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I disagree. Most CAD is inherently visual. These code-based systems work great for highly parametric and regular objects like fasteners and gears, or for procedural art, but those are really the tiny minority of CAD tasks. Most of the time you need to see what you're doing and click on stuff.

Most CAD is more similar to graphic design, painting, etc. You wouldn't expect a "code first workflow" for Illustrator, and as far as I know nobody has ever successfully done anything like that.

The closest I've seen are things like UI design tools that can generate code. But a) they usually suck, and b) that is a much simpler problem than CAD.

by hrmtst938376 hours ago|

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GUI CAD is fine for freeform work. For parts that live in a repo and share dimensions with other parts, code wins because you can diff changes and change one number without replaying a pile of clicks six months later.

by IshKebab6 hours ago|

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Yeah that would be amazing, but sadly nobody has made that work for any CAD of reasonable complexity.

In reality, CAD version control is done just like assets in the artistic world (game design, animation, films, etc): with file locks.

I used to work for Dyson. There's no way you're designing a vacuum cleaner with code-based CAD. We used TeamCenter (which is probably the worst software I've ever used, but for unrelated reasons).

by rirze4 hours ago|

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I mean, the CAD software, even though visual, has to retain some internal state of the model, right?

It's possible, but I don't think there's enough pressure for these companies to support exposing that state to the user.