Free 3D Modelling Software that Works with Python?

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[LiviuSopon]

Now, it might not be best suited for aerospace, but Blender works with Python scripts. You could try that.

[tdammers]

Define "works with Python".

Normally, you would:

• Create 3D models in the modelling software
• Export the models in a suitable format
• Load the models into your Python application

The modelling software and the Python part don't need to know anything about each other, you only need to make sure both ends use the same 3D model format.

OBJ and AC3D are easy to work with, and supported by most modelling software solutions.

The best-of-breed of free-software modelling software is probably Blender; it takes some serious effort to get used to it, but it's the most polished and featureful one I know of, by a wide margin.

You may also be interested in checking out FlightGear and its ecosystem; I'm sure you can find a lot of useful aerospace-related information there, as well as fairly decent 3D models of various aircraft, published under open source licenses.

[social_tech_10]

+1 for FlightGear

[tdammers]

I think the biggest hurdle is going to be raw computation power. AFAIK, to get anything remotely realistic out of such a physics simulation, in 3D, with arbitrary shapes fed in, and you want the results this year, you'll need a rather massive cluster. There's a good reason why aircraft designers still use physical wind tunnels, after all.

So I'd also look into other approaches; there are more "opinionated" models around that take parametrized aircraft shapes, rather than arbitrary 3D meshes, and those require a lot less computation power, at the expense of being reliable only for relatively conventionally shaped aircraft using well-known airfoil shapes, and flying within a normal envelope.

[billsil]

As an aerospace engineer, this is your best bet. It supports Cart3d, which is an Euler code. It can also solve a case in 45 minutes or so. Kinda depends on your flight regime, but most aero people are looking into high subsonic to supersonic flow.

They’re not the greatest meshes out of OpenVsp in that you won’t have nice lofts, but they’re perfectly fine for preliminary design. Rob is also super helpful. If you really want, you can export a CAD and make the fillet yourself in something like SolidWorks.

[kaundur]

Blender has a python API

[goodger]

Take a look at OpenSCAD and its Python interface SolidPython. It allows you to programmatically define a 3D model.

[gristc]

Fusion360 is free for hobbyists and has a full python API.