Threads and Snap Fits That Print
The Thread node, calibrated diametral clearance, helix phase proven by an interference check, printable pitch rules, and a strain-based snap-fit readout.
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Articles
Coming from Onshape or SolidWorks to Rig Cad
A feature map from Onshape and SolidWorks to Rig Cad: sketches, patterns, shells, threads, variables and mates, what has no equivalent, and the mental shift.
Constructive Solid Geometry in Rig Cad
Learn how primitives, Boolean operations, transforms, and a readable scene tree combine into robust, editable parametric models in Rig Cad.
Signed Distance Fields: Geometry as a Function
From exact primitives and Boolean composition to sphere tracing and level sets, signed distance fields turn geometry into a queryable scalar function.
Rig Cad Editor Guide: The Five Core Panels
A concise guide to Rig Cad’s Add Object, Objects, Viewport, Properties, and Variables panels—and how selection connects them.
Transforms and Reference Frames in Rig Cad
Learn how position, rotation, and scale compose through local, parent, and world reference frames so Rig Cad features remain aligned, movable, and parametric.
Mesh Cleanup in Rig Cad: Repair, Remesh, Simplify
Choose the right Rig Cad mesh-cleanup step, repair topology defects, rebuild triangle distribution, and cut triangle count without losing required geometry.
Personalized Prints That Sell
Observed August 2026: name tags, lithophane lamps, photo figurines, and desk plates are the personalized 3D prints that sell. Here is what belongs in the model.
Versioned Production: Presets, Reorders, and Change Control
Record project revisions, production profiles, generated files, and inspection results so customized 3D-printed orders remain reproducible.
Fits, Clearances, and Tolerances for Customized 3D Prints
Turn measured printer behavior into dependable sliding, push, press, and cavity fits across customized 3D-printed product families.
Beyond Sliders: Safe Parameter Spaces for Printable Products
Sliders define choices; reliable products need relationships between them. Derive dimensions, constrain combinations, handle failures, and test the family.
Geometry Nodes, Displacement, and the Implicit Tree
If you already think in Geometry Nodes, the Objects tree is the graph. Mesh Boolean is a hard CSG node. The purple diamond turns that same node into a field.
Rig Cad for Tinkercad Users
If you know group and hole in Tinkercad, you already know the operations. Here is where they live in Rig Cad.
Rig Cad for OpenSCAD Users
If you already write union, difference, and modules, you already know this editor. The tree is the program.
Rig Cad for Fusion 360 Users
If you already use a timeline, Combine, and user parameters, you already know this editor. Here is where those habits live.
Post-Processing in Rig Cad: The Ordered Stack
How Rig Cad's ordered post-processing stack modifies solved geometry: Mirror, Cut Plane, Surface Offset, Shell, and the field-only Infill and Surface Pattern.
Gyroid TPMS: When Geometry Becomes Structure
From butterfly-wing photonic crystals to compact heat exchangers, the gyroid shows how triply periodic minimal surfaces become tunable engineering structures.
Shell, Hollowing, and Wall Thickness for Printing
Hollow a part two ways in Rig Cad: a 2D inward offset plus floor, or the Shell post-processing step opened with a cutter. Then size the wall for FDM and resin.
Pattern 3D: Lattices, Infill, and Surface Textures
The Pattern 3D node and its 150+ families, bounding a lattice with an Intersection, scale and precision trade-offs, and the Infill and Surface Pattern steps.
Repeats and Arrays: Linear, Radial, and Parametric
Linear, Radial, Parametric and Path Repeat: tile profiles in 2D and extrude once, derive pitch from the host, vary copies with instance.i, avoid Mirror traps.
Expressions and Variables in Rig Cad
The expression language behind every parametric Rig Cad project: grammar, functions, degrees vs radians, text, variable types, readouts, validators, handles.
Sketches to Solids: Extrude, Revolve, and Offset
Draw an outline three ways, compose it with 2D booleans and repeats, then extrude, revolve or offset it once. Constant walls, Y-up revolves, sketch constraints.
Fillets and Chamfers Without a Fillet Tool
Five ways to round or bevel an edge in Rig Cad: primitive corner radius, extrude edge profiles, SDF blends, Minkowski sums and Surface Offset, measured.
Why Is My Model Slow? Precision, Bounds, Engines
A diagnostic path for slow Rig Cad projects: find the node, match the symptom, learn the cube law behind SDF precision, and pick engine and GPU settings.