Whip something up *fast*
Shape building
This is the core of CubbyCAD. You build a model out of simple shapes (boxes, spheres, cylinders, cones) and combine them with booleans. Every shape is either a Solid, which adds material, or a Hole, which removes it.
Use it whenever you want exact, editable geometry. The Manifold engine does the combining, so the result is always a watertight mesh, and changing a size rebuilds the whole thing.
How to use it
Add a primitive
Drag a tile (Box, Sphere, Cylinder and so on) from the shapes palette onto the grid or an existing face. Or run (or , , etc.) from the command palette to drop one at the origin.
Position and size it
Select the shape and use the move/rotate gizmo, or edit its dimensions (Radius, Height, and so on) in the Properties panel.
Choose add or remove
In the Role section of the Properties panel, click Solid (adds material) or Hole (removes it). The and commands and the Object menu do the same thing.
Group the shapes
Select the shapes, then choose (Ctrl/Cmd+G) from the Object menu or the command palette. Grouping is what runs the boolean, so holes inside the group cut the solids in that group.
Inspect the result
The group rebuilds into a single body. Change any child primitive's parameters and it rebuilds again.
Ungroup to undo
Select the group and choose (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+G).
Tips
- A Hole sitting next to a Solid does nothing until both are children of the same group.
- The shapes palette has fuzzy search. Type "cube" or "square" for Box, "ball" for Sphere, "donut" for Torus, "ramp" for Wedge.
- New shapes start as Solid.
- A group's combine Style defaults to Sharp (exact boolean edges). Switch it to Blended for rounded joins (see Smooth blends).
- Turn on Multicolor to keep each part's own colour in the combined shape. You need it for colour export.