ClikScad - create OpenSCAD models without all the typing

> I'm finding it difficult to explain myself.  Some of the discussions I see
> here seem to involve very complex manipulations that, I suspect, would be
> completely unnecessary and irrelevant in other CAD programs. It's just a
> feeling I have that in some cases OpenSCAD is being pushed too far from its
> essential simplicity. That's why I have been asking questions about the
> intended "market" for OpenSCAD. If it gets too complicated I fear it will
> lose its attraction for people who don't need a complex CAD system yet it
> will still not match the capabilities of (say) FreeCad or SolveSpace.

OpenSCAD has a very different style of creating 3D shapes, compared to freehand direct-manipulation modelling tools. This style of working can appeal to both novices and experts. We have both types of users in our community.

I would call this style Parametric, Procedural Design. The "Procedural" part means that you use an algorithm to generate the geometry, rather than positioning things by hand. The "Parametric" part means that your model has a set of high level numeric parameters that can be tweaked to generate variations on the design. The parameters are inputs to the algorithm, which preserves all of the invariants or requirements that the design is required to conform to, even as the parameter values change.

Procedural design gives you a large amount of precise control over the model. It can be used to generate lots of repetitive detail which nevertheless exhibits mathematically precise symmetry: just the sort of thing that you don't want to construct by hand. It's attractive to experts because of all the control you get over the output.

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doug.moen wrote
> OpenSCAD has a very different style of creating 3D shapes, compared to
> freehand direct-manipulation modelling tools. This style of working can
> appeal to both novices and experts. We have both types of users in our
> community.

I think it is best if I drop this line of comment for now. Maybe I have
over-reacted as I have not noticed any questions here from novices (which
does not mean that there have been none).

...R



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I would like to begin hosting designs --- but I need to work out the back-end
technology/code, then figure out how I'll be able to afford everything.

Maybe a Kickstarter next year after I finish my book?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/designinto3d/design-into-3d-a-book-of-customizable-project-desi



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On 29.10.19 23:43, WillAdams via Discuss wrote:
> I would like to begin hosting designs --- but I need to work
> out the back-end technology/code, then figure out how I'll
> be able to afford everything.

Sounds great... and difficult :-). I suspect one important
question is what scope it shall have.

What people have asked for is also a registry of things,
specifically for libraries. But if we think about designs
that are customizable, those are pretty much very very
specialized libraries too.

ciao,
  Torsten.

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On 25.10.19 10:45, nop head wrote:
> Not sure how a graphical representation is any simpler than text. It
> is exactly the same logical construction expressed in a different
> format. Do people really struggle much with syntax? The hard part is
> how to decompose and object into CSG operations and the trigonometry.
Not to mention that sin(2*x) is a lot faster to type than clicking and
dragging two ops and a variable.
>
> Using text is a major benefit of OpenSCAD because it can be pasted
> into emails and checked into source control. It is also fairly
> concise. I imagine the graphical representation of my typical designs
> would be an enormous tree.

Well, I tend to indent my code pretty religiously, so the number of
lines in my design would correspond 1:1 with the number of blocks in any
GUI editor, excluding equations.

In fact I would actually use a GUI-ish editor when I need to re-factor a
design – for me it's easier to re-arrange blocks with it than with a
text editor. Just not for equations please.

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