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      Dust3d Modeling software

      news.movim.eu / open-source-software · Wednesday, 23 December, 2020 - 09:39

    I've been working with #Dust3D lately. Dust3D is cross platform 3d modeling software that creates watertight models. I've always admired Blender as a great piece of software but was also intimidated by the complex user interface. Dust3D has a very clean interface and once I got the hang of it, it was very easy to work with. In Dust3D the user creates and connects nodes but instead of working in 3d the user works in 2d. How is this done? The user works with two 2d projections, one along the x-axis (front) and one along the z-axis (side). It takes a little time to get used to but once I did it starts making a lot of sense. My 3d models are becoming better and better. I suppose that the people that can benefit from Dust3D are 3d modelers, 3d printers, game designers and 3d animators.

    #3dprinting #3dmodeling

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      Solvespace 3.0 is finally nearing its stable release

      news.movim.eu / open-source-software · Thursday, 29 October, 2020 - 11:17

    Solvespace 3.0, an easy to use 3D CAD program, is nearing its stable release. It has many changes under the hood and the developers can surely use help from people willing to test it. The current stable version is Solvespace 2.3 and is from December 2016 so it's safe to say that update is much needed. Unfortunately, as is the case with many FLOSS projects, Solvespace has only a couple of active developers and the main developer had health issues. As a consequence the project practically came to a stand still for several years. Luckily things turned around when a new developer joined the project and was able to dedicate a significant amount of time to it.

    IMHO Solvespace serves a niche market but it's very good at what it does, making 3D CAD accessible to a more general public. I think it's also an excellent tool to learn students the basics of geometric constraint solving and parametric modelling.

    download: https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace/releases/tag/edge

    changelog: https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

    #3dcad #3dprinting

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      3D printing the FLOSS way

      news.movim.eu / open-source-software · Thursday, 22 October, 2020 - 09:52

    #3dprinting is rather unique in that every step in the process can be done with free and open source hard- and software. This ranges from design software that produces the 3D model, the slicer for the G-code, the firmware and even the bootloader of the 3D printer. On top of that all hardware parts can be 3D printed or bought.

    I must add that not all manufacturers of 3D printers are adhering to the rules. The Prusa printers of Joseph Prusa belong probably to the most #FLOSS ones while Creality is currently doing an effort to be (partly) FLOSS. Others are probably in violation with the GPL license by using the Marlin firmware for their printers but not releasing their source code.

    Some people argue that the design software is the achilles heel of this FLOSS workflow since Blender, OpenSCAD, FreeCAD and Solvespace all have their limitations compared to something like Fusion360. I'd say that for most if not all hobbyist the FLOSS programs are more than capable and no proprietary software is needed.