[tombert]

> "I have a box and the box needs to connect to another box"

I have gotten more elaborate shapes like gears and screws with OpenSCAD, but I will admit for more elaborate projects I use BowlerStudio since I find found it easier to use some of the JavaCAD stuff.

I've just never been able to get the hang of mouse controls, even in Fusion 360; in SCAD if I need to extrude a bizarre shape, I will occasionally draw the thing into an SVG, import it into SCAD and linear extrude from there.

The rendering time is a fair complaint though; with complicated models, especially with a high $fn value, re-rendering can be pretty slow. I don't really have a good response to that, I just put up with it because I feel the other perks of code-based CAD make up for it.;

Obviously to each their own. I do wish that code-based CAD is better but I'm not a mechanical engineer, just an enthusiast with a 3D printer.

[throw46365]

> I've just never been able to get the hang of mouse controls, even in Fusion 360

I can relate to this -- I would consider myself 3D-clumsy. But learning the various navigation tools in FreeCAD (numbered views, the navigation cube, the new orient-to-face option) has helped me a lot.

And I think fundamentally not being so intimidated by the rest of the package means it's more worth persevering with that stuff.

(Also FreeCAD's trackpad+keyboard gestures are basically usable)

> Obviously to each their own. I do wish that code-based CAD is better but I'm not a mechanical engineer, just an enthusiast with a 3D printer.

Indeed. It's fabulous that we have choices in open source CAD, open source slicers, open source printers. It's just wild to me -- it actually makes me emotional -- that I can make some of the things I want from my thoughts at such low cost.

But do check out Build123D; I think it will get you to another level.

[tombert]

Yeah, I see Build123D being referenced a lot here. I'll give it a try, though I suspect I'll probably stick with Bowler Studio because I actually use the physics and robo simulation stuff a lot.

[throw46365]

Bowler Studio was entirely new to me, so thanks for mentioning it.

One random mention: Nick Lockwood's ShapeScript, which is another code-CAD thing based around a mesh CSG environment (and pretty unusually runs on iOS)

https://shapescript.info/

[tombert]

Bowler Studio was sort of revelatory for me, because it gave me the ability to model a functional part and immediately test it. The physics engine obviously isn't going to be the most accurate of all time, but for a lot stuff that hobbyists do it can be useful, and being able to play with servos and motors really does open a lot of possibilities to avoid wasting time and prints.

I've actually played with ShapeScript but I admit that I didn't do anything terribly crazy with it.

[throw46365]

Yeah I've only dabbled with it myself. Again it was part of this process of me orienting myself towards "thinking in 3D" and I'm really grateful to much more 3D-literate developers than me that we have so many choices.

CascadeStudio is another one:

https://github.com/zalo/CascadeStudio

This is a browser-based JS CAD thing built around an Emscripten cross-compilation of OpenCascade -- the fact that it works at all was revelatory to me about the capability of Emscripten, which had passed me by a little.

So this is JS code-CAD in a bRep world.

[eropple]

CascadeStudio is new to me - this is really cool. Thank you for linking it.

[eropple]

> I've just never been able to get the hang of mouse controls, even in Fusion 360

I use a spacemouse and sidestep the whole thing. ;)