New Parametric CAD program - SolidCraft

[Redbrickman]

Only being going for about 10 days still adding features but looks very promising and can run in a browser as well as the usual OS.

https://solidcraft.io/

I think this one will be close to the features that Fusion 360 provides as far as design goes and it's open source, so no need to store your designs on company owned cloud server.

A tutorial that shows the capabilities...

 

[Tony4597]

Will have a look at this although I do have access to Soldworks.

It seems to be that the Open Source community have been very busy recently with several groups producing clones of very expensive mainstream applications. I believe these applications have been written using Vibe AI coding in the Rust programming language.

I have recently downloaded PdfCraft to give it a try. First look seems that it can do most if not all of the paid for Adobe Acrobat.

FWIW, another link to a group that appears to have targeted mainly Adobe apps including the above
https://getartcraft.com/apps

 

[Redbrickman]

Thanks for that link, the apps look great and I will checking out a couple of them as alternatives to other overloaded software.

 

[Nifty]

Funny timing! I spent yesterday playing with SolidCraft and was impressed.

I had Codex (ChatGPT's AI program) install it on my Windows PC, connect to it via the MCP, and start designing stuff. One of my biggest frustrations has been trying to edit STLs, since they're meshes rather than parametric designs.

So I gave Codex the STL for an insertable DeWalt parts tray and asked it to recreate it in SolidCraft as a parametric, editable model.

Here's the original STL:

...and the Codex / SolidCraft reconstruction, with editable sketches and a feature history:

...and the two files side by side in Bambu Studio. I can't tell them apart!

This was a really awesome test. Being able to start with an existing STL and end up with a model I can actually modify is something I've wanted for a long time!

... and I don't think I have the CAD skills to design something like this myself.

 

[Nifty]

Another new program (for those that like Tinkercad) that's getting a lot of attention is Layerling:

 

[Redbrickman]

Funny timing! I spent yesterday playing with SolidCraft and was impressed.

I had Codex (ChatGPT's AI program) install it on my Windows PC, connect to it via the MCP, and start designing stuff. One of my biggest frustrations has been trying to edit STLs, since they're meshes rather than parametric designs.

So I gave Codex the STL for an insertable DeWalt parts tray and asked it to recreate it in SolidCraft as a parametric, editable model.

Here's the original STL:
View attachment 19622

...and the Codex / SolidCraft reconstruction, with editable sketches and a feature history:
View attachment 19623

...and the two files side by side in Bambu Studio. I can't tell them apart!
View attachment 19624

This was a really awesome test. Being able to start with an existing STL and end up with a model I can actually modify is something I've wanted for a long time!

... and I don't think I have the CAD skills to design something like this myself.

Good result.

If you need to edit an stl you can turn it into a solid body easily in Freecad then import into your favourite CAD program

There are loads of videos on doing it but theses are the steps... its sounds complicated but it takes no time at all.



To convert a mesh (such as an STL or OBJ file) into a solid body in FreeCAD, follow these steps using the Part Workbench: [1, 2]

Step 1: Import and Check the Mesh

1. • Open FreeCAD and import your mesh file (File > Import or Open). [1]
   • Switch to the Mesh Design workbench to verify the mesh is watertight and has no self-intersections.
     • Go to Meshes > Analyze > Evaluate and Repair.
     • Click Evaluate solid to confirm it is a valid, manifold mesh. [1, 2, 3]

Step 2: Convert Mesh to Shape

1. • Switch to the Part workbench from the workbench dropdown.
   • Select your imported mesh in the tree view on the left.
   • Go to the top menu and click Part > Create shape from mesh....
   • Set the sewing tolerance (typically 0.1) and click OK.
   • Hide or delete the original mesh object. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Step 3: Convert Shape to Solid

1. • Select the newly created shape object in the tree view.
   • Go to the top menu and click Part > Convert to solid. This creates a new solid object. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Step 4: Refine the Solid (Optional)

1. • Select the new solid object.
   • Go to Part > Create a copy > Refine shape. This cleans up residual lines and merges coplanar faces.
   • You can now use this refined shape in the Part Design workbench by dragging it into a new Body or exporting it as a .step file. [1, 2, 3, 4]