Looking for a simple (free/os) triangle mesh editor

[Roland Melkert]

Hello all,

I need to 'draw' some simple 3D shapes for a new LDraw program I'm working on.

In the past I generated those in code (e.g. LDCad's color wheel disk etc), but this limits things a lot, so this time I'm thinking about importing .obj files or const data structures instead.

Blender and so on are a bit overkill for this as I only need very simple things (e.g. a ruby/marvel like one)

Anyone has tips on software to use for creating such simple triangle meshes?

Maybe even LDPE?

[N. W. Perry]

new LDraw program I'm working on

Sorry, I don't have an answer, I just wanted to focus in on this statement.  What could it be???

[Philippe Hurbain]

Problem is indeed trade-off between learning curve and capacity... It depends also on the kind of shapes you need. SketchUp might be a good choice (no serious personal experience though). For the simplest shapes that can be created from CSG, studio part editor can be considered and is easy to use. For more complex organic shapes Meshmixer is a capable free sculpting solution.

[Jose Alfonso]

Tinkercad is an online CAD program used by children and has a library of premade shapes.

[Roland Melkert]

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll look into them.

Sorry, I don't have an answer, I just wanted to focus in on this statement.  What could it be???

It is based on the LDCad 2.0 source code but I rewrote a big portion and removed all OpenGL code in favour of Vulkan.

But I'm not sure it will become LDCad 2.0

[Eugen]

I need to 'draw' some simple 3D shapes for a new LDraw program I'm working on.

Its an old topic, but I would add Maverick Model 3D and Wings3D editor to the list:

• clover.moe/mm3d/ (source: Qt/C++ github.com/zturtleman/mm3d)
  
• www.wings3d.com/ (source: Erlang github.com/dgud/wings)
  

Few small freeware 3D editors:

• Pixie3D - https://pixie3d.com/
  
• Anim8tor - www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php/board,7.0.html
  
• Draw3D - https://draw3d.shervinemami.com/
  

Also, not a 3D editor, but CAD:

• FreeCAD (FreeCAD's Part Workbench has geometric primitives and mesh export is good).
  
• OpenSCAD (easy geometry scripting and good mesh export)
  
• SolveSpace (its easy to use, but exported mesh might be need to cleanup in MeshLab with few extra clicks).