FreeCAD is Near 1.0
The open-source parametric 3D modelling software, FreeCAD, is out in a release candidate for version 1.0. If you’ve tried FreeCAD before and found a few showstoppers, it might be a …read more Continue reading FreeCAD is Near 1.0
Category Archives: 3D modelling
FreeCAD Foray: Shells For All Our PCBs
Are you the kind of hacker who tries to pick up FreeCAD, but doesn’t want to go through a tutorial and instead pokes around the interface, trying to transfer the …read more Continue reading FreeCAD Foray: Shells For All Our PCBs
Parametric Design with Tinkercad
Tinkercad is like the hamburger helper of 3D design. You hate to admit you use it, and you know you should put in more effort, but — darn it — …read more Continue reading Parametric Design with Tinkercad
Learning By Playing
Summer break has started over here, and my son went off to his first of a few day-camp-like activities last week. It was actually really cool – a workshop held …read more Continue reading Learning By Playing
3D Animation for All Thanks to Google AI
Google rarely fails to impress with technology demos. Their latest — Monster Mash — is aimed at using artificial intelligence to allow the creation of simple 3D animations without a …read more Continue reading 3D Animation for All Thanks to Google AI
Remoticon Video: KiCad to Blender PCB Renders
We seem to want our PCB design software to do everything these days, and it almost delivers. You can not only lay it all out, check electrical and design rules, and even spit out a bill of materials, but many PCB tools produce 3D models that are good enough to …read more
Continue reading Remoticon Video: KiCad to Blender PCB Renders
FreeCAD Parametrics Made Simple
Simple drafting programs just let you draw like you’d use a pencil. But modern programs use parametric models to provide several benefits. One is that you can use parameters to change parts of your design and other parts will alter to take account of your changes. The other advantage is …read more
Ditch OpenSCAD for C++
There’s an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. If you’ve ever tried to build furniture or a toy with one of those instructions sheets that contains nothing but pictures, you might disagree. 3D design is much the same for a lot of people. You think you want to draw things graphically, but once you start doing complex things and making changes, parametric modeling is the way to go. Some CAD tools let you do both, but many 3D printer users wind up using OpenSCAD which is fully parametric.
If you’ve used OpenSCAD you know that it …read more
