I’m a hobbyist woodworker. I manually design simple things in Shapr3d with a lot of patience when I build things. I wonder in the time of LLMs if there is an effective way to accelerate the 3D model design using AI.. Anybody tried using AI to model wood projects? Any tools to recommend?

I’m using Plasticity with an MCP and Astra for 3D printing work, haven’t tried it for woodworking projects yet. It’s decent at modeling medium complexity enclosures and structural supports, so might be worth giving it a try.

Give my tool a try, https://sawdust.diy

I'm building ShopSpec (https://shopspec.io/) for this kind of workflow. I'm a woodworker and use it for my own home and shop builds.

It's a woodworking domain engine and parametric furniture builder focused on projects like bookshelves, cabinetry, and shop furniture. It works out the parts, joints, cut list, etc.

There is an MCP component in beta (https://shopspec.io/agents) that allows an agent to explore designs while the engine still does the math. To take a design to CAD, a project can be exported as DXF or as a Ruby script that rebuilds it in SketchUp Pro.

It's narrower than Shapr3D, but it might fit the projects you describe.

I've tested different ways to use agents to model stuff from images with accuracy. Maybe this is something that can help or give you ideas: https://janne-alatalo.fi/en/articles/silhouette-modeling/

If you have some physical reference, for example a coffee table, you can create an accurate 3D model of that quickly. The agent creates model that can be converted to STEP format and opened with any CAD software.

This might help you? You get a good model that you can start editing towards your own design.

Here is agent skill that works with OpenAI models and Codex https://github.com/janne-alatalo/image-to-cad-skill

Basically you take few pictures. Three is usually enough of furnitures. The agent uses the pictures to find the exact camera poses and creates a 3D model that minimizes the difference between the object's silhouette in images and in the 3D-model when projected with the virtual cameras to the 2D planes. The agents create the model with python scripts. First using numpy for faster optimization and finally CadQuery for easy exports to CAD formats.

A friend of mine was borrowing the shop of a very well known luthier to build some furniture. I stopped by to check the whole situation out and I found them both with their brows furrowed trying to work out some tolerances for a joint on a scrap piece of paper. As an architect by training, I quipped "at some point you'll have to start making proper drawings of you projects ahead of time", to which the luthier replied "the plans are always the problem, you're better off letting the wood tell you how it should be put it together." to which I had no reply..

I'm a developer and hobbyist woodworker too :)

I'm also the developer of FluidCAD. It has an MCP you can wire to any LLM. It runs locally on your machine.

It is still missing features for splitting the model into parts, but that is coming in a future release.

https://fluidcad.io/

MCP config (node.js required): https://fluidcad.io/docs/cli/#fluidcad-mcp

Claude Code is now WAY better at the freecad python api. My product (related to ceramics) does a whole bunch of custom 3d modeling and the new generation of LLMs can go in and make significant changes and basically get it right. They can also deal with a lot of annoying corner cases when you run into them.

I'm a developer and a previous commercial concrete superintendent. I built a 3d model designer similar to Autodesk Revit as well as a pdf editor similar to Bluebeam. You can connect MCP to it to build full buildings based of drawings.

https://builder.auxx.ai/

Everything is stored locally (with cloud feature coming soon as well as desktop versions.)

Shameless plug since I work for them, but have your tried Vizcom? We're in the ai-assisted prototyping and design space. Our focus is industrial design but I don't see why you couldn't get assistance with woodworking projects. :)

For realizing designs in physical space, I create a Python library with a DSL that allows us to express all of the components and how they relate with each other. The most important thing this provides is a deterministic way to test the assembly. Then, you take the parameterized relationships between the components and export them into things like three-dimensional views or cut lists, rather than trying to manipulate three-dimensional software as your source of truth. (Although Claude is pretty effective at driving Blender via Python, too.)

I am a woodworker mostly but do it all on pencil and paper. That said I have a 3d printer and cnc and fusion360 with the Claude mcp connector has been pretty amazing in my tests. One more year and it will be a new world.

I have gotten just "ok" at CAD. I'm not as productive as I should be because I avoid it. Really looking forward to this.

Not yet fully baked, but I am planning to add a woodworking mode to claydash with natural cutting UI - For now I have a couple of wood materials and there is the ability to extrude + cut faces à la sketch up, which should work for simple projects.

The local version has a MCP server.

see https://claydash.com/

https://sawdust.diy/ uses LLMs for wood designs

At what point is it no longer being a woodworker? Ai does the design and the modeling work. A robot actually does the cutting.

Isn’t this closer to being an architect or a designer now?

I used blender mcp and Astra to do a woodworking design a few days ago, plans came out great.

I do home improvement projects (I've in wall built-in storage, benches and nooks) I am on a clock and i have very little room in which to work. The only tool I have relied on https://www.cutlistoptimizer.com/ I have found that the CAD based tools to be pretty much beside the point for _most_ wood working projects for hobbyists, for a few reasons:

1. First several 3-d design iterations are throwaway reworked because I am constantly measuring the design, clearances and studs. And paper works best here instead of working with clankers which takes way longer.

2. Choosing the right kind of materials: thickness and type of plywood, type of hinges, panels, finished or unfinished. Optimize for simplicity of putting components together is most important.

3. Once the design settles the actual joinery needs to be as simple and efficient e.g. butt joints work well most of the time. A good jig for pocket holes is generally the most needed. You will be surprised how well a staple gun works for creating back panels of cupboards.

Its not that they are not useful, shopspec looks great(good job variodot), its just that I can get further and faster without them for most hobbyist pursuits. I invoke YAGNI most of the time because I constantly ask myself one question: "How can I make this be less time consuming?".

I've had good results with Claude Code + OpenSCAD.

Model wood with AI? How are you going to carve it? Which machine?

zoodev?

Ask Claude to generate OpenSCAD files.

I use blender

Model wood? How are you going to carve it? Which machine?