Now that picotron is ramping up which basically offers a superset in terms of features compared to pico8: will there be an expanded picotron version of picocad?
johanpeitz 152 days ago [-]
It has definitely crossed my mind. Main reason I haven't looked into it is Picotron's (so far) lack of ability to export native binaries.
tym0 152 days ago [-]
Hey, been meaning to try picoCAD for a while now this might push me over the edge :)
For my curiosity: How are you distributing this? Is it the Web version of the pico8 game or did you rewrite it in love or something? Or does pico8 allows to embed their VM when distributing on Steam?
johanpeitz 152 days ago [-]
pico8 has the ability to export anything you make into native binaries. Simple as that :)
oefnak 152 days ago [-]
Does it have steam deck support? Can you export to .stl?
johanpeitz 152 days ago [-]
I've seen the linux version (available on itch.io) run on the steam deck but haven't tried my self. Lots of keyboard and mouse required to have a good time. :)
It does export to obj/mtl which is usually importable into most other softwares
elldes 152 days ago [-]
This looks so cool!
Is there a workflow you would recommend for creating animations once the model has been created in picoCAD?
johanpeitz 152 days ago [-]
Unfortunately I know next to nothing about animating so I am not much help here. That said I didn't know anything about 3d modelling when I made picoCAD so maybe there will be another tool in the future :D
d--b 152 days ago [-]
Jesus fucking christ, you're good at this.
catskull 152 days ago [-]
I’ve tried other 3d modeling software (blender, fusion, etc) and picocad is the only one I’ve been able to actually pick up and use without unsuccessfully spending hours watching outdated tutorials. I understand it’s not apples to apples. Just wanted to say thanks and this is an awesome tool!
hombre_fatal 152 days ago [-]
Same. I randomly stumbled across someone's (Ben's) picoCAD timelapse on Youtube last January[1] and the toolkit was so simple that I bought it and tried it myself.
Sure enough, I was more productive with picoCAD in my 30s than I was with 3dsmax/maya/etc in my teens despite many hours of tutorials. I joined the Discord and even participated in some jams.
The other notable thing to try is Solvespace or maybe NASA's Open Vehicle SketchPad (for opensource)
phkahler 152 days ago [-]
I wish the guy behind Dune3d had joined Solvespace development instead. His GTK4 UI on all platforms would have been nice. I'm hoping to address some of the solvespace shortcomings in 2025, but he really needed assembly with STEP files which I don't see happening soon.
WillAdams 152 days ago [-]
Did his rewrite of the Solvespace parser get integrated back into Solvespace?
phkahler 152 days ago [-]
I think you mean solver improvements, but no.
We are doing named parameters soon. Then I make no promises, but looking at fillets and chamfers.
WillAdams 152 days ago [-]
Yes, solver, thank you for correcting my error.
Named parameters would be _huge_!
Looking forward to the announcement!
hombre_fatal 152 days ago [-]
I don't think there's overlap despite picoCAD having the word "CAD" in its name.
Just compare its examples with dune3d's real world circuit board example to see the difference: https://picocad.net/
Better comparisons would be Crocotile and maybe Blockbench. Not CAD software.
WillAdams 152 days ago [-]
I was writing for folks expecting a "normal" CAD program which was a small download.
slopeloaf 152 days ago [-]
Love this! Might nab it just to try it out. A very similar tool is Kenney Shape which has you drawing pixel art with depth numbers for each square that turn into models: https://kenney.nl/tools/kenney-shape
2mol 152 days ago [-]
These kind of tools (and the aesthetic) make me so happy for some reason.
Another one that's pretty impressive and very lovely looking is Crocotile: https://crocotile3d.com/
j_4 152 days ago [-]
I love Crocotile. It's got very opinionated, kind of weird UX, but it gets me in the zone so so well. I haven't used it in ages, I should give it another spin.
You can also check out https://picoCAD.net for more info :)
Now that picotron is ramping up which basically offers a superset in terms of features compared to pico8: will there be an expanded picotron version of picocad?
For my curiosity: How are you distributing this? Is it the Web version of the pico8 game or did you rewrite it in love or something? Or does pico8 allows to embed their VM when distributing on Steam?
It does export to obj/mtl which is usually importable into most other softwares
Is there a workflow you would recommend for creating animations once the model has been created in picoCAD?
Sure enough, I was more productive with picoCAD in my 30s than I was with 3dsmax/maya/etc in my teens despite many hours of tutorials. I joined the Discord and even participated in some jams.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/@bencanfield/videos
https://dune3d.org/
Previous discussions:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37979758
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40228068
The other notable thing to try is Solvespace or maybe NASA's Open Vehicle SketchPad (for opensource)
We are doing named parameters soon. Then I make no promises, but looking at fillets and chamfers.
Named parameters would be _huge_!
Looking forward to the announcement!
Just compare its examples with dune3d's real world circuit board example to see the difference: https://picocad.net/
Better comparisons would be Crocotile and maybe Blockbench. Not CAD software.
Another one that's pretty impressive and very lovely looking is Crocotile: https://crocotile3d.com/
edit: their website - https://picocad.net/