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<h1>OpenSCAD</h1>
<address class="h-card">
by
<a rel="author" class="u-url" href="http://changelog.ca/"><span class="p-given-name">Charles</span> <span class="p-additional-name">Iliya</span> <span class="p-family-name">Krempeaux</span></a>
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<p>
<strong>OpenSCAD</strong> is an open-source computer-aided design (<abbr title="computer-aided design">CAD</abbr>) software application with its own built-in programming-language.
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<p>
Unlike many other <abbr title="computer-aided design">CAD</abbr> software applications which use a <abbr title="graphical user interface">GUI</abbr> to create, edit, and manipulate objects, <strong>OpenSCAD</strong> creates, edits, and manipulates objects via a scripting programming-language.
For example:
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<pre><code>
cube([50,75,100]);
</code></pre>
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<p>
<strong>OpenSCAD</strong> scripts are usually stored in <code>.scad</code> files.
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<p>
<strong>OpenSCAD</strong> includes many features similar to many imperative programming-languages; including:
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<ul>
<li>variables,</li>
<li>control structures (such as if-statements and loops),</li>
<li>modules, and</li>
<li>libraries.</li>
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<p>
For those already familiar with programming-languages such as C, C++, C#, D, Dart, Go, Java, JavaScript, PHP, and others — <strong>OpenSCAD</strong> uses curly-brackets.
For example:
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<pre><code>
for (a =[x1,x2,x3]){echo(a);}
</code></pre>
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<p>
<strong>OpenSCAD</strong> provides two main methods for 3D-modeling:
</p>
<ul>
<li>creating complex object from combinations of simpler shapes, and</li>
<li>extruding 2D shapes (contained in .dxf or .svg files) into 3D shapes.</li>
</ul>
<p>
<strong>OpenSCAD</strong> is especially geared towards mechanical, rather than artistic, aspects of 3D computer-aided design.
Thus <strong>OpenSCAD</strong> can be useful when one wants to create a model that one wants to 3D-print.
</p>
<section>
<h2>Units</h2>
<p>
All dimensions in <strong>OpenSCAD</strong> are measured in (the somewhat confusingly named) "unit".
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<p>
The <em>convention</em> used by a lot of people doing 3D-printing is:
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<figure>
1 unit = 1 millimeter
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<p>
But <strong>OpenSCAD</strong> is in a sense unit-less.
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<p>
And it is a good idea to explicitly size your model when preparing it for 3D-printing.
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