Design And Cad
11 articles
HIIE Engine vs Meshy premium: which 3D path to use
HIIE has two 3D paths: the HIIE Engine (build123d B-rep CAD with STEP output, the default) and Meshy premium text-to-3D for realistic, textured, print-ready GLB/STL models.
Text to Design: writing a prompt and using 'Improve prompt'
Write Text to Design prompts as single, dimensioned manufacturable parts; 'Improve prompt' runs due diligence, fills missing dimensions, and discloses its assumptions.
Understanding the CAD output formats: GLB, STEP, and STL
CAD generations output GLB for web viewing, STEP for CAD software and manufacturing, and STL for 3D printing — each archived into the project's Design folder.
How the vision quality loop inspects and refines your design
Each HIIE Engine generation generates, gates geometry, renders snapshots, has Camelia visually inspect them, and auto-refines — up to 3 passes for a fresh prompt, 2 for a refine.
What the geometry gate rejects (paper-thin parts, zero volume, and more)
The geometry gate rejects degenerate output: no solids, empty GLB, parts thinner than 0.4mm, aspect ratios over 150:1, zero-size bounding boxes, or volume under 1 mm³.
Versioning your designs: V1, V2, V3 and the Refine flow
A fresh prompt is V1; each Refine builds on the parent to append V2, V3, and so on, editing the prior build123d source. Refines get a 2-pass vision budget.
Selecting and recoloring individual parts in the viewport
Click any surface in the viewport to select it, then use the color picker to recolor it live. Per-part colors are AI-chosen by default; this lets you override them.
What Meshy text-to-3D can and cannot model
Meshy text-to-3D generates one coherent object as a realistic, textured, printable mesh — organic shapes welcome. It cannot produce B-rep STEP files, exact tolerances, or multi-part assemblies.
How 3D generation is metered and the free-plan premium allowance
The HIIE Engine meters a small flat rate with no monthly cap; Meshy premium costs 75 credits per generation with 2 free-plan generations per month. Failures are refunded, and BYO Meshy keys skip both.
Reviewing designs in Schematics and downloading STEP or STL files
Schematics auto-renders your newest design, lists all designs with STEP (or STL) downloads and delete, and shows any BOM/schematic markdown from Documents/Design.
What Spec Sheets shows (and why 'Generate latest' is disabled)
Spec Sheets displays an existing spec-sheet markdown doc (downloadable) and lists completed CAD deliverables with STEP downloads. The 'Generate latest' button is a disabled placeholder.