Learn OpenSCAD & design CAD with AI
Step-by-step tutorials, a complete OpenSCAD reference, and recipe-style guides for designing parts with the PrintPal AI CAD agent. Free, open, and built for engineers, makers, educators, and existing OpenSCAD users.
Start here
Two paths in — pick the one that matches how you want to design.
Using the AI CAD agent
Describe a part in plain English, attach a sketch or photo, get editable parametric OpenSCAD code with a live 3D preview. The fastest way from idea to printable STEP file.
Open the agent guideOpenSCAD tutorial
Never seen OpenSCAD before? Start here. Build your first parametric part from scratch in 10 minutes — no install, runs in your browser.
Start the tutorialOpenSCAD reference
Everything you need to read or write OpenSCAD by hand.
Cheat sheet
Every operator, primitive, transformation, function, and special variable on a single scrollable page.
Language reference
Syntax, variables, vectors, lists, conditionals, loops, and special variables explained with examples.
3D primitives
cube, sphere, cylinder, polyhedron — parameters, defaults, gotchas.
2D primitives & extrusion
circle, square, polygon, text, linear_extrude, rotate_extrude.
Transformations
translate, rotate, scale, mirror, hull, minkowski, offset.
Boolean operations
union, difference, intersection — plus the patterns that make complex parts trivial.
Modules & functions
User-defined modules, functions, children, libraries — how to write reusable parametric CAD.
Bundled libraries
BOSL2 and MCAD ship with the in-browser editor — usage, version snapshot, and BSD/LGPL attribution.
Skip the syntax — let AI write the OpenSCAD for you
The PrintPal AI CAD agent turns plain English (and sketches) into editable parametric code with a live 3D preview, then exports to STL, 3MF, and real STEP files.
AI CAD guides
Practical workflows for the PrintPal AI CAD Modeler.
Using the AI CAD agent
Chat UI, @feature references, build vs code mode, auto-fix loops, validations, and exports — all in one tour.
Prompting for CAD
How to write prompts that produce printable parts on the first turn — envelopes, tolerances, hardware specs, units.
Image-to-CAD workflow
Sketches, photos, screenshots — feed them to the vision-capable agent and iterate against a self-critique pass.
Parametric design
How to structure variables, modules, and feature names so the agent (and future-you) can keep iterating.
Designing for 3D printing
Wall thickness, tolerances, overhangs, orientation, and printability checks the agent runs after every render.
Example gallery
Real prompts → real parts. Brackets, enclosures, gears, jigs, and bins — copy any prompt straight into the agent.
Frequently asked questions
Mirrors the FAQPage JSON-LD above for SEO parity.
What is OpenSCAD?
cube/sphere/cylinder,
transformations like translate/rotate/scale,
and boolean operations like union/difference/intersection.
The result is fully parametric: change one variable and the whole model regenerates.