3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
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Openscad is fine for pretty basic one item things. It's not so good for complex designs like the model steam engines I sometimes amuse myself with. And it's sure not capable in a commercial setting.
But if you enjoy openscad and writing code, more power to you and enjoy what you are doing with it!
It's extremely useful for functional things. Adapters and stuff. You can change some variables and get a model that fits your personal needs
You can do parametric design in other CAD software, but openscad, being a coding software, lends itself particularly well for that.
In my experience doing parametric design in Fusion360 is a lot more tedious than in OpenSCAD.
I think the biggest benefit is sharing.
While you can do parametric design in Fusion, if you share it you can only share it with people using Fusion. Same with other CAD software, you are limiting the userbase.
OpenSCAD on the other hand is a slim FOS tool that anyone can download, it's not limited.
That's a great point. OpenSCAD is lightweight and FOSS so it is a lot easier to share than Fusion360 for example
OpenSCAD is only lightweight till you start working with Minkowski transformations and hulls. Then you just want a faster CPU.
I never go that far in my projects, when are you using Minkowski transformations?
Two reasons.
Yeah my own creation are usually really blocky because I am lazy and I just need something fonctional haha
OpenSCAD lends itself to be treated as a function/stand alone program for generating models as well. Some of the 3D modeling websites even have OpenSCAD integration that runs it in your browser to generate the model based on the flagged configurable parameters. That's powerful for basic functions like the mentioned adapters, because you can have a page that just spits out adapters of any size and shape.
Theoretically, a more standard CAD program like FreeCAD can use OpenSCAD for a standard parts library like threads, screws, bolts, sprints and allow for custom creation of those outside the standard. FreeCAD has some OpenSCAD support, but I'm not sure if it uses it in that way.
I agree but with a caveat: openscad still requires people to understand code. It is still. A whole new skillset that not everyone is going to want to learn.
You can still share the STL though :)
And for the OpenSCAD files I saw so far, the most important variables are usually well documented with comments at the top of the file, which makes it easier for most people how to adapt the files to their needs without knowledge of coding.