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Dune3d Alternatives
Similar projects and alternatives to dune3d
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InfluxDB
InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
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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.
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
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OCCT
Open CASCADE Technology (OCCT) is an open-source software development platform for 3D CAD, CAM, CAE.
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code2prompt
A CLI tool to convert your codebase into a single LLM prompt with source tree, prompt templating, and token counting.
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FreeCAD
Discontinued This is the official source code of FreeCAD, a free and opensource multiplatform 3D parametric modeler. (by Ondsel-Development)
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SaaSHub
SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives
NOTE:
The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives.
Hence, a higher number means a better dune3d alternative or higher similarity.
dune3d discussion
dune3d reviews and mentions
Posts with mentions or reviews of dune3d.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2025-04-18.
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Ink and Switch Constraint System (2023)
The comment on constraints which still blows me away is the footnote on the readme for Dune 3D:
https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d
>1. I ended up directly using solvespace's solver instead of the suggested wrapper code since it didn't expose all of the features I needed. I also had to patch the solver to make it sufficiently fast for the kinds of equations I was generating by symbolically solving equations where applicable.
(anyone looking for an easy-to-use opensource 3D CAD program should consider it)
For folks not familiar w/ Solvespace it's a light-weight 3D CAD program: https://solvespace.com/index.pl
Probably a bit more approachable for folks is: https://www.cadsketcher.com/ which adds the Solvespace constraint solver to Blender.
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Gemini 2.5 Pro vs. Claude 3.7 Sonnet: Coding Comparison
It's not AI, but I have good news for you though : what you seek already exists !
https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d
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picoCAD – a tiny modeler for tiny models
For folks who want a regular (not low-poly) modeler which is a small/light-weight download, Dune 3D seems the best thing to try:
https://dune3d.org/
Previous discussions:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37979758
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40228068
The other notable thing to try is Solvespace or maybe NASA's Open Vehicle SketchPad (for opensource)
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FreeCAD 1.0 Released
Worth noting that the Ondsel situation was discussed at:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42169998
I'm really looking forward to a stable version resulting in approachable documentation. The first traditional 3D CAD program I was even able to get through the tutorial of was Dune 3D https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d/discussions/118 --- hopefully I'll be able to repeat that and build on it in FreeCAD 1.0 (which I've just finished downloading and installing and which is launching now).
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We are shutting down the Ondsel FreeCAD business
Have you tried Dune3D yet? I found it surprisingly usable, enough so that it seemed worth making some detailed notes on the tutorial:
https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d/discussions/118
which, unlike almost every other traditional 3D tool I've tried I was actually able to complete.
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Hobby CAD, CNC machining, and resin casting
Previous discussions:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41467268
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27645605
This was a resource which was mentioned on the Shapeoko wiki --- while it's off-line, it's still on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20211127090321/https://wiki.shap...
Since then, some of those pages have been made available on Reddit:
https://old.reddit.com/r/hobbycnc/wiki/index
https://old.reddit.com/r/shapeoko/wiki (ob. discl., I work for Carbide 3D)
And there have been a number of other developments
- FreeCAD has hugely improved since that was written.
- Solvespace as greatly improved, adding some basic CAM functionality
- Blender has had the Solvespace sketcher ported to it as https://www.cadsketcher.com/ and BlenderCAM has gotten quite a bit more workable
- Dune3D was created and is remarkably capable: https://dune3d.org/
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I Revived 3-Axis CNC Mill G-Code Simulator
FreeCAD and its CAM Workbench?
For the light version maybe Solvespace?
I'm still amazed by Dune 3D: https://dune3d.org/ where the Github page has the footnote:
>I ended up directly using solvespace's solver instead of the suggested wrapper code since it didn't expose all of the features I needed. I also had to patch the solver to make it sufficiently fast for the kinds of equations I was generating by symbolically solving equations where applicable.
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The first release candidate of FreeCAD 1.0 is out
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
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Show HN: Hestus – AI Copilot for CAD
In addition to Solvespace there is the nascent (but surprisingly polished):
https://dune3d.org/
the Github page of which has the following footnote:
>I ended up directly using solvespace's solver instead of the suggested wrapper code since it didn't expose all of the features I needed. I also had to patch the solver to make it sufficiently fast for the kinds of equations I was generating by symbolically solving equations where applicable. ↩
Which really impressed me because it was the first graphical and interactive 3D program I tried which felt sort of comfortable and understandable (which is why I mostly use OpenSCAD and similar programmatic approaches).
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CADmium: A Local-First CAD Program Built for the Browser
Why in a browser if it's local-first?
Solvespace has the benefit of being a single download/executable.
It also has a constraint solver which has been used in a couple of projects: CADsketcher as you noted, and Dune 3D: https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d where the author noted:
>I ended up directly using solvespace's solver instead of the suggested wrapper code since it didn't expose all of the features I needed. I also had to patch the solver to make it sufficiently fast for the kinds of equations I was generating by symbolically solving equations where applicable.
Any relation to: https://github.com/jay3sh/cadmium ?
Also, for CAD kernels, Manifold was not mentioned: https://github.com/elalish/manifold/wiki/Manifold-Library --- while I understand it to have many of the same disadvantages as OpenCASCADE, it does seem worth mentioning.
Interestingly the kernel was previously discussed here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35071317
It seems really interesting/promising, esp. the compleat history and editability (I'd love to see that history listed in a pane which could be opened/closed --- add a series of disclosure triangles which would allow hiding finished elements so that one could focus on the current task and it would be a dream come true for me --- if I can puzzle out the 3D stuff, so far I've crashed and burned on all the apps I've tried (BRL-CAD, FreeCAD, Solvespace, Alibre Atom...) --- the only thing I've been successful w/ is OpenSCAD and similar coding tools).
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A note from our sponsor - InfluxDB
www.influxdata.com | 18 May 2025
Stats
Basic dune3d repo stats
15
1,189
9.4
11 days ago
dune3d/dune3d is an open source project licensed under GNU General Public License v3.0 only which is an OSI approved license.
The primary programming language of dune3d is C.
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