CAD Mode with NURBS and Sketch-to-Mesh/SVG Workflow
Context
Blender has grown into a powerful and flexible tool for artists and designers across various domains, but there's still a gap when it comes to high-precision CAD workflows. While add-ons and workarounds exist, Blender lacks a native environment truly tailored for mechanical design, parametric sketching, and NURBS-based solid modeling, something SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or FreeCAD handle very well. And many OS library for Nurbs are ready to implement (OpenNURBS, LibsNurbs, OpenCascade, CGAL) !
Proposal
Introduce a dedicated CAD Mode within Blender that enables:
- Parametric 2D sketching with constraints and dimensions (lengths, angles, relations like perpendicularity, tangency, etc.)
- NURBS surface and solid modeling tools for industrial/mechanical workflows
- A measurement-focused interface , with accurate snapping and annotation tools
-
Direct
conversion of sketches
into:
- Editable SVG curves usable in Blender’s native edit mode (for procedural or artistic use)
- Mesh objects for immediate modeling and rendering workflows
Benefits
- Makes Blender viable for early-stage product design and mechanical prototyping
- Seamlessly bridges creative modeling with engineering-level precision
- Eliminates the need for round-tripping between external CAD software and Blender
- Supports industries like 3D printing, industrial design, architecture, etc.
UI Inspiration
Attached is a prototype concept interface showing sketch planes, constraints, and UI buttons inspired by existing CAD software,but adapted to Blender's theme and layout isn't finished to 100% is just a "Proto" for showin the way to take
Exemple of what a nurbs can be representated in Blender
Why This Matters
Blender is already capable of so much. With the increasing adoption of open-source tools in engineering and education, adding a focused, precision-driven mode will expand Blender’s user base even further while maintaining its unique strengths.
Let’s bring precision modeling natively into Blender’s creative ecosystem are plusvalue e.g for architect designer or 3d maker. Or another exemple you can create a proto in nurbs switch it to Mesh, create a simulation of analytics data, and correcting the nurbs in consequence, this feature offer so many other features combined together !
5 Comments
Don't worry I'm coming 😋 I am basically planning to spend the year coding just that. I really need fund though. It may not be allowed to do my promo here but you can really make a difference here romainguimbal.github.io/sp-donation/sp-donation.html
Surface Psycho are really limited due to usage of GN, basically a system like what you want to implement are a bad idea because isn't a nurbs system🤷♂️ We need a system written in DNA and C++ code of Blender core ! For having something efficient, intuitif and User friendly with powerful feature like Xnurbs and many other CAD base options in NURBS ! Not in Polygonal meshes. plasticity and Rhino 3D are the best good exemple of what we want !
This is not the place to do a complete response but you are very wrong at several levels 😬 One of them is that I was not referring to SurfacePsycho add-on at all, but to my work with C++ on Blender
Oh glad to learn that ! I thinked you make a reference to surfacePsycho ! Glad to hear that !
I'd like to have curves that render without segmentation :D. At least in a calculation level, because it's hard exporting svg when it chops into segments the curves that should be perfectly round, or calculating length of curves, the measurements get imprecise because of curve resolution.