I have a 100/10 idea that would make blender useful to the average person, and also create the only CAD program that would ever matter. I call it pipedream CAD , since every other CAD program I’ve looked at is lacking in functionality.
Basically it would be a UI overhaul to blender with added features. It would start with a grid and you could manipulate objects just like with TinkerCAD, but could also draw/create by exact points/vertices, where it would generate lines(or 2D shapes/planes I guess?) between them, and then polygons(with your set limit between points/solid objects when finished, or whenever you wanted.
I know a bit of lua but have no idea where I would get started, so anyone here have any idea how much something like that would cost to make?
The basic run down:
Create Point A at (0,0,0)
Create Cube(6 sided polygon) FROM point A in X direction from point A (Auto generate points on each vertex of the Polygon)
Create point 50% between points A1/A4. A2/A3
Create HOLE Cylinder Object around New Point
To turn this into a dome with an easily adjustable roof, I could then
Clone Points A3/B3/A4/B4
Create half circle between New Points with Angle 45* (between A3/B4, A4,B3)
If you have some time, check out 3D Orchard ( https://3DOrchard.com ). It’s kind of like a mix between the two–and typical sketch-based CAD.
3 of us built 3D Orchard to distribute free access to CAD, to enable people around the world to collaboratively build products together. So it has full browser-based CAD built into the platform. The CAD UI is slightly different than typical CAD, because the tools pop-up based on what you click. Would love to hear your feedback! You can use the button in the bottom-right corner to give us feedback.
