OpenVCAD 2.2.2

Second Hot fix for rotation node. The last updated inverted the rotation direction. This has been corrected.

Installing

You can download the latest release of the VCAD Studio IDE program below. Use the .zip for Windows and .DMG for Mac. On Windows extract the folder and run VCAD_Studio.exe. See special instructions for MacOS below. The .whl files are Python wheels, you should not need to use them. Instead run pip install OpenVCAD inside a Python virtual environment.

macOS Special Install Instructions

Note: We currently support Apple Silicon Macs only. This release will not work on older Intel-based Macs.

The macOS version of OpenVCAD Studio is currently a development release.
It is not signed with a full Apple certificate and may trigger security warnings.
Follow the instructions below to install VCAD Studio on macOS and apply the necessary workaround:

1. Download the .dmg file from the artifacts below.
2. Open the .dmg file. A window will appear — drag VCAD_Studio.app into the Applications folder.
3. Open Terminal and navigate to the Applications folder:
   cd /Applications/
4. Run the following command to remove the quarantine flag (added by your web browser):
   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine VCAD_Studio.app
5. You can now launch VCAD Studio from Launchpad.

OpenVCAD 2.2.1

Hotfix for rotation node bug

Installing

You can download the latest release of the VCAD Studio IDE program below. Use the .zip for Windows and .DMG for Mac. On Windows extract the folder and run VCAD_Studio.exe. See special instructions for MacOS below. The .whl files are Python wheels, you should not need to use them. Instead run pip install OpenVCAD inside a Python virtual environment.

macOS Special Install Instructions

Note: We currently support Apple Silicon Macs only. This release will not work on older Intel-based Macs.

The macOS version of OpenVCAD Studio is currently a development release.
It is not signed with a full Apple certificate and may trigger security warnings.
Follow the instructions below to install VCAD Studio on macOS and apply the necessary workaround:

1. Download the .dmg file from the artifacts below.
2. Open the .dmg file. A window will appear — drag VCAD_Studio.app into the Applications folder.
3. Open Terminal and navigate to the Applications folder:
   cd /Applications/
4. Run the following command to remove the quarantine flag (added by your web browser):
   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine VCAD_Studio.app
5. You can now launch VCAD Studio from Launchpad.

OpenVCAD 2.2.0

Note: this is a major update from the last release of OpenVCAD. The old OpenVCAD scripting language is being deprecated in favor of a Python binding approach. The VCAD Studio IDE still supports the old scripts for now, but you will see major changes in node syntax. One major change is that bounding boxes are now computed automatically (you no longer have to supply them at the root of your object). Please read the Install Guide and the Getting Started Guide before using this version.

Patch Notes

• Adds pyvcad support
• Updates VCAD Studio to use Manaco editor (VS Code Style) text editor
• Bounding boxes are no longer required
• Added mesh export support
• Added tetrahedral FEA Mesh option
• Added support for macOS 15 (Apple Silicon only).
• Refactored example files. To base a path on the application directory in a cross-platform way, use:
  pv.resources_path() + "examples/data/3d_models/3DBenchy.stl"
• Added Shell and Offset nodes
• Added the ability to functionally grade based on the signed distance to the surface.
  See examples/functional_grading/signed_distance_grading.py for an example.
• Improved mesh loading and stability. When meshes are loaded, the node now checks if they are valid (watertight, no self-intersections, etc.).
  If needed, you can override this behavior with an extra flag:
  pv.Mesh("my_mesh.stl", red, True)
  By default, the True flag is omitted and defaults to False. Setting it to True tells VCAD to skip mesh validation.
  This update also fixes the $$$magic$$$."." error when loading some meshes.
• Fixed a bug with rotation and bounding boxes.
• Achieved 2×–10× speed improvements with basic CSG primitives like Sphere.
• Introduced the BBoxUnion node. This node is a highly performant version of the Union node.
  It performs the same operation but is significantly faster with large numbers of children (>100).
  If you have fewer than 100 children, continue using the regular Union node.
• Fixed a crash in pyvcadviz when closing the window that appears after calling viz.Render().
• Added a menu bar to pyvcadviz for screenshot capture and view snapping.
• Restructure of project. Compilers are now in a separate import from pyvcad.
• Adds a "New Project" option to studio
• Adds an origin preview to render
• Bounding box toggle no longer requires an entire reload of the object
• Fixes bug with cylinder node
• Fixes bugs with cross-section slicer
• Adds bounding box option to preview
• Adds orthographic view
• Updated render to use VTK
• Adds support for VCAD Slicer. See this pre-print
• Adds a point-map node that lets you import FEA simulation results and map them into multi-material distributions

Installing

You can download the latest release of the VCAD Studio IDE program below. Use the .zip for Windows and .DMG for Mac. On Windows extract the folder and run VCAD_Studio.exe. See special instructions for MacOS below. The .whl files are Python wheels, you should not need to use them. Instead run pip install OpenVCAD inside a Python virtual environment.

macOS Special Install Instructions

Note: We currently support Apple Silicon Macs only. This release will not work on older Intel-based Macs.

The macOS version of OpenVCAD Studio is currently a development release.
It is not signed with a full Apple certificate and may trigger security warnings.
Follow the instructions below to install VCAD Studio on macOS and apply the necessary workaround:

1. Download the .dmg file from the artifacts below.
2. Open the .dmg file. A window will appear — drag VCAD_Studio.app into the Applications folder.
3. Open Terminal and navigate to the Applications folder:
   cd /Applications/
4. Run the following command to remove the quarantine flag (added by your web browser):
   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine VCAD_Studio.app
5. You can now launch VCAD Studio from Launchpad.

1.1

Version 1.1. Release of command line application + minor bug fixes

• Added VCAD_Studio_cli.exe. This is a headless version of OpenVCAD that can used to compile OpenVCAD designs from command line. Right now, you can use the CLI to compile designs into PNG stacks, OpenVDB grids, and single material meshes. More information can be found in the wiki or by running .\VCAD_Studio_cli.exe --help
• Fixes for the revolve() function

Right now we are only providing a Windows application. If you wish to run on Mac or Linux please contact: charles.wade@colorado.edu

Instructions for Installing and Using OpenVCAD

1. Download OpenVCAD_Studio_Windows_x64.zip
2. Extract the OpenVCAD Studio folder
3. Open the folder and run VCAD_Studio.exe
4. Go to File->Open .vcad file and navigate into the examples folder. There you can open various example designs.
5. When you are ready to visulize your part go to View -> Render. See this page for descriptions of the rendering options.
6. Full documentation of the GUI-application can be found on the wiki.

1.0

This is the initial public release of OpenVCAD. Currently, we are only providing pre-compiled Windows binaries. If you wish to run it on another system, please request access to the source code.

Instructions for Installing and Using OpenVCAD

1. Download OpenVCAD_Studio_Windows_x64.zip
2. Extract the OpenVCAD Studio folder
3. Open the folder and run VCAD_Studio.exe
4. Go to File->Open .vcad file and navigate into the examples folder. There you can open various example designs.
5. When you are ready to visulize your part go to View -> Render. See this page for descriptions of the rendering options.
6. Full documentation of the GUI-application can be found on the wiki.