tangency-labs/solidcraft v0.18.0

SolidCraft v0.18.0

on GitHub

Pre-release: the new interface. Expect rough edges; please report anything that looks off. 0.17.0 stays the current release, and the in-app update check keeps offering it. Install 0.18.0 by hand to try the new interface.

SolidCraft is open-source parametric 3D CAD in Rust: sketch, constrain, extrude, and change a parameter to watch the timeline rebuild. Website · documentation · try it in the browser · Discord · issues.

Why 0.18: a minor release for a redesigned interface, plus saving to and opening from files on your computer in the browser app, faster renames, and sketch and assembly fixes.

New

A new interface by @Nathan-Dane (#2016; #2176, #3627):

• A redesigned application bar and ribbon, with per-tab accent colours.
• A floating shell: the workspace and ribbon float as cards over a full-bleed viewport, and the Browser floats as a card with a history strip.
• A new compass and viewport overlays.
• Every popup and panel is built on one UI kit with shared tokens, fonts and icons, and the icons keep their multi-tone artwork. Parameters, the Configuration Table, Crash Reports and Appearance are redesigned, and so are the window frame, with its page list, and the confirm dialog.
• Command search grows out of a field in the ribbon. It replaces the bottom command line, which is gone.
• New context menus, radial menu and rename popover.

Also new:

• Browser app: save designs to, and open them from, files on your computer, including Save to computer… for designs kept in the browser (#3681, #3687).
• Speed: renaming a feature no longer rebuilds the design, and renaming a body evaluates nothing (#3097, #3095); dragging a section cut stays smooth on large parts (#3616).
• Sketch: a click on another dimension inserts its name into the value you're editing (#3186); a radius dimension placed past an arc's end extends the arc to its arrow (#3408); an angle dimension between two lines from one point measures the angle between them (#3439).
• Languages: Translations completed for 15 languages (machine translated; corrections welcome): Russian, Korean, German, Turkish, Malay, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Galician, Czech, Italian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Ukrainian, French and Danish (#3799, #3800, #3801, #3802).

Fixed

• Viewport: hovering a large body no longer freezes the window while its pick index or display mesh is built (#3766).
• Display: trimmed faces of display meshes stay on their surfaces (#1653).
• Sketch: three-point arcs stay attached to their through point (#3610); Shift-picked midpoints persist as ordinary constraints (#2378); editing a sketch past the history marker rolls the marker to it (#3339).
• Assemblies and analysis: a joint loop that closes only to within nanometres still moves (#3475); contact checks find bodies crossing face to face, not only at a corner (#3388); interference and clearance checks list mesh bodies as unchecked (#3258).
• Crash reports: unclean-exit reports explain why they're detected late (#3640).

Compatibility

0.18.0 writes design file format 28, the same as 0.17.0, so designs move freely between 0.17 and 0.18. They don't open in 0.16.x or earlier. The saved model cache from 0.17 is still written; a cache saved by a different build is ignored and the design rebuilds from its timeline.

Thanks

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this release: @cfaulkingham, @dahakbuilds, @DundreDE, @fkirill, @jyviko, @kaltenbrunnermarkus, @Nathan-Dane, @phanoob, @rlartot, @SS-EN and @Vittuu.

Install

Upgrading from 0.7 or earlier. 0.8 changed the Linux app ID to ai.storyteller.solidcraft:
flatpak update offers to replace the old app, and the .deb, .rpm and AppImage remove the old
menu entry.

Upgrading from 0.5 or earlier. 0.6 renamed SolveCraft to SolidCraft and made the zip
container the default save format. .solvecraft designs, old settings folders and
SOLVECRAFT_* variables are still picked up, and solvecraft-cli still forwards to
solidcraft-cli. Want plain JSON? Use File ▸ Save As JSON… or --save design.json. On
macOS, replace SolveCraft.app with SolidCraft.app. Details:
compatibility notes.

Documentation, the browser app and the Flatpak feed use the SolidCraft project Pages URLs.

Which file?

• Windows: SolidCraft-0.18.0-windows-x64.exe runs as is. Or install the .msi, or unzip the
  -portable.zip (x64, x86 and arm64).
• macOS 11+ (Apple silicon and Intel): open the .dmg and drag SolidCraft.app onto Applications.
  The CLI is in solidcraft-cli-0.18.0-macos-universal.zip.
• Linux (x86_64 and aarch64, glibc 2.35+): the .AppImage (chmod +x, then run it), the
  .deb or .rpm, the .flatpak (flatpak install --user <file>), the .snap
  (sudo snap install --dangerous <file>, or sudo snap install solidcraft from the Snap Store), or the .tar.gz.
• FreeBSD: tar -xzf solidcraft-0.18.0-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz --strip-components 1 -C /usr/local.
• Web: solidcraft-web-0.18.0.zip is a static site to host yourself.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing.
• Files without a version in the name (solidcraft-windows-x64.msi, solidcraft-linux-x86_64.AppImage, …)
  are the same packages under fixed names, for download links that always fetch the latest release.

For Flatpak feed installation and updates, add Flathub for the required runtime before
installing SolidCraft; keep both remotes in the same user installation:

flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists solidcraft https://docs.solidcraft.io/flatpak/solidcraft.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user solidcraft ai.storyteller.solidcraft
flatpak run ai.storyteller.solidcraft

A remote added from the old bherbruck.github.io address no longer finds updates: run
flatpak remote-modify --user --url=https://docs.solidcraft.io/flatpak/repo/ solidcraft, then
flatpak update --user.

Flatpak installs from 0.7 or earlier use the old ID ai.storyteller.solvecraft: flatpak update --user
offers to replace it with ai.storyteller.solidcraft, and settings move along.

Single-file .flatpak bundles include the runtime repository address; missing runtimes
still need an internet connection. Linux installation details.

The builds aren't signed yet. On macOS, right-click SolidCraft.app in Applications and choose
Open the first time (or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SolidCraft.app).
On Windows, SmartScreen may say "Windows protected your PC": More info, then Run anyway.
Licences are built in (Help ▸ About ▸ Licences, solidcraft-cli licences); the packages also
install THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.txt.