Computer Aided Design (CAD)
A computer-aided design feature for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization.This is extremely necessary as there is no good software for CAD. Softwares Like Inventor and Autocad are not free. If Blender Foundation and community starts working on this proposal, in no time it will become better than Inventor, Autocad, Fusion360 etc. I know that the task is not easy but with this new feature, blender will be unstoppable. Check Clockmender's site for more details clockmender.uk/blender/cad-functions/
34 Comments
Blender for CAD or no to CAD. I understand the point of view of each side.
On the side of pro CAD feature there is a significant merit to it. Adding a cad editor to blender would potentially be benefitial to other pipelines on blender. More diverse workflows/implementations/techniques would significantly improve blender's ecosystem as a whole.
This could be one more probable reason for autodesks further success. The unity of mutilple pipelines in one company is a great source for innovation. Whether it would be on the artistic, programming, or mathematical side.
Furthermore blender's success to CAD pipeline would also be a success to open source CAD softwares. If blender improves its cad ability this would also help other cad softwares to improve. Its an open source community after all.
* @johnpdelacruz26 * Well said👍👍👍.
Yes we need blender for CAD so that engineers like me could finally use a good open source CAD software. Open source softwares like freecad or Tinkercad are not as good. I hope blender foundation understands that there are huge no of people out there who are waiting for this functionality so that they could finally switch from Autocad or Fusion360 to blender. I hope more and more people come forward to support this idea.
* @paponjolie999 * YESS!!
* @paponjolie999 * You know of FreeCad ? its free opensource as well. Nevermind though i sure wish there was a new object type that would allow export in .step format As .step is an open standard as well, but in contrary to stl / blend mechanical engineers can use it beyond 3d printers most Cad programs support STEP.
And i understand the differences a rounded bevel modifier in step is different (but it would be easy to set a modifier to work different for a specifiek (new) object type.. and its no problem if not all modifiers would be supported.)
This would be a game changer.
* @johnpdelacruz26 * yess it will be
Where is the proposal, though? Just mentioning a wish isn't really useful. Take the time to elaborate on how would this work, how the tools would interact and work within Blender, how the core technology concepts could blend, etc. If you can, make some mockups too, it will increase the chances of the proposal to be taken seriously.
* @Andy Cuccaro * I just added a link. Check it out.
You have to be more specific on the feature rather than saying "Blender needs to become a a CAD software" & also you have to count time & resources ,Devs can't just leave what's on their hands & start a new big project. It would need huge support & even experienced developers in the field who know both Blender developement & CAD requirements.
* @adamsanim8 * From what I have said earlier, a CAD program for blender would be very helpful for blender in the long run. Autodesk is a great testament to how powerful it would be to have a diverse field of pipeline in a company, from artistic, programming, and mathematical environment.
* @johnpdelacruz26 * You seem to not understand my point, i am trying to help you here, this site is for specific features not softwares comparisons or vague suggestions.
You want CAD like snapping make one which i believe there is already one for it.
you have to give a good & detailed description for every single feature and each one of them should be on a separate proposal. Take a look at the top voted ideas and see how they're done otherwise your idea would be another pointless one that the Devs will just ignore & forget for many years.
* @adamsanim8 * I do get your point. But the CAD proposal as a whole itself is also necessary, else it would be a vague conversation at all.
The main premise of his post is about blender getting in to CAD environment. Respectfullt there are no high cumpulsory rules that require people to post highly specific ideas all the time. Sometimes it is also a good practice to discuss a certain topic from time to time.
Although I respect your opinion. Next good step would be to share specific ideas on how blender would implement some of tge basic features from cad. It all still boils down to whether the blender dev team would decide to create a separate editor of it, in a different case create a toolset, or probably hire specific programmers to create an addon/fork. It would be much easier to think through ideas once blender gives a signal of the possibility of CAD being included in blender.
* @adamsanim8 * I just added the link. Check that out.
* @adamsanim8 * He has added the link.
* @johnpdelacruz26 * You are right. It's really necessary to start now.
* @Prime925 * well that link is actually sent to the Blender dev who's working on precison modeling so it's not something new unless those features are the ones you're asking for , Germano has made few addons that ships with Blender for CAD work & also done some changes to the snapping tools, if this is the only things you guys are asking for then it's just a matter of dev time.
devtalk.blender.org/t/discussions-for-better-snapping-and-precision-modeling/5351/23
& Clockmender the owner of the suggestions is clearly in the discussion with him,so take your suggestion/support to the devtalk thread.
* @adamsanim8 * How about the whole thinker universe, i mean basically anyone who started their project with a 3d printer, who wants to go industrial. Besides those architects a few of them using it allready, they are frontiers, if more people could design you attract a whole new scene. product designers, house interior, house, exterior, openmaps people, etc etc.
As mentioned by @peter.boos, FreeCAD is a pretty good tool that is open source too.
It would be a shame to do competition to a already good software that only needs time and support to evolve. Plus, its the same discution as for a new game engine implementation in Blender, other softwares are already doing it far better than Blender would ever do.. so what is the point anyway? Aside from taking developers time and resources.
Its only my opinion though.
* @Shimoon * Once taken seriously, It will evolve fast, thanks to a large community . I know it will take time but eventually that will be a masterpiece.
i think you dont understand the purpose of this programm. it is a animation software and not a cad tool. cad tools are tailored to construct production ready models. that is something completely different.
* @pmeg * I am just trying to propose a feature so that it becomes an alternative to CAD software too. Blender is open source and has a huge community. There's a great chance that it will become a great software capable of doing both CAD and 3D design.
* @Prime925 * Imagine blender having the best of both features. That will be AWESOME.
I don't think this is a way Blender should orient. I understand a need for a good CAD program, but honestly I support just good way to import of IGES or STEP, as I'm working in MoI3D (and other people in different surface tools). From my pov, Blender is vfx and game oriented tool, implementing some advanced CAD workflow will take so much resources from main purpose of this software.
* @Vojtěch * I value your opinion but it's purpose is to provide free design software to all. Adding CAD is only going to fulfill that purpose and provide people like us to use a good open-source CAD software . Further it will increase it's userbase.
* @paponjolie999 * I understand that. In last weeks I read talks about NURBS and surfaces inside Blender, why it's not evolving enymore etc. Devs were answering that this modeling is not something they are focusing now. There are Everything nodes, MantaFlow developing etc etc. It would be awesome to have allpurpose tool like Blender to handle all task needed in cgi world. And if it will be implemented in the future proper way, I'm all in.
But what I understand poly modeling and surfacing is like two different universes. Michael Gibson, creator of Moi3D and also one of founders of Rhino3D is sharing his thoughts frequently with community and the development is a long process. And using opensource surfacing libraries is not always bringing good results. For example some beveling cases, that MoI3D handles bad, but Fusion 360 without problems.
So, I support implementing CAD toolsets inside Blender, but for now I don't see it as a priority :)
There are plenty of free CAD softwares like Draftsight, NanoCAD, FreeCAD but it is a good option to implement CAD Functionality in blender.
Truth. Blender has already shown that its breadth and comprehensiveness is a great advantage, so if they had a Template for CAD drawing and/or sketchup modeling... they would grab a large part of CAD and Sketchup users.
I think it would be great to (somehow) merge FreeCAD and Blender without even bothering of duplicate functions and object types. Or make a FreeCAD addon. Addon would be better but I afraid nobody would make it without Blender Foundation.
Or... start a brand new software from scratch taking the best from every major CAD software out there, just using Blender DEVs/Foundation way of doing things and completely remove nurbs from Blender which is a complete waste of space currently. It'd be equally fantastic to me. Basic needs in architecture would be drafting tools with layers system, some kind of BIM (parametric), powerful booleans, precision tools, versatile snapping, simple material assignment, very fast rendering (eventually real time), scale printing and line thickness managment system, help me complete the list.
It'd also be nice to have a tool able to convert mesh objects into nurbs ones, based on sharp edges and normals.
First Inverntor is so not a standard skill in the CAD world, Solidworks and Rhino is. Fusion is free up to a point, and OMG to turn blender into something remotely as capable would be MONUMENTAL. I so disagree
* @othoap * You are right to aim something like the standard cad softwares is a big leap. The main point is to start on something small. There is no need keep up with the big companies. What this feature is proposing is just an alternative CAD software. Nothing more like to be some kind of autocad or solidworks.
Blender company is very capable of doing these tasks. Just needs some degree of prioritization. If blender wants to keep up with at least the basic cad functionalities, there's no better way to atleast start small the sooner; Else blender will be more further late in the game and thus making it highly impossible to even start.
Who knows. This is not a one way company like autodesk. This is open an source environment and there is a good chance that some significant improvements that can just hopefully take a year to achieve. There are no comparable issues that some of these specific companies like autodesk or Dassault Systèmes where multiple complex considerations still have to be considered in order to move on to another leap of software upgrade and overhauls.
* @johnpdelacruz26 * Completely agree with you bro!! With such a large community, CAD feature will be a huge sucess.