Building a CAD app, in public.
Engineering deep-dives, development updates and lessons from building Zenve3D — one feature at a time.
Pattern a feature: grids and circles
Shipped in 0.6.3 — repeat any feature across a grid or around an axis, with counts and spacing driven by parameters. Vent grilles and bolt circles stop being copy-paste work.
STEP export: parts that leave as solids
STEP lands in Zenve3D, both directions — export exact, editable geometry instead of a mesh, and import vendor models to build around. Fusion 360, FreeCAD and Shapr3D all round-trip.
.zcmd: your part as a plain-text script
Every Zenve3D model can be written as a readable script — one command per line, parameters included — and imported as a full project. It's also the file any AI can hand you.
Constraints: draw free, type to lock
How constraints work in Zenve3D — geometry you tap out stays draggable, dimensions you type become law, and the ink itself tells you which is which.
How the sketch constraint solver actually works
Every parametric sketch is a system of equations. A look inside the solver that keeps thousands of constraints consistent — and fast enough for 120 Hz interaction.
Choosing a geometry kernel (and why we didn't write our own)
Commercial kernels behind licensing walls, promising-but-incomplete newcomers, and the one open-source B-rep kernel that compiles for an iPad. How Zenve3D picked OpenCASCADE — and what got built around it.
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Development updates and engineering deep-dives, roughly twice a month. No spam.