Old scool CAD VS Studio - merging and cutting parts

The time always comes when just printing downloaded models just won’t it any more.
Then we start exploring what else we might be able to do or create.

There is a lot of posts about modifiers and those Boolean operations on models.
If you want to shot yourself in the head with the bullet first passing through your knee than Studio would be a match.
You want one result but Studio tries really hard to give you something you did not expect.
If Bambu wouldn’t be Chinese I would say there is a Jinn/Genie at work LOL
But we ignore this and just say we have two players in the game.
One playing with CAD the other with Studio - which is better and who might win??

Let’s imagine something simple, like you wanting to make a mold to later cast a ball, a simple sphere.
So you COULD create like a box or cylinder in Studio, add a sphere or size and Bolean/modify away - literally…
Ignore things like alignment tabs or raisers…
Just getting both parts properly aligned can be tricky, especially if the sphere is not supposed to just rest on the print bed.
Make it an assembly they say…
But once done you still have to split it in half to make a mold…
In an old school CAD program (so not Fusion or Scad and such) this all is not problem, you just create right in place and see the results right away, can go back with ease.
So CAD wins if you know how to use it and if not you love Studio workarounds, case closed…

Not really… LOL
Really simple things as in mesh complexity are no big deal either way.
What is however is HOW it works.
Old school CAD is LINEAR - means only one single CPU core needed, no GPU jumping in to speed things up.
Simply only works this way.
Programs like Fusion are different as they only create actual geometries, meshes and such once you commit to an export.
For old school CAD users this does not matter much until operations with solids are required, like removing one part from another.
You simple box with a sphere removed from it can mean lots of work and even more if the sphere is supposed to be a smooth one and not a collection of straight lines and flat faces.
If you wanted make a mould from some figurine model of 25mb STL file size you downloaded even a high end gaming PC is useless it just takes forever to just import the STL, not to mention performing operations with it…

So why not take the best of both world to make life (a little bit) easier ?
I stick with the mold example but I hope you get the general idea anyway…
Rather then breaking your neck trying to only use one a combined approach can often be MUCH faster.
In Studio a Boolean operations means you click and its done already.
Old school CAD means you click, go and make a fresh coffee, have a shower, do the shopping and hoefully by the time you come back baby Yoda or little Groot is removed from you mold block.
Hurray, now we wait again while the piece is split in half…
In Studio it is a real pain to add raisers or other details you don’t have a as model at hand.
Making such things with the provided simple solids and getting them placed CORRECTLY can be time consuming.
Quick and easy job though in a simple CAD program…
You see it now ? :wink:

Do the really little things in Studio if you must but all vital things in CAD, like the accurate placement those alignment tabs and what else is required.
Once done and satisfied you let Studio do what makes your CAD program come to a grinding crawl.
In the CAD program you either did it all in place or once ready for STL export place the figurine where it should be.
Export both parts for the mold and the figurine to be removed as INDIVIDUAL STL files - don’t make the mistake to just select both and then export as a single STL.
In Studio you select the figurine and ONE half of the mold to import as a single model with multiple parts.
Use the Boolean icon and when asked which is part one don’t do it the CAD way - Studio wants you to select the part that shall be be cut first then what has to be cut from it - CAD does it the other way around.
So if you ended with just half a figurine and nothing missing from the mold part you just do it again but select the other part first :wink:
Repeat the same way for the half of the mold and then delete the figurines.
What might have taken the normal CAD program several hours and them probably gave you a result that isn’t a solid Studio did in the blink of an eye…

Don’t work harder, work smarter…
You don’t really need to know how to properly use a simple CAD program for such things, just enough to cover the few basic steps above, so don’t be shy to try one day.

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