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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Yes, Blender is a lot like using VIM. The hotkey chart is about ten pages long, and it's very keyboard oriented. Most modern 3D programs are more mouse-oriented, but not Blender.

At the other extreme is Autodesk Inventor. Unless you're typing in a numeric dimension, you seldom touch the keyboard.

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I would rather say that blender is mouse + keyboard oriented and that you really need both hands - and a numeric keypad for best use.

on the other hand, http://www.openscad.org/ is kinda nice...for simple things :)

I love openscad, and you can use it to make some fairly complex things if you dig into its nooks and crannies. I love the ability to parametrically define many of the objects I'm interested in printing.

Parametric is the only way to fly when "rapid prototyping" something.

I set my object measurements to variables, then define thicknesses as variables and use math plus union() and difference() while creating modules (c functions) of the various stages that nest in each other.

It can get pretty hacky sometimes with the nested translations to center things relative to each other but it's a wicked awesome way to model.

you may also be interested in https://github.com/parametric-svg and https://github.com/whitequark/solvespace

I'm working on a replacement for OpenScad for Blender. It can already create hierarchies of parented objects, set up boolean operators and set materials. And everything "stays" Blender data, so the subcomponents can be animated/simulated as usual.

Is it a public project? I would love to follow along with that.

It will be part of my "Vraag" library, which is sort of a higher-level Blender API inspired by JQuery: https://github.com/akloster/blender-vraag

But I haven't pushed "Vraag Construct" yet. Maybe in a week or so.

I just pushed a version with the construction functionality.

3 years ago I've tried to use blender as a substitute to openscad but stopped because the boolean operators didn't alwyas gave the same result. Here I started to some basic examples from openscad on blender https://github.com/beothorn/openscadExamplesAsBlenderScripts Here is an example of union not working properly http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IDRl_LygKz4/UeRvMEoP9RI/AAAAAAAABd... It is already some time since I last checked, but if the boolean operators are working properly I would love to use blender instead. Edit: The blog post from where the image is from http://www.isageek.com.br/2013/07/blender-doesnt-do-construc...

If you like openscad, Antimony might be worth a look. I haven't tested it myself yet, but it seems to be very similar, only with a node-based interface and more visual feedback. Openscad projects can get a little hard to wrap your head around..

I love the fact that you can transform stuff simply with key commands.

G, X, 1.5, Enter boom! Love it.

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