CaDoodle — The Complete Guide: Drag-and-Drop Modelling with No Account and No Internet
Anyone who learned modelling in Tinkercad will immediately recognise the idea behind CaDoodle: drag basic shapes onto the workplane, move and resize them, and join or subtract them. The difference is that here the program runs on your own computer, your files stay with you, and no account or internet connection is needed. There are versions for Windows, macOS and Linux.
CaDoodle
Common Wealth Robotics
Drag-and-drop shape modelling in the style of Tinkercad — local, with no account and no internet, exporting STL and OBJ for printing.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Drag-and-drop shapes — building a model from basic shapes and boolean operations.
- Basic and advanced modes — a simple interface for beginners and extra options when needed.
- Sketches from Inkscape — bringing 2D shapes into the model.
- Export — STL, OBJ and SVG for printing, cutting and further work.
- Plugins — links to Blender, FreeCAD, OpenSCAD and MeshLab.
Licence and who it suits
The source code is dedicated to the public domain (CC0), so you may use it for any purpose, including commercially. The GitHub download is free; the Windows Store version is sold at a fixed price, but it is the same program. It suits brackets, jigs and simple parts for printing, and teaching in schools that do not want to open cloud accounts for pupils. For complex parts with exact dimensions, move on to parametric CAD.
Related tools
For the cloud version of the same idea — Tinkercad. For modelling in code — OpenSCAD. For full parametric CAD — FreeCAD.
Tinkercad
Autodesk
Browser-based 3D modelling by adding and subtracting basic shapes, plus electronic circuit simulation and block coding.
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OpenSCAD
OpenSCAD
Code-based 3D modelling where every dimension is a real parameter. Popular in 3D printing.
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FreeCAD
FreeCAD Project
Open-source parametric 3D modeller with workbenches for solid modelling, FEM, drafting and BIM.
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MeshLab
ISTI — CNR
Mesh and point cloud processing — hole filling, simplification, alignment and format conversion.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
A local, open alternative to Tinkercad: simple, free and independent of the cloud. Excellent for quick 3D printing and for teaching.