sdf VS cadquery

I used to like OpenSCAD for its simple approach but then I discovered SDF-based modelling with Python made possible with this neat library: [1]. This is perfect if you are a programmer that doesn't know anything about CAD-Software.

1.: https://github.com/fogleman/sdf

>these the the central core that understands BREP and implements the geometric operations.

I've seen people quote a good modern CAD kernal as a 100 man year project. It's probably not going to happen, maybe there's some avenue for government funding?

Alternatively Signed-Distance-Functions are pretty nice. They're not BREP, but they're a lot easier to implement, and it might be possible to shove them into a BREP-shaped hole.

Here's a signed-distance-function based CAD kernal written in a few thousand lines of python+numpy, that seems to be about as fast as openscad. Maybe faster. https://github.com/fogleman/sdf

Excellent. You might be interested in a Python library that I wrote for generating 3D meshes (STL files) from SDFs : https://github.com/fogleman/sdf

It just uses marching cubes for triangulation but the SDFs are all numpy'd and the SDF is evaluated in batches on multiple threads so it's relatively fast.

I used the SDF repo by Michael Fogleman. Check out his website, there's a ton of useful stuff on there. He contributes a lot to the open source community and has been mentioned in r/PlotterArt before.

Try out fogleman/sdf[1]. It is like OpenSCAD in many ways but the distance field model gives you offsets and fillets more easily.

[1] https://github.com/fogleman/sdf

https://github.com/fogleman/sdf this python project can create mesh from sdf

> https://github.com/fogleman/sdf

Holy crap, why have I not seen this before?!?!!? I was even planning to start coding something like this myself. This is awesome!

I was thinking about cadQuery or DrawSVG. But maybe you have a better idea ? I'm beginner in python (started on november ...)

Last few months, I've made over 20 3D printed panels using the CadQuery Python library. Its syntax is pretty complex, so every time I wanted to make a panel, I'd just copy-paste bits and pieces from my previous panels. In the process, I learned what work and what doesn't, and I thought it was time to polish up this system to share it with others.

>Python for CAD

You might be interested in CadQuery:

https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery

Spicy! I'm also a solidworks user but I've been playing around with cadquery recently, that installed and performs pretty nicely on Linux for me. Haven't really pushed it though.

I am currently developing a pipeline for creating STL files, slice them and create a print job based on it. My setup at the moment is an Ultimaker S5, which offers a simple REST-API, for example starting a job with a G-Code or UFP file. I am using the cadQuery library for creating parametrized 3d shapes and export them as a STL file. I want to use the CuraEngine CLI interface (Backend for Cura) for slicing or their library libArcus (python bindings) but there is literally no documentation or any kind of examples, except the source code. There is also the prucaSlicer, which also offers a CLI interface for creating G-Code, but no support for the Ultimaker S5.

Not C but maybe cadquery? https://cadquery.readthedocs.io

CadQuery would be a closer alternative to OpenSCAD. Not sure if it’s available on OpenBSD.

Check out https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery