KittyCAD - next generation CAD for those who like both code-based and UI-based design

Computer Aided Design (CAD)
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Hey folks,

I guess there are not that many here who prefer a code-based approach to design, but for those who might have some interest, there is a new CAD tool project called KittyCAD.

It is a similar concept to OpenSCAD in some sense, but the method of building an object can be done like Fusion 360, Onshape, etc. The big difference is that while you are designing your components, there is a code-based representation of that object that is automatically built at the same time. And better yet, you can move back and forth between the UI view and the code view to change the model, using whichever technique seems the most intuitive, precise, etc. for that operation.

Unlike OpenSCAD, which is based on CSG, KittyCAD is based on B-rep (Boundary Representation), which is, it is said, far more flexible than CSG. There’s a wikipedia article on B-rep: Boundary representation - Wikipedia

Anywho, you can try out a web browser-based version of it here:

The main web site is kittycad.io. You can get the alpha version of the CAD client here:
KittyCAD: Download KittyCAD Modeling App

There are clients for both Windows and MacOS. There is a Linux build as well, but it currently is broken, and it may be 6 or more months before that problem is resolved due to some compatibility issues which are out of their control.

Anyway, I’m really jazzed about this, and think it has the potential to be better for me than all of the current options out there.

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Thanks for posting!

Cheers

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Very interesting. I have just started looking at it, and it may be a bit too early to make a video about it, but it is an interesting concept.

Their challenge, like that of most software companies, will be commercialization.

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Yeah, it’s definitely too early for a video. I give it a year before it’s really usable.

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I found this roadmap doc from their #expectations channel:

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They’ve made quite a lot of progress. Check out this video:

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I’ve been playing with it a bit recently, and have filed a few bugs on their github.

I can see a lot of possibilities here for this becoming my go-to, because it “fixes” a lot of the usability issues that I have with OpenSCAD. For example line (polygon) construction in KittyCAD is much easier to code, and better yet, you can label objects in the model, and use those labels to place other objects (instead of purely through explicit calculations as in OpenSCAD). I believe there will be built-in ways to measure as well.

But it’s still too creaky to really be usable for creating usable models, either through code, and even less so by point and click. Yet.

They are at version V0.29.1 now and are thinking a lot about their V1.0.0 release. It’s not really clear when that will be, but at the current rate, my guess is end of the year.

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The Zoo team has made quite a lot of progress in the AI part of this tool. If you follow the Discord link to this video, they demonstrate describing a shape in English, and using AI to create a parametric model from it, written in their new language (KCL), using good variable names, with comments describing what it’s doing. That code is subsequently editable. It’s very impressive!

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