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Ask HN: What is stopping a tablet CAD app that isn’t a subscription?

1 points by Otternonsenz ↗ HN
In my day job, I work more with simple 2d sketching programs to make home layouts after I measure them (TOTAL Sketch, for those interested).

In my free time, I enjoy working with other sketching programs (Procreate for drawing/freehand sketching and an old version of SketchUp for 3d work), and would like to not have to use my modified 2011 13” MBP anymore and retire the dang thing for 3d work.

But the issue I’m having is I can’t find any iPad software for 3d that isn’t a subscription or prohibitively expensive for a hobbyist. Is the expense of these programs and the subscriptions tied to some of them because of proprietary parametric software patents, or is this the only way to finance software as complicated as Fusion360 or Shapr3d?

I just want to be able to model stuff for 3d printing/ 3d ideation in the same way I can sketch in Procreate, and own the software outright (again, like Procreate), but it feels like there are not enough likeminded people to change the tide on such a piece of software.

Willing to pony up the money for something that works, but after getting burned by Adobe in not being able to own my creative software, wary of going with a subscription. Were I not minimally proficient in PHP and some front end languages,I’d love to tackle this problem myself, but I know when I’m out of my depth, haha

6 comments

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tgflynn
Don't you think a tablet provides a rather limited interface for 3d modeling ?
Otternonsenz
Not for my uses specifically, but if I was working as an engineer who needed the reliability and depth that desktop applications can deliver, I would completely agree that a tablet is a limited interface.

However let me give a few of my personal use cases for a mobile CAD app: -Rigging simple architectural primitives for me to draw over on one device rather than creating in sketchup and then porting the angle I want to render my drawing into the drawing app of choice -Testing out a design for furniture that I could export and mill on a CNC machine -Simple architectural floor plans that don’t need to be builder quality (cause even the county level drawings my state has are nowhere near as complicated as the custom home plans I review in the course of my normal work)

What I’m not talking about is having Blender, Maya, Revit, 3dsMax, or Zbrush on a tablet. Those programs need more computing power for some of the rendering they do, but that is not what I’m looking for. Shapr3d would very much fit the bill for me if I could buy it once and use for as long as my ma hone can run it.

tgflynn
Hmm I happen to be working on some 3D code that I don't currently have ultraclear plans for. I would be interested in chatting about your use cases. Unfortunately I see you want this for IPad and my code is unlikely to ever run there since my understanding is that Apple has dropped OpenGL support.
Otternonsenz
While I’m not well versed in that particular aspect of Apple’s support I did find this:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/migrating_op...

And would love to talk with you about my use-cases as well as if there’s any possibility for me to dive in head first and work with you to port your code for this context if you deem it possible.

Been looking for a good reason/project to dip my toes in Swift/Metal and regardless of wether it’s working with you or not, I might pursue this on my own time to make something that fits my needs (as well as scratching the itch of tackling something new)

tgflynn
I added a contact email to my public HN profile. Send me an email if you like, I'm definitely interested in talking with someone who has more 3D modelling experience than I about what features might be useful.
Otternonsenz
Haha. Just did the same. Will get a few things done in the office then send ya a PM in a bit.