modlr

Inspiration

3D modeling is powerful, but for many people it’s still complex and intimidating. As 3D printing becomes more accessible, creating printable models should be just as effortless. Modlr makes that possible: combining intuitive ease of use with high capability in a single, AI-powered CAD tool.

What it does

PrintaAI lets users create and edit 3D models conversationally. Describe what you want, refine it with natural language, and see the geometry update instantly; its Cursor for CAD. Manual edits can also be made via a sidebar for direct control.

How we built it

We built a DSL for Grok to output CAD operations as structured “patches.” These patches are converted into JSON, serialized into a Three.js scene, and rendered on the front end. Most of the workflow happens in a chat-driven interface, with optional manual editing via a GUI for fine-tuning.

Challenges we ran into

In-browser slicing was a nightmare. We invested a lot of time, accidentally broke parts of our codebase, and had to rewrite several features to recover.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting the product working with a comfortable user experience and good modelling despite needing to rewrite several core features (boolean operations and fillets) in less than hour.

What we learned

Scope aggressively and monitor coding agents closely. Just because a feature can be implemented quickly doesn’t mean it it will be implemented well quickly .

What's next for Modlr

Clean up the codebase and ship it as a polished, real product.

Built With

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