DadCAD — Portable Offline Solid CAD

DadCAD is a single-file, zero-dependency, offline browser CAD workshop for 3D printing and Unity.

👉 Launch DadCAD Live in Your Browser (GitHub Pages) · Download Offline Release (v1.0.0)

You can also copy dist/DadCAD.html to any desktop computer and open it directly in a modern browser—no installation, server, account, or internet connection required.

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Highlights

• Single-File Portable Workshop: Three.js, Manifold 3D boolean kernel (WASM), geometry worker, styles, and procedural studio textures are bundled into one standalone dist/DadCAD.html file.
• Millimeter-Accurate Solid Modeling: Construct models from 8 adjustable primitives (Box, Cylinder, Sphere, Cone, Paraboloid, Wedge, Torus, Hexagon) or imported STL meshes (0.01 to 10,000 mm).
• Live Hole Cut Preview & CSG Booleans: Mark any shape as a Hole to preview subtracted material in real time with hatched shading before committing with Group (Ctrl/⌘ + G) or Ungroup (Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + G).
• Occlusion-Aware Workplane Ruler: Measure and directly edit Size, signed Position offsets, and part-to-part Gap / Overlap clearance on the workplane or in the Inspector (R), with automatic 3D silhouette and UI masking.
• 12 Procedural Studio Surface Finishes: Preview parts in Original, Painted metal, Brushed metal, Anodized aluminum, Polished chrome, Cast iron, Matte plastic, Glossy plastic, 3D printed (PLA), Carbon fiber, Sanded wood, or Glazed ceramic.
• Edge Bevel & Chamfer: Select individual exterior straight edges to preview and apply rounded bevels or flat chamfers.
• 3D Spatial Align, Stack & Distribute: Align parts along X/Y/Z, stack vertically along Z, or distribute objects along an axis, 2D grid, or circle with live bounds preview.
• Automatic Local Recovery: Reloading the page automatically restores your active workspace; save and reopen editable .dadcad.json project files at any time.
• Print & Game Engine Export: Export verified manifold STL (binary, millimeters, Z-up for slicers) or OBJ / GLB / glTF (meters, Y-up for Unity).

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Screenshots

Workspace & Live Boolean Hole Preview (Night Mode)

Workplane Ruler & Inline Dimension Editing

Pattern Distribution (Axis, Grid, Circle)

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Quick Start

• Run Online: Open https://michaelgmatrix.github.io/DadCAD/ directly in any desktop browser with WebGL2 and WebAssembly support (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari).
• Run Offline:
  1. Download DadCAD.html from the Latest Release (or open dist/DadCAD.html from this repository).
  2. Double-click DadCAD.html to open it locally.
  3. Click or drag a shape onto the workplane to start modeling.

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Controls & Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Control / Shortcut
Select / Multi-select	Click object or list row · Shift + Click or drag empty space for marquee lasso
Move on XY Workplane	Drag selected object · Arrow keys move screen-relative by snap increment
Raise / Lower (Z)	Drag top elevation cone · Cmd/Ctrl + Up / Down
Resize / Stretch Height	Drag corner/edge squares or top height square (Shift locks proportions)
Rotate	Drag curved rotation arrows (Shift snaps to 15° increments)
Orbit / Pan / Zoom	Right-drag to orbit · Middle-drag or Shift + Right-drag to pan · Scroll to zoom
Ruler	R — Toggle workplane ruler, inline dimensions, position offsets, and gap tool
Align HUD	L — Open 3D Spatial Align & Z-Stack HUD (when 2+ objects are selected)
Drop to Bed	D — Place lowest point of selected objects at Z = 0
Fit View	F — Fit camera to selection or all objects
Hide / Show All	H to hide selected · Shift + H to reveal hidden objects
Day / Night Theme	T — Toggle between Day and Night workshop themes
Group / Ungroup	Ctrl/⌘ + G / Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + G
Duplicate / Delete	Ctrl/⌘ + D / Delete or Backspace
Undo / Redo	Ctrl/⌘ + Z / Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + Z
Save Project	Ctrl/⌘ + S — Download .dadcad.json project file

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Development & Building from Source

Source files live in src/. Node.js is only required if you want to modify the source, run the test suite, or rebuild the standalone HTML bundle:

npm ci
npm test
npm run build

Running npm run build generates the self-contained dist/DadCAD.html bundle with Three.js, Manifold WASM, worker code, and CSS embedded inline.

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Bundled Libraries & Licenses

• Three.js 0.186.1 — MIT License — https://threejs.org/
• Manifold 3.5.4 — Apache-2.0 License — https://manifoldcad.org/