Really interesting! I actually use freecad so I'm use to that layer of the process but I'll check this out. Also good to see the work being done in modeling software these days
WillAdams•Aug 14, 2026
Is it able to access the file system and write/read files?
I've been doing that via PythonSCAD for my current project https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview and it might be interesting to do a re-write in another language.
adius•Aug 14, 2026
Yes, it executes in a full fledged Lua environment. So you can do all the things you expect do be able to do with Lua!
I’d pick Lua over Python any day, but maybe that’s just me. ;-)
WillAdams•Aug 14, 2026
I've had good success w/ using Lua in LuaLaTeX, so hopefully a good fit for me to exercise my programming chops. I think it will be interesting to maintain two parallel versions for comparison/contrast. Thanks!
manny_rat•Aug 14, 2026
Love it! OpenSCAD has very painful syntax. Is it possible to easily do bevels/chamfers or does it have the same limitations as OpenSCAD there?
Can you fillet unions? Like, if I union a cube with a smaller cube sticking out of its side, can I make a fillet so that the edge where the two cubes' faces intersect doesn't become a stress concentration point for cracks to start at? This is OpenSCAD's primary weakness from my point of view.
adastra22•Aug 14, 2026
Quite easy to add chamfers to everything in the CAD file. But your manufacturing guy is going to strangle you...
gunalx•Aug 15, 2026
So ill strangle myself while the 3d printer goes back and forth.
Agreed! I’m already working on it, but it’s not quite ready yet. ETA is 1-2 weeks.
adastra22•Aug 14, 2026
Isn't OpenSCAD's limited (non-Turing complete) language a feature?
adius•Aug 14, 2026
I'm pretty sure it's Turing complete by now. If it was conceptualized as a limited language and only became a full fledged programming language over time, it would certainly explain all its weird warts. (Here is some more details: https://github.com/ad-si/LuaCAD#why-lua) I guess 3D modeling is just too complex for a simple, but limited DSL.
Lua is easier to use, faster, and more feature-rich. It's one of those rare occasions when a new solution is actually better in every single way.
adastra22•Aug 14, 2026
In the pedantic sense, yes. You can use recursive functions with tail-call optimization, or list comprehensions to emulate a universal Turing machine.
But my point is that OpenSCAD's expression purity and one-way compilation model are purposefully limited, and not historical accident: models are a deterministic function of their parameters, subtrees can be cached and reused during preview without invalidation logic, designs diff and merge as text, etc.
Sometimes making things "more programmable" is an anti-feature.
cjbgkagh•Aug 15, 2026
AFAIK OpenSCAD does not do any meaningful optimizations that are enabled by having a limited DSL, despite that normally being a good reason to do a DSL. And ironically you often have use a general purpose language (python and C++) to do custom optimizations not possible in the DSL.
lkjdsklf•Aug 15, 2026
The change history on this repository is fascinating
6 Comments
I've been doing that via PythonSCAD for my current project https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview and it might be interesting to do a re-write in another language.
I’d pick Lua over Python any day, but maybe that’s just me. ;-)
Lua is easier to use, faster, and more feature-rich. It's one of those rare occasions when a new solution is actually better in every single way.
But my point is that OpenSCAD's expression purity and one-way compilation model are purposefully limited, and not historical accident: models are a deterministic function of their parameters, subtrees can be cached and reused during preview without invalidation logic, designs diff and merge as text, etc.
Sometimes making things "more programmable" is an anti-feature.