-
I actually bought Plasticity early on, but bailed, because I found the UI confusing.
I was a bit more successful with Dune3D: https://dune3d.org (see the discussion I made on Github about working through the tutorial).
That said, OpenSCAD is more my speed, and I've been using it for a long while now, and have even gotten started on a library for the new OpenPythonSCAD, Python-enabled fork: https://pythonscad.org
https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview
-
SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
-
I still recommend RealThunder's fork (https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD/) at the moment, even though his fork is a bit lagging at the moment.
Most of his contributions to the topology fixes got merged back into freecad now, but his enhancements to UI/behavior aren't (yet), and they make a night and day compared to ondsel too.
I didn't find any significant limitation to RealThunder's assembly3.
In any case, while far from most commercial offerings, FreeCAD is progressing and the future looks bright. I've stopped using f360/onshape in the last years for my hobby designs. Once you know the specific limitations of freecad+occt (something you learn in each cad program) and how to work them around effectively, it's already pretty powerful.
-
OpenJSCAD.org
JSCAD is an open source set of modular, browser and command line tools for creating parametric 2D and 3D designs with JavaScript code. It provides a quick, precise and reproducible method for generating 3D models, and is especially useful for 3D printing applications.
JSCAD is a thing:
https://openjscad.xyz/
But I really only fight with it because I know JS moderately well.
-
OCCT
Open CASCADE Technology (OCCT) is an open-source software development platform for 3D CAD, CAM, CAE.
-
FreeCAD
This is the official source code of FreeCAD, a free and opensource multiplatform 3D parametric modeler.
Also this for people wanting to know more about FreeCAD.
https://www.freecad.org/
There was no link to the main site from the blog on mobile.
-
Have you looked at Replicad?
https://replicad.xyz
Similar principles, but a bRep kernel so a much richer API.
-
Please check in with the developer --- probably best to create an issue at Github:
https://github.com/gsohler/openscad/issues
-
I agree that it's more difficult to manage Build123D or CadQuery due to their status as Python packages with heavier dependencies.
(Less of a problem with Replicad, which is a client-side JS package)
This is a little bit of why I jumped to FreeCAD from OpenSCAD -- the existence of prebuilt distributions of FreeCAD, and the realisation that I'd always be able to script FreeCAD if I needed it.
Though I think Build123D has the beginnings of momentum (I also think it's not hard to see why):
https://github.com/phillipthelen/awesome-build123d
But OpenSCAD is a terrible "standard" choice; I wish it were not how people saw things. It's only a good choice of "CAD" package for:
- a small subset of geeks who are very comfortable with visualising maths
-
gcodepreview
OpenPythonSCAD library for moving a tool in lines and arcs so as to model how a part would be cut using G-Code or described as a DXF.
That limitation is a big part of why I've been extending it at:
https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview
I've got it making DXFs (w/ arcs) which can then be used for 2D CAM.
If you'll give me an example of a project you'd like to make I'll gladly see if I can code it up.
