Show HN: LuaCAD – Parametric CAD Scripted in Lua

(luacad.ad-si.com)

52 points | by adius 4 hours ago

5 comments

  • fhn 1 hour ago
    Does this have a web-based playground? I find https://www.pythonscad.org/playground/ to be nice to try out the project.
    • adius 1 hour ago
      Agreed! I’m already working on it, but it’s not quite ready yet. ETA is 1-2 weeks.
  • adastra22 25 minutes ago
    Isn't OpenSCAD's limited (non-Turing complete) language a feature?
    • adius 12 minutes ago
      I'm pretty sure it's Turing complete by now. If it was conceptualized as a limited language and only became a full fledged programming language over time, it would certainly explain all its weird warts. (Here is some more details: https://github.com/ad-si/LuaCAD#why-lua) I guess 3D modeling is just too complex for a simple, but limited DSL.

      Lua is easier to use, faster, and more feature-rich. It's one of those rare occasions when a new solution is actually better in every single way.

  • tolugenius 3 hours ago
    Really interesting! I actually use freecad so I'm use to that layer of the process but I'll check this out. Also good to see the work being done in modeling software these days
  • manny_rat 3 hours ago
    Love it! OpenSCAD has very painful syntax. Is it possible to easily do bevels/chamfers or does it have the same limitations as OpenSCAD there?
    • adius 2 hours ago
      Thanks! It natively supports all BOSL2 functions which include a chamfer argument (https://github.com/revarbat/BOSL/wiki#common-arguments). So that makes it quite straightforward to add chamfers to everything!
      • adastra22 26 minutes ago
        Quite easy to add chamfers to everything in the CAD file. Your manufacturing guy is going to strangle you...
      • kragen 56 minutes ago
        Can you fillet unions? Like, if I union a cube with a smaller cube sticking out of its side, can I make a fillet so that the edge where the two cubes' faces intersect doesn't become a stress concentration point for cracks to start at? This is OpenSCAD's primary weakness from my point of view.
      • addaon 2 hours ago
        Which is what separates us from the animals.
  • WillAdams 3 hours ago
    Is it able to access the file system and write/read files?

    I've been doing that via PythonSCAD for my current project https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview and it might be interesting to do a re-write in another language.

    • adius 2 hours ago
      Yes, it executes in a full fledged Lua environment. So you can do all the things you expect do be able to do with Lua!

      I’d pick Lua over Python any day, but maybe that’s just me. ;-)

      • WillAdams 1 hour ago
        I've had good success w/ using Lua in LuaLaTeX, so hopefully a good fit for me to exercise my programming chops. I think it will be interesting to maintain two parallel versions for comparison/contrast. Thanks!