BRL-CAD — The Complete Guide: Military-Grade Solid Modelling, Open and Free
BRL-CAD was developed from the late 1970s at the US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory and later released as open source. It is one of the oldest CAD systems still in active development, and it specialises in highly accurate solid models and their analysis.
BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD Project
CSG solid modelling with built-in ray tracing, aimed at analysis rather than drafting.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- CSG modelling — building solids from primitives with union, intersection and subtraction.
- Ray tracing — calculating sections, masses, volumes and centres of gravity.
- Geometry checks — overlaps and voids between components.
- Conversion — import and export of STEP, STL, OBJ and other formats.
- Command line and scripting — full automation through mged and Tcl.
Who it suits
BRL-CAD is not a drafting tool for everyday parts — the learning curve is steep. It suits researchers, large complex models and anyone who needs precise geometric analysis. For ordinary parametric part design, FreeCAD is more convenient.
Related tools
For general parametric CAD — FreeCAD. For modelling in code — OpenSCAD or CadQuery. For repairing meshes — MeshLab.
FreeCAD
FreeCAD Project
Open-source parametric 3D modeller with workbenches for solid modelling, FEM, drafting and BIM.
Get it from the vendor
OpenSCAD
OpenSCAD
Code-based 3D modelling where every dimension is a real parameter. Popular in 3D printing.
Get it from the vendor
CadQuery
CadQuery Project
Parametric CAD scripted in Python, on a proper solid-modelling kernel.
Get it from the vendor
MeshLab
ISTI — CNR
Mesh and point cloud processing — hole filling, simplification, alignment and format conversion.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
BRL-CAD offers research-lab tools — free and without limits — to anyone willing to invest in learning it.