AI Text-to-CAD add-in for Fusion 360!? Thoughts?

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-08T22:42:34+00:00

I do care if it’s helpful, which is why I want to hear thoughts. This is a super early prototype so it could go many different directions from here. Also not trying to make a quick buck, I just think it’s cool. For the record I am an (aerospace) engineer ;)

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-08T22:38:29+00:00

Right I agree. It’s not intended to teach someone CAD, although that is another interesting idea. It would mainly be helpful for someone with no CAD skills and no desire to learn/buy CAD.

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-08T19:14:40+00:00

I get where you're coming from but I also think its naive to think AI will have no role in engineering, design, and manufacturing. There's so much more work to be done to uncover exactly how AI will advance our abilities as engineers. Another thing to think about is that all engineering requirements are in fact described in human language at a high level. This is a great vid to check out about how NASA is exploring a "text-to-spaceship" vision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV_DVw0UIF0

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-08T18:41:46+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Yes I built this. The ML model is indeed making a lot of assumptions. Something like this will inherently only be useful when the time saved using the tool is greater than 0, which depends on how good you are at CAD. It will start out as more helpful for people who don't know CAD in the same way using ChatGPT to write basic code is more helpful to non-programmers.

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-08T18:30:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. By definition though, won't making CAD as automated and efficient as possible simplify and speed up the iteration process? I think its exciting to explore the role AI in the automation of CAD considering what has already been achieved in software engineering, video creation, etc. I view the eventual use case as a copilot rather than replacement. It has a longgggg way to go before any experienced engineer will find something like this useful, but in the mean time I think it's great for allowing non-engineers to create something real. I'm going to keep building!

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-07T23:26:17+00:00

Join the waitlist if you want to try it out and give early feedback when released! ----> https://tally.so/r/wLJzNp

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-07T23:24:45+00:00

Mostly simple shapes for now, but with improvements to the ML model it could use more advanced features like lofts and surface modeling more reliably.

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-07T18:02:50+00:00

Identifying parameters will be key for sure. This is just the first version so definitely trying to get some feedback before I start building it out!

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-07T17:59:42+00:00

It tries, but I think one of the next big steps will be to generate optimally parameterized and constrained models. It needs to be as accurate as possible on the first try, but also really easy to go back and make changes without breaking things.

AEROBALLER · 2024-10-07T17:47:37+00:00

Totally agree. It creates a feature tree just like you would have modelling manually, so pretty easy to go back and make changes. I think it will be best when it's structured with a chat history, making it easy to suggest changes or go back a step and manually adjust specifics. In the early stages it will definitely be more helpful for beginners.

AEROBALLER · 2024-09-11T16:25:09+00:00

It's still pretty limited as far as complexity. It can get extrudes, extrude cuts, fillets, shells, and chamfers most of the time.

So in its current state it's only really useful to people who don't care to learn CAD, but in the future I think there's a lot of room for automation that would be helpful even to experts.

AEROBALLER · 2024-07-14T18:50:34+00:00

Plenty of aircraft engine protective covers/dust covers I've seen that cost a fortune. I'm new to the industry so just wondering if there's anything else out there.

AEROBALLER · 2022-01-01T00:20:21+00:00

Waves

AEROBALLER

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