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Open Source CAD Applications

There are different Open Source CAD applications, which might be worth to keep an eye on. Some of them are actively being developed, but not fully usable yet.

  • wildcat full CAD system, using MCAD concepts, but in early development (no end-user application yet)

  • CADEMIA 2D generic CAD in Java, an academic research project

  • thancad 2D CAD for engineers, using Python

  • PythonCAD 2D CAD in Python

  • JCad 2D CAD in Java

  • QCad 2D CAD in C++

  • Archimedes 2D AutoCAD-clone

  • FreeCAD 3D MCAD in C++ (feature based parametric modeler)

  • B-processor Building Information Modeling in Java, an academic research project

  • BRL-CAD general Solid Modeling and Raytracing by the US Army


Most of them are cross-platform. Some of them exist in a free (and Open) community edition and commercial add-ons. But it might be an approach to build further on an existing toolset.
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Comments

  1. stefkeB14 June, 2008

    Progecad has free versions, but it is not Open Source.

    There are several free CAD programs without sources. Might be an idea for a future post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown07 April, 2010

    Thanks for the list. wildcat hadn't made it onto my radar yet.

    I wasn't quite satisfied with any of the open source options so I am starting my own project. Help or quit complaining is what i say. :-)

    CADDD Project

    ReplyDelete
  3. stefkeB07 April, 2010

    Good luck with your efforts toward CADDD... I'm not sure if you have a chance to succeed, certainly if this is a one-man effort, but I do hope so.

    I'm currently leaning towards PythonOCC + PyQt as the platform for prototyping and Qt+OCC if I ever get to the development of a full application. Main OS target is OSX and Windows, but with as much compatibility with Linux if possible. But for architects this is currently not the main priority.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown08 April, 2010

    I agree that it is a crazy undertaking but I will try.

    I don't think that i can do it solo but I will have to lay a good foundation by myself. I want to focus on simplicity and extendability. Hopefully the end user can help me fill in some of the gaps.

    I was leaning towards the PythonOCC and PyQt combo. I might just go with CGAL. However, I have a list 15 items long on how to accomplish CSG and I will narrow it down and try 3 or 4 of them before I decide.

    ReplyDelete
  5. stefkeB08 April, 2010

    CSG (Boolean Operations) are in many cases of primordial importance, certainly for Architectural Modeling.

    Choosing a CAD engine/kernel is not trivial.

    While I looked at CGAL for the support of Boolean operations, I saw no evidence of other modeling support (extrusions, lofting, revolving, NURBS etc...).

    At least in Architectural modeling, good support for Boolean operations are often more important than advanced geometry (fillets, blending or even full NURBS support).

    No wonder that AutoCAD had Boolean solid operations for about forever, while lofting, sweeping and other surface editing and generation has only been improved with r2007 and r2010/2011.

    ArchiCAD introduced "Solid Element Operations" rather late into the product (r8 IIRC).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown23 September, 2010

    CADuntu is a newcomer, it's based on the community edition of QCad, but ported to qt4 so it's easer to compile on OSX; Windows and Linux.

    https://sourceforge.net/projects/caduntu/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous18 May, 2011

    http://www.salome-platform.org/

    ReplyDelete
  8. stefkeB12 December, 2011

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/librecad/

    LibreCAD based on QCad replaces Caduntu

    ReplyDelete

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