OpenSCAD has excellent online documentation where you can learn about commands, options, and syntax. Check out the resources below. The OpenSCAD user manual can get you up and running, and is a great reference once you get going. Use the OpenSCAD cheat sheet when you want to review the basic syntax for common commands. OpenSCAD CheatSheet.pdf - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online.
OpenSCAD User Manual is comprehensive documentation for learning OpenSCAD. It's better to go through all the documents if you have enough time. However, to be honest, I didn't read all of them. Most of the time, I just search on OpenSCAD CheatSheet, such as looking for a useful module or function, figuring how to do a transformation, etc. Then, try to go on my work directly.
In Hello, OpenSCAD!, you've seen several elements in a basic OpenSCAD program, such as variables, for syntax, cube, text modules, translate, rotate transformations and so on. Here, I'll elaborate these elements according to the content of OpenSCAD CheatSheet.
The things you encountered first are OpenSCAD variables. They were classified into Syntax in OpenSCAD CheatSheet.
At first glance, they might look unremarkable, only like variables in dynamically-typed languages. You don't have to declare types. But be aware of the description documented in Variables.
OpenSCAD is a Functional programming language,as such variables are bound to expressions and keep a single value during their entire lifetime due to the requirements of referential transparency.
Because of learning by doing, I didn't notice that OpenSCAD is Functional programming when I implemented Maze generator. I used the imperative style in the beginning. After writing some fundamental functions, I tried to modify a vector and problems happened. I suddenly realized that it's Functional programming and needs different thinking from imperative programming, so I have to rewrite those fundamental functions.
Functional programming is not a problem. Like anything else, if you do enough of it, you eventually get the hang of it. I'm able to handle OpenSCAD with ease now. If someone asks me what Functional programming can do, OpenSCAD is one more example I can list.
OpenSCAD, however, has differences from pure Functional programming. If you assign values to a variable repeatedly, OpenSCAD will not throw an error. In the same variable scope, the variable will keep the last assigned value, no matter where you query the variable. Take the code below for example.
You can see two “ECHO: 2” in the Console, which is in the bottom of OpenSCAD. Variables are set at compile-time, not run-time explains why there's such behavior. As a beginner, it's enough to think that variables are immutable in OpenSCAD, such as variables in pure Functional programming.
The for loop is listed in the Other category of OpenSCAD CheatSheet. You can find some examples in For Loop. Those examples are very easy so needs no further explanation.
The example code of Hello, OpenSCAD! demonstrates a basic context of how to use for(variable = [start : end]). OpenSCAD will evaluate each value in the range. The start is an initial value. The end is the final value and the increment value defaults to 1. The for assign each iteratvalue is assigned to the variable.
Hence:
Produces 3, 4, 5 in the Console. But don't think that the following code creates 3, 7, 12 and 12.
It prints 3, 4, 5 and 0. Why?
The for loop creates a block scope. Every time OpenSCAD evaluates sum + a, the value of sum comes from the sum variable outside of the for loop. It's 0, so you're adding 0 and a. Then the result is assigned to a new variable sum on the left side of the assignment operator. When echo(sum) is executed, the printed value is actually 0 + a.
As for the sum variables in sum = 0 and the last statement echo(sum), they are in the same scope so have the same value 0.
Because OpenSCAD doesn't throw an error when you re-assign a value to a variable, it might be hard for you to understand the above code in the beginning.
If you have experienced pure Functional programming, you'll know pure Functional programming has no loop, which only exists in imperative programming. Sometimes you might see loop-like syntaxes in pure Functional programming; they're probably syntax-sugars or recursive functions. Try to use a recursive function; you'll know why the above code printed 3, 4, 5 and 0.
There's a module definition in this code. I'll explain it in later documents. For now, you may think a module as a function or a method in imperative programming.
You saw a cube module in Hello, OpenSCAD!. It's listed in the 3D category of OpenSCAD CheatSheet. As the name implies, it creates a cube. You can find examples in cube.
There are two key points to use the cube module. One is using a 3 value vector [x,y,z]. It creates a cube with dimensions x, y and z. If you use a single value, the cube will have the same sides, which is a rare condition in 3D modeling. The other point is you may specify a center parameter. It defaults to false. Once it's true, the object will be centered at (0, 0, 0). Some other 3D modules also have this center parameter.
You can use named arguments, such as cube(size = [x,y,z], center = true). It's a convenient way to specify parameters without worrying about their sequence. that's to say that writing cube(center = true, size = [x,y,z]) is also acceptable.
The text module creates a text object. The cheatsheet classifies it into the 2D category. As you see in OpenSCAD User Manual/Text, the text module have plenty of parameters. Basically, text, size and font are most commonly-used parameters.
The text parameter means the text you want to generate. To allow specification of particular Unicode characters, you can specify them in a string with escape codes. For example.
It generates a euro sign, 10 and a smiling face.
The value of the size parameter defaults to 10. The unit is millimeter (mm). The font parameter accepts a logical font name. If you want to generate non-ASCII characters, such as Traditionally-Chinese characters, remember that your “.scad” file should use encoding UTF-8. Then, use a font which supports the characters. The font, of course, should be installed on your computer. For example, the code below creates the '春' text with the font name '標楷體'.
And you'll see an object created as below.
You text may be bold or italic. As Using Fonts & Styles said, a style parameter can be added, such as font='Liberation Sans:style=Bold Italic'.
The text module is a 2D module. Even the generated object looks like having a thickness; it's still a 2D object. Making a 3D object from a 2D object needs an extrusion operation.
Openscad Print
The extrusion used in Hello, OpenSCAD! is linear_extrude, which is located in Other of OpenSCAD CheatSheet. It takes a 2D object as input and extends it in the third dimension. For example.
It doesn't need a semicolon between linear_extrude(10) and text('春', font = '標楷體'). Some operations in OpenSCAD accept a module directly, or a module after some operations. It's not required to place semicolons between those operations and the target module. The above code creates a 3D object below.
As you saw in Hello, OpenSCAD!, using translate and rotate is easy. The former moves its target module along the specified vector. The later turns the target module n degrees around the x, y and z-axis. For example.
This will centers the text('春', font = '標楷體')' model at (0, 0, 0).
If you want to rotate it 90 degrees around the x-axis, use rotate([90, 0, 0]).
You get the final model below.
As you see, semicolons are not necessary when you do operations rotate, translate and linear_extrude in sequence. Under this circumstance, I would use indentation properly because it looks clearer than writing rotate([90, 0, 0]) translate([-5, -5, -5]) linear_extrude(10) text('春', font = '標楷體');. The readibility is better.
Of course, too much indentation cause problems, too. That is where a module definition comes in, and I'll say something about it in the later documents.
OpenSCAD is also available on MacPorts (check version):
OpenSCAD is also available on Homebrew (check version):
System requirements: Windows 7 or newer on x86 32/64 bit
Debian / Ubuntu / Kubuntu
OpenSCAD is available in the repositories of most recent distributions.
Fedora
OpenSCAD is available in Fedora official repositories. To install, run the following command:
If you want the MCAD library:
openSUSE
OpenSCAD is available from software.opensuse.org
Other Linux
App Stores
Openscad Commands
FreeBSD (>=10)
OpenBSD
OpenSCAD is available for amd64, i386 and macppc in OpenBSD packages:
It's possible to build OpenSCAD on other systems as long as a C++ compiler and the prerequisite software libraries are available.
You can also access the latest source code on github: openscad/openscad on github
Development snapshots are built irregularly. If you want access to a more recent development snapshot, please contact the mailing list.
Windows
Linux - AppImage
Please try the automatically built snapshots first if you are running a supported distribution (see below), the following AppImage builds are still experimental.
The ARM 64-bit (aarch64) AppImage is built and tested only for Raspberry PI OS 64-bit (which may still be in beta test).
Linux - Snap
Or install with
To use Gamepads or supported 3D Mouse devices (like the SpaceMouse series from 3D Connexion) the following command is needed to allow the snap package access to the joystick interface.
Openscad Cheat Sheet
Linux - Distribution Packages
The packages are automatically built based on the master branch on github.
Note: The packages are called 'openscad-nightly' so it's possible to install the development snapshot packages in parallel to the release version from the official repositories.
Debian / Ubuntu packages built on OpenSUSE build service
To install the packages, the release key must be added with apt-key to the key-ring to allow apt-get / aptitude to validate the packages.
Key ID: 75F3214F30EB8E08 (valid till 2023-06-14)
Key UID: home:t-paul OBS Project <home:t-paul@build.opensuse.org>
NOTE: If you get errors about an expired key valid till 2021-04-18, please re-import via the following command.
After the key is added, the repository URL needs to be configured. This can be done by creating a new file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openscad.list with the URL specific to the distribution.
The repository links below are shown as https, please check for your installation if https is supported. In Debian/Ubuntu this is usually handled by the apt-transport-https package. OBS also supports HTTP links, but it's recommended to use https whenever possible.
Debian 9 (Stretch)
Debian 10 (Buster)
Debian Testing
Debian Unstable
Ubuntu 16.04
Ubuntu 18.04
Openscad Reference
Ubuntu 18.10
Ubuntu 19.10
Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 20.10 (x86_64, aarch64)
Ubuntu 21.04 (x86_64, aarch64)
openSUSE packages built on OpenSUSE build service
openSUSE Leap 15.0 (64-bit only)
openSUSE Leap 15.1 (64-bit only)
openSUSE Tumbleweed
Openscad Polygon Example
Fedora packages built on OpenSUSE build service
Fedora 30 (x86_64, i586, armv7l, aarch64, ppc64le)
Fedora 31 (x86_64, armv7l, aarch64, ppc64le)
Fedora 32 (x86_64, armv7l, aarch64, ppc64le)
Fedora 33 (x86_64, armv7l, aarch64, ppc64le)
Fedora Rawhide (x86_64, i586)
Arch Linux
To install OpenSCAD from git on Arch Linux the openscad-git pkgbuild is available on AUR.Prior releases are available at files.openscad.org
Releases are signed with GnuPG
- The OpenSCAD Developers <dev@openscad.org>
- Key ID: 0x8AF822A975097442
- Fingerprint:
B3C9 4B42 50DC 097E 9FFF 8177 8AF8 22A9 7509 7442 - Download: openscad-signing-key_0x8AF822A975097442.asc