.) CadQuery came first; Build123D is sort of a more pythonic, robust restatement of it.

johndoe18637 14d ago

I've also been playing around in this area and starting getting somewhat useable around Opus 4.8. It has been able to generate some quite impressive designs, but for me it has been quite hard to get the model to understand what exactly I want modeled. Are you willing to share your work? Mine is available at https://jnslmk.github.io/build123d-models/?model=drill_storage https://jnslmk.github.io/build123d-models/?model=drill_stora... One of the things I've found more useful is the generation of a static site to view and download the models. With WASM you can make minor adjustments directly in browser

jetter 13d ago
"Downloading WASM: 40mb of Python and build123d" - this hurts :( This is exactly the good thing about OpenSCAD: its WASM build size is minuscule compared to Python build, and you can edit/customize a model right in the browser. https://modelrift.com/models/desktop-organizer-with-drawer https://modelrift.com/models/desktop-organizer-with-drawer
dofm 13d ago
> but for me it has been quite hard to get the model to understand what exactly I want modeled I like your approach so much more and I wish you the best of luck with it, but I think this is the kind of fundamental flaw with text-to-CAD isn't it? CAD is show, don't tell territory. Humans can make things we can't describe, and we can extrapolate spatially from what we can describe.
- johndoe18637 9d ago
  I think you're right. I'm going to test the freecad mcp workflows in the future and hope to be able to get AI designs that can then be edited by traditional CAD workflows