Windows | Mac | Linux | iPad | Android (untested)
A lightweight 3D CAD app for creating, editing, and refining models with a straightforward direct-modeling workflow. PaliCAD combines 2D sketching, solid modeling, analysis tools, and common CAD file formats. On iPad it is designed to work naturally with touch, Apple Pencil, keyboard, and mouse. On desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux) it uses keyboard and mouse, with optional touchscreen support.
Built around a simple idea: CAD software should be capable, cross-platform, lightweight, offline, and financially accessible. Models you create are yours to use, including for personal and commercial purposes.
iPad (1.0.3) is a one-time purchase on the iPad App Store (8.99 CAD, 6.99 USD).
Desktop (0.1.3 alpha) — Windows, Mac, and Linux — is sold on Patreon as either a 8.99 CAD one-time purchase which unlocks access to release builds (ready-to-run apps, e.g. a Windows .exe). Or, you can support the project through a 4.49 CAD / month membership which includes release builds plus regular beta builds for this project and access to any of my other projects.
An untested Android APK is available for sideload on Patreon. The software is currently available under a source-available license.
Screenshots
Features
- Fully offline
- Non-parametric direct 3D modeling
- 2D sketching with a straightforward sketch-to-extrude workflow
- 3D Boolean operations for combining, subtracting, and intersecting solids
- Fillets and chamfers for refining edges
- Import of image references
- Joints for visualizing basic part movement
- Section analysis for inspecting internal geometry
- Import and export support for common CAD file formats
- Save projects in PaliCAD’s native cross-platform
.paliproject format - Customizable light and dark themes
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts for faster workflows
- Keyboard and mouse on all platforms; touch and Apple Pencil on iPad
Status
PaliCAD is actively developed and growing. The current app is aimed at makers, hobbyists, and CAD enthusiasts who want an affordable lightweight, offline modelling tool for simple to moderately complex designs. New modelling tools, workflow improvements, and compatibility enhancements will continue to be developed over time.
The project is source available for anyone interested in building it from source, but if you find it valuable to you, please support the project by purchasing it on Patreon or on the Apple App Store. At its core is Pali Ijo, an open-source CAD kernel released under the permissive MIT License. Pali Ijo is developed as a separate project so its geometry and modelling tools can also be used in other software. Kernel source: GitHub.
Models you create with PaliCAD are yours, including for personal and commercial purposes. PaliCAD places no additional licensing restrictions on those models. Third-party files, images, designs, or other material you import remain subject to their respective rights and licenses.