CAD Modeling In Blender 3.2 | Using CAD Sketcher

Learn how to do and see how I do CAD-like modeling in blender 3.2 using CAD Sketcher. This is pretty much a brand new parametric precision modelling workflow for blender. CAD Sketcher is very much still in early development but things are looking very promising and growing quickly.
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[@fred6854]

Being able to do cad drawings in Blender would be a gift from God.

[@romanmgelman]

This finally looks promising! I was always a little underwhelmed by your demos of the plugin but this one has brought back my hope for the future of CAD in Blender. Thank you!

[@totheknee]

This is amazing! I had no idea CAD was this far along in Blender. So great!

[@hakunamatata324]

Showing beautifully how to use CAD Sketcher with recent updates, is the best way not just to make the user experience as gold as possible, but overcome problems as you go. I've learned so much with this video alone regarding CAD Sketcher.

[@chateaux-arts6419]

I understand the desire to appeal to Blender users with a shortcut-based workflow, but the large number of shortcuts, some of which overlap Blender's defaults seems less than ideal. I would much rather see these functions broken out into pie menus or shortcut menus to spare users the memorization (and have the opportunity to add tooltips).

[@StuffyAk79]

Like a search option like how the brushes are layed out in zbrush kinda

[@chronokoks]

exactly, it needs to be buttons and icons.. just like in CADs

[@gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683]

@@chronokoks Nah. user's will get used to it

[@KeithOlson]

I hear you. One option would be to add a 'pre-tap' to the shortcut, much like you'd double-click a mouse button. For example, instead of pressing , you'd press . Tapping the modifier key by itself before giving the command would alert the addon that the next keypress would be specifically for it, instead of Blender, itself. Does that make sense?

[@Alomphega]

@Jorge Zombie how to use the industry standard keymap in Blender ? (and of course how to get it)

[@andrademanoelgmail]

I followed your tutorial step by step. Watched several times pausing it and trying do every single action. It was not easy, but you were perfect ! I did it too .Congratulations. I hope seeing more videos about CAD Sketcher videos more like this

[@theeau3996]

Fantastic ! The constraints are nice and clear. Blender is on its way to CAD !

[@Vilde321]

This is just what I need... I got Fusion360 but still, I really hate having to use multiple tools for modeling, I guess Blender will soon really be enough for everything!

[@marcombo01]

I would like that too, but still Blender is far away from professional CAD tools like SolidWorks or Fusion 360,

[@Vilde321]

@@marcombo01 indeeed... lets hope for more in the future! Im still using Fusion (Would use Solidworks if it was possible to get for me) too but interested in this project!

[@BattleGn0me]

There are trade offs to using a plugin vs a dedicated program. But, unless you're suppling finished CAD to manufacturing, I think this seems to totally fill the CAD requirement for most 3d applicaitons

[@Xyz-ij6rh]

@@BattleGn0me it's not just about being able to creat a model fast Solidworks can run a lot of simulation and studies as well as built in CAM and it comes with a Toolbox that's rlly handy if you are talking big company you also gotta handle files and have auto model creation per excel and stuff like masterfiles Professional Cad like Solidworks and Fusion are rlly tuned for what they are used for and blender just tuned for the creative stuff it's mostly used for

[@Vilde321]

@@BattleGn0me yeah for sure. If I did this professionally currently Id just use a dedicated program, but atm Im mostly making parts for myself to 3D print and possibly sell some times. This would be handy for that.

[@TerrainNodes]

Amazing add-on, it is so well made and amazing presentation! The videos are top notch.

[@zeekjones1]

The CAD precise measurements are definitely better than my work around. I'll have to give this a try. Recently I've made a few practical models in Blender, and scaled from the print bed in the slicer, a known measure, to get things to the right sizing. Getting measurements rather than making fractions in the workflow is a definite time saver. _I was already familiar with making digital arts, but the main reason I got a printer was to also be able to make things in practical real world applications too._

[@kevinpage]

Having done a small bit of SolidWorks, I'm extraordinarily excited to see CAD Sketcher, as I'd love to use Blender for anything and everything. I donated a bit when I grabbed it and I think I might donate more on another update. Great work!

[@neversinkmakes]

This appears to be a *very* promising tool and I'm grateful to the developers. Will absolutely consider paying for it (once I start using it). One key feature-or set of features-to implement is the use of variables and mathematical formulas. You could support typing in math formulas directly into the value fields (but such that they persist when you want to edit them). Alternatively, if you had some way to create an input and output tree using math nodes, you could set the main parametric inputs (obviously to be determined by the user but examples of inputs you might want to use include things like "scale", "width", or "tolerance"), and then use math nodes to generate a bunch of outputs linked to the value fields in your sketch.

[@chrisdixonstudios]

Great add-on! Thanks for showing a practical project of it's capabilities..

[@JakeSabre-wi8hq]

I have used Inventor and Blender a lot. What i've seen of CAD Sketcher I am really excited about! The shortcuts are SO intuitive, and dimensions are tidier than Inventor's sketch system. Keep up the good work sir! Can't wait to see more, and I intend to use CAD Sketcher myself!!!

[@brunosantabreu]

I have not enough words to say how this amazing and a game changer

[@reweb4219]

Absolutely amazing work !

[@matbrady123456]

I'm in no way interested in learning CAD, however... your enthusiasm and your incredible tutorials makes me at least flirt with the idea of learning it. I also think that your championing of Blender to quietly devour any other program's monopoly on CAD software is extremely exciting. While I'm likely not ever going to learn CAD it's great to see your enthusiasm and I've subscribed for that alone. I also learn a few things along the way (like Limited Dissolve in this video for instance). Thanks for making the Blender community awesome. Keep it up! :)

[@PowerBiWithVivek]

Limited dissolve is same as decimate modifier but in edit mode , and we have weld modifier(merge by distance) in object mode and merge by distance in edit mode

[@sandnerdaniel]

What an awesome project. Bringing Freecad functionality into Blender, wow.

[@Mr_Steve3D]

Very clean approach to something that takes a good deal of work arounds. Nicely explained sir!

[@TomCro2022]

Wonderful video ...... Congratulations to the author. Once again, all credit to the author of the video and greetings from Zagreb Croatia👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍👍😊😊😊

[@KnowArt]

holy damn. this keeps getting better and better

[@xiaoshizi131]

Thx for this tutorial on Blender CAD!

[@derwhalfisch]

for me as a near beginner, this is amongst the few best tutorial vids i've ever watched, it's so clean and dense.

[@foadsf]

This unbelievably beautiful 💚

[@lindsay5985]

Why have I not seen this video earlier? Exactly what I have been looking for for months. ❤

[@user-yi6id3ro1o]

As a design engineer of 28 years in Catia and a Blender nerd I really like this. Good stuff.

[@srgv]

you joking, yes?

[@user-yi6id3ro1o]

@@srgv no, why?

[@erikringwalters]

This looks amazing! The features I'm looking forward to most are spreadsheets to define parameters and filleting!

[@mysticdavestarotmachinesho5093]

So happy I cam slow the speed down in videos. Otherwise thanks for the instructions. Wonderful tutorial it's really is nice that you make and share these.

[@SanOcelotl]

Looks promessing i hope this keeps getting better

[@ColeHajek]

I’ve tried it out a bit, and it isn’t as flexible as I’m used to having worked with tools like Autocad and Inventor before, but it’s more than I need for my projects (and way cheaper!) can’t wait to see how this keeps developing!

[@andrewstewart8743]

I use solidworks professionally and have a license personally, however this is amazing as a free ware tool to allow users to develop structural 3d models, thank you to everyone behind the development of this software.

[@maxdefire]

Have you ever heard of FreeCAD?

[@dennis_mihaylov]

thank you so much! this is all I ever wanted !!!

[@remghoost]

Freaking proper tutorial. Succinct, quick, and you called out all of the hotkeys you were using. I came here just looking for how to extrude a circle to a cylinder and accidentally became a CAD master. haha. Keep on being awesome.

[@AlexAugustinex]

You guys are not kidding around when you say 'CAD in Blender'. Awesome work, Can't wait to use it.

[@espyespy]

Wow, didn’t realise that blender is this powerful. Really hope they will continue development on CAD Sketcher

[@LALA-dw2ez]

This video is sooooooo good, thank you sooooo much!!!

[@PeterHertel]

Very interesting. I followed along and got the same result. Using the buttons made more sense to me than shortcuts, as I understood better what was happening. Was able to export the model directly without duplicating and got zero errors in prusaslicer 2.4.2. I'm mainly a OpenSCAD user for 3D printing CAD work, but this is very, very intriguing!

[@PeterHertel]

Thinking about it, global variables (via drivers?) and cross sketch constraints is kind of the only thing that would make me miss OpenSCAD.

[@asammahina]

awesome tutorial thank you so much !

[@Jayy8Bit]

Great tutorial. Actually very easy to use after following this video. One issue I ran into was after adding the solidify modifier, some faces went crazy for some reason no matter what I did to the sketch or modifier. Easiest fix I found was delete the crazy faces, and use the 3d print addon to "make manifold" and it fixed all of my issues.

[@ralphbooger4756]

awesome video, i have been looking into other cad programs but find it hard to follow along. this however makes more sense to me, thank you!

[@user-tw2kr6hg4r]

It is really nice how blender is starting to become a viable alternative to so many paid software tools.

[@OldSilkRoad]

Brilliant!

[@jooch_exe]

Excellent walktrough, although nothing can beat OpenSCAD for parts like this.

[@EarthisaCylinder]

You guys masterd it :)

[@null-calx]

brilliant video, thank you

[@daudkhawarizmi]

really nice tutorial, auto subscribe !

[@Kaldoreisoul]

woah!!! amazing!!! Thank youu!!!

[@TwanvB]

Awesome Tool! Even for someone with no experience in CAD software.

[@JonathanYankovich]

Regarding all the keyboard shortcuts; an addon or system that would display frequently-used shortcuts for a given context would really help my learning. Basically for every step of the tutorial you provided, a popover in the lower-left could appear and suggest what your next move might be. I think this could really help lower the learning curve. (Theoretically one could train an AI on input data to generate this, but I bet you could get 90% of the way there with simple heuristics.) e.g. (when looking at a new document) Ctrl-Shift-A - Add Sketch (when a tool is selected) Right-click - Cancel tool (when origin and line are seleced) - Shift-N - Add Midpoint Constraint (when anything dimensionable is selected) - Alt-D - Add Dimension I imagine several shortcuts listed for most of these, i just took examples from your video. PS, I've been following CADSketcher since you started making videos about it! I am *very* reluctantly about to learn Fusion360. Really, really wish there was a great open source CAD tool that started simple and supported complex modeling. Maybe there's a way to build Blender Lite with a focus on CAD? Make it 75% TinkerCad, 25% CADSketcher? I think Thangs should invest in building this, as an open-source project it would grow, and they could then link it into their ecosystem.

[@osoorts]

Idk man u look greatly rendered v cool, thanks for the tutorial!

[@dalgombez1076]

thanks so much !

[@IagobaApellaniz]

Thank you so much!!

[@karabasbarabas3942]

great bro!

[@09ucef]

Amazing 🤩

[@methodermis]

Was very skeptical that this was an ad for a paid plugin, but no this is free and it works.

[@henryhotchkiss1231]

Thanks!

[@hikari7594]

Woawoawoa I can’t believe this something else to use besides Onshape

[@samuel1655]

I work with solidworks, seeing CAD come to blender makes me happy

[@Digit0wL]

Hi!! Thank you for your dedication to do tutorials and help others. A quick suggestion that I don't see many people do, try not to always use shortcut, I was a big turn off for me when learning blender at first trying to remember all the shortcut, and doing this not learning where and what tools are. Like going to sketcher, add constraint, and then click on distance instead of the shortcut, afterward use shortcut, at least the user can go back to use the longer way while the brain muscle is reminding the shortcuts

[@bxldomero]

I LOVE YOU. THANK YOU

[@naumoff6407]

You are the best 🤜

[@balexfox]

perfect. if i can do it model i will do anything what i want in blender. thankyou so much.

[@ogr2]

What a great plugin. I would like to try it. I use Solid Edge a lot for 3d modelling. I will try this one also.

[@sergejkoch1432]

really ingenious. I like this addon a lot. If it improves even more, expensive CAD tools would no longer be necessary for simple constructions.

[@bestboy007]

it doesnt add any cad .... this addon just creates a sketch which u can extrude thats it. no cad in there.

[@TheLolilol321]

I think quickly going over practical examples like this is the best way to learn on how to use an addon like this.

[@petrbrazda1064]

You are "super duper" quick out of my screen.

[@williambell4591]

The day I can replace Fusion360 with Blender for my meager 3d printing tasks, will be a JOYOUS DAY of celebration! 😁👍

[@oootoob]

Signed up for support for this project. Am hoping in time it will have a more integrated and intuitive workflow - this vid demonstrates there is still a long way to go. The support rib for instance could be a dedicated command. But it's certainly a huge step in the right direction for having engineering type constructions in Blender which has been missing for too long.

[@Vilde321]

I really wish in the future there will be a separate "CAD mode" (or sketch mode?) alongside the other modes... this project is insanely great

[@aaronpomeroy2579]

This is cool! i have Solid works so I have simulation capability as well but this is sick for people who are already familiar with blender

[@Janovich]

amazing stuff

[@JoeBusic]

Few years back I was daydreaming about CAD type build in Blender. :)

[@paolofurani]

Great tutorial, as usual!

[@Keep-Making]

Thank you very much Paolo

[@antonvink]

It would be really nice if you could define variables and use them in/as constraints, even better if you could use simple calculations. So variable $width, constraint for object = $width / 2

[@bigbothoee8617]

I prefer these vids where your actually making something as other vids have random info that is not relevant it's nice to see it and explanation thanks

[@Topeich]

Veeeeeeeery promising!

[@johanprb357]

I tried the translate to English link. The result was "Veeeeeery promising!". Remember to spell it with only 6 "e" next time 🤔

[@gigiomaromar2991]

thank you i am gehane from egypt, in the begining it took me time until it work but it deserve

[@pmproben]

I love how precisely you explain everything without getting lost in (at first) unimportant details. I came from freecad and really couldn't see the error messages any more. And as luck would have it, you also have tutorials for freecad. The fact that you can now design with the CAD Add-on is of course a dream and soon a reason to delete all other vector programs and 3d programs from the computer, because you have everything with blender. Then, at some point, you came along and I reached my goal. Thanks a million for your tutorials, Jonathan. If I wasn't already married I would consider marrying you.

[@Sukamikir]

The best

[@adejamov4964]

waiting assembly feature similar to solidwork ,,good work..cad sketcher

[@MMALAB]

Absolutely Great! This is like a dream. One question, is there any way to produce a similar result as the Offset of AutoCad?

[@OlavSchneider]

This looks promising

[@thatonesnowboarde]

mirroring is making life nice and simple

[@AzamatGH]

Finally got the ability to manage drawings!!! Need project tool for sketch for fast work )))

[@ashleywhitehead3710]

Cool tutorial. No need to duplicate the model for export though. Just make sure all the parts are selected and apply modifiers is enabled during the stl export. 3d Builder can clean up the part if your worried about stray verts or lines.

[@chinering23]

Lol, I found very funny because I got a 3D printer do make clips very similar to you have here so I'm hoping to have hit the jackpot by the end of the video. I tried manually (without cad sketch) already, I'm not that great with blender but have used it a fair bit over the years. It doesn't need to be precise but I would rather they were. Even 3D scanned the clip it's pretty small though but that goes to show the length I go to for something simple here.

[@tillhartmann1010]

Blender is slowly getting a software for everything!

[@therealchayd]

This is right in my wheelhouse; I used Blender loads back in the noughties, but attempts to learn Fusion360 have yielded nothing but frustration (mostly due to Autodesk changing the UI, making a lot of tutorial videos redundant), so this sounds perfect. Thanks for the video!

[@KanielD]

Awesome video! Can it be exported as a 3MF? I’ve been printing for awhile, however, I’ve just decided to learn CAD.

[@NKCubed]

Bool tool and rounding error were the reasons that I switched away from blender early in my 3D modeling career (which is probably good since the stuff I was trying to design lent itself to CAD better anyways). What are the chances that these will get better with development?

[@angeliquetafforeau3073]

C'est une excellente idée d'avoir ajouter ce paramètre à Blender, et je pense qu'à terme, cela pourrait devenir même meilleur que fusion 360 ou autres... Il y a encore beaucoup à faire, alors courage et bonne continuation 🤯👍🤓💣💣💣💣💣

[@luizcarlosquerido2943]

Je pensais la même chose, mais les propositions CAO/FAO/BIM sont différentes, par exemple dans Fusion 360 vous pouvez générer une liste de matériaux, dans Revit vous pouvez générer tout un système complexe de suivi de projet et d'ingénierie et lister tout ce qui sera nécessaire pour le construction civile du projet.

[@Riley_Christian]

Imagine if you could export it as a .Step or similar CAD formats and had design history. Now that would be truly revolutionary

[@maxdefire]

Congrats, you've invented FreeCAD/Fusion

[@CGAJU]

CAD Sketcher Looks really promising rgt now.

[@BentoGambin]

Are user parameters planned? So we can easily and simultaneously edit multiple dimensions. Awesome initiative, makes me really excited to not have to use fusion 360 soon.

[@rpatrick2]

I'd like something to undercut Fusion so Autodesk is not tempted to remove features again. As open source of course we could choose to add that feature if we wanted. :)

[@VollstandigErleuchtung]

It's been awhile since i felt sick after watching a blender tutorial 😂

[@summerWTFE]

I like the way this is going! But please make the shortcuts user definable because some of them are overriding Blenders defaults. Hoping this can replace my use for Fusion 360 some day.

[@hanserdmann4058]

Solid operations to form scetch created bodies ..will they be possible being combined? Is there a kind of hitory tree in scetch application to march foreward or back?

[@StephenBoyd21]

Things really are coming on apace but I think I'll still be using Fusion for the time being. I am sure that there will be times when such a blender tool would come in useful.

[@SB5SimulationsFerroviairesEEP]

Great! The only thing missing is the possibility to make drawings to compete with Pro software like Solidworks! Too bad it only works from version 2.92. I like the 2.79b! Stéph. Génial! Il ne manque plus que la possibilité de faire des plans pour concurrencer les logiciels Pro comme Solidworks! Dommage que cela ne fonctionne qu'a partir de la version 2.92. J'aime bien la 2.79b moi! Stéph.

[@SeanLake3D]

@8:21 - when I leave back_plate, the holes are the filled mesh, but not what you have. I also show 4 degrees of freedom.

[@cutterboard4144]

ive only watched to 4:30, but i can already see that its easier with freecad. if you are already a blender user, you might want to continue using blender, but i as a freecad user will not switch :)