This page is a deep dive into the software we use to construct roons. If you’re more interested in the software we use to build this site, click here.
blender
The core idea of roons is using contoured “landscapes” to guide marbles around. These surfaces can be quite complex.
We already had some small experience with Blender, the 3D modelling software, so that’s what we started using to design our 3D prints.
Using Blender was, in hindsight, probably the biggest mistake we made on this project. This isn’t Blender’s fault! It’s an excellent piece of software, but we overused it outside its intended purpose.
AutoDesk Fusion: the fall
A few months into the research phase of the project, we identified that we should use CAD software to parametrically design our parts. Not necessarily the roons themselves, but definitely things like gears, bases, lids etc.
Everyone everywhere recommended AutoDesk Fusion. So we went to download it — and nothing happened. We couldn’t get it to download. Thinking nothing of it, we switched to another task, and left it for another day.
A couple of days later, we tried again. Same result. This time we googled it, and found out that Fusion isn’t linux compatible, and will just silently refuse to download.
This is where we made our biggest mistake.
What we should have done:
- “Hmm, that’s annoying. Let’s find an open-source or linux-compatible equivalent; or just get a dedicated Windows machine for CAD stuff.”
What we actually did:
- “Welp, better build our own.”
No! This was a bad move!
What followed was a delightful few months where we tinkered around with building our own CAD-like software, believing it was fully justified — after all, we couldn’t download AutoDesk Fusion, so what choice did we have?
We built some pretty cool stuff, and ended up with an entity-system-based solid designer. We could even use it to simulate the behaviour of roons before printing.
… this was all excellent practice in building software, but a complete waste of time with regards to roons. Ultimately we ran up against some hard limits in what we could practically do (topology isn’t trivial!) and had to change course.
FreeCAD: the rise
So eventually, we did the sensible thing and found an open-source equivalent to Fusion.
FreeCAD: very impressive! We were able to recreate (and improve) most of our designs in a matter of days. Being able to parametrically design each component, without getting distracted with fixing our own software, was a huge productivity boost.
There are a few pain points but the core is really solid. We wrote a few macros for QoL improvements, but other than that, we set aside our software efforts and focused on actually designing stuff.
We ended up porting over everything to FreeCAD, even the roons themselves. Despite the complexity of the contours, we found it easier to combine a few subtractive lofts and pipes to recreate these in FreeCAD, rather than manipulating vertices and planes in Blender.
We do still use Blender for a couple of things:
- Rendering diagrams, making them look nice
- Assembling the final component list for 3D printing individual roons — there are just some nice workflow things here we don’t have in FreeCAD
more info
If you’d like us to add more info on any particular area, in touch at support@whomtech.tech.