FreeCAD: https://freecad.org

libfive - https://libfive.com

guile scheme, bindings in Rust and Python

personally exited to check it out for real constructive-solid modeling, as opposed to emulating that workflow over OpenCascade's (fickle but otherwise lovely) BREP modeling (ie. edges & faces) via build123d (which has been great but is increasingly vibe-coded :/)

discussed previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12319406

a real constructive solid library (as opposed to emulation via modeling), with

Truck (Rust CAD Kernel) - https://github.com/ricosjp/truck

Cadova - https://github.com/tomasf/Cadova

SolveSpace - https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace

Brl-cad https://brlcad.org/

JSCAD (formerly OpenJSCAD) https://openjscad.xyz/

Awesome because you can build a model, expose the parameters, and allow web users to generate a model to fit their parameters.

vcad was started in 2026 and has great ambitions: https://docs.vcad.io

I've been "vibe coding" with OpenSCAD with good results! OpenSCAD will automatically detect changes in the current open file and reload it, so I can use VS Code (with the OpenSCAD extension) to vibe code with Claude, and watch the changes appear on the OpenSCAD screen

KiCad - https://www.kicad.org/

Yep, or a 3D adaptation of an RTS game.

I found the UI far more approachable in Dune 3D than any other 3D CAD program I've tried and as the readme notes, Dune 3D imports STEP files and does fillets/chamfers which SolveSpace does not (in the current version)

There was a recent video on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1VNpC0nwF4

If someone knows of a general introduction to 3D CAD which focuses on vendor-neutral descriptions of terminology and concepts, I'd be very interested --- I've done the tutorial for Dune 3D twice now (which is farther than I've gotten in any other 3D CAD tool), but keep getting hung up on subtleties/specifics which I have trouble describing for want of the correct terminology/understanding:

https://github.com/dune3d/dune3d/discussions/118

When I tried to write up the usage of a far simpler program, one of the things which I tried to do was define all terminology as it was brought up:

https://willadams.gitbook.io/design-into-3d/2d-drawing

are there any tutorials for 3D CAD which attempt definitions along the way in this fashion?

The documentation addresses that[0]. Basically, Dune 3D uses solvespace's solver, but it can do fillets and chamfers, and has a slightly more approachable user interface.

0: https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/why-another-3d-cad.html

Just watched this the other day: https://youtu.be/T1VNpC0nwF4?si=T9XDd2_2sY0BaBFZ

There is a flatpak https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.dune3d.dune3d

took me two commands to get binary on osx. (i had brew already)

brew install ... and ./scripts/build_macos.sh

For windows instructions look equally trivial.

Even an AppImage would be great.

It's by the team that did Horizon EDA, which is very much a "craftsmanship-first" effort. and they've been working on this for some time now. My guess is hardly any.

(I seem to be cast in the role of FreeCAD advocate on HN these days, but here goes!)

For years I agreed with you - I tried FreeCAD multiple times, different versions, always sucked.

Then I watched this video [0] and discovered that v1.1 is different - and that it's good enough for solid reliable hobby usage. It's still a touch frustrating in a few areas (text, for example) but I've now switched over to it completely.

[0] https://youtu.be/VEfNRST_3x8

Recent freecad is pretty decent. My main complaint these days is the performance of the geometry engine.

FreeCAD would benefit from effective

(1) agile Product Management,

(2) Product Design & continuous user-research,

(3) Improvements to test-driven development (TDD),

(4) transparent & open outcome-based roadmap,

(5) a vision to make the application easy to use for newbies in a maker-space, and (this is specific to my use-case),

(6) Improvements to the CAM module to make it easy to use this for CNC routers, and designing objects with sloped/curved surfaces.

- FreeCAD site: https://www.freecad.org/

- FreeCAD code: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD

- FreeCAD forum: https://forum.freecad.org/

To echo others' comments: FreeCAD has improved significantly since v1.0, so I'm hoping this attracts quality & stability-minded develeopers, and a frequent release cadence.

I found FreeCAD fine but it takes me a while to remember how to use it each time (since I don't use it frequently...)

I’ve tried FreeCAD multiple times, but I’m just too used to Rhino 3D. Unfortunately, it’s rather expensive. Anyone need a slightly used, low-mileage, one owner soul?

This is honestly the first thing I look for with anything new claiming "CAD".

Roughly every other week there is a new "The (programmable) CAD that fixes everything!" post on the front page, just for me to open them up excitedly and noticing that they use a mesh kernel and will thus never be able to provide fillets and chamfers painlessly (for the user). All while they are absolutely essential for a lot of designs, especially in 3D-printing, a well-placed fillet/chamfer can make the difference between an object that breaks upon looking at it funny and one that can bear significant load.

> Its not often you see 'fillets and chamfers' are tip-line features in the readme for CAD packages.

Well the readme states the following:

Solvespace on the other hand gets the workflow part right, but falls short by not importing STEP and the geometry kernel not supporting chamfers and fillets.

So I assume that's where that comes from.

Well, implementing fillets and chamfers is no easy task, so it's well deserved to be there.

Source: been there, done that.

fillets and chamfers are at the same time both ridiculously difficult and ridiculously important.

It has been one of the main complaints about openscad for some time