Learn how you can create and share your projects with the world
Nov 8, 2021
by Matas Ubarevicius
In this blog post we explain how our cloud services work and how you could benefit from them. If you are not interested in persisting your project on our database and if you do not want to share your projects with others, you might as well use our free app that works with files.
To foster the community building we launched a big update to our platform. From now on users will be able to sign up with their Google and Facebook accounts, create, edit and share parametric 3D CAD scripts with everyone on the internet. We hope that designs produced and shared by our CAD programmers will solve various 3D design challenges, inspire others to learn to code geometry and will benefit the world with high quality open access flexible and adaptable designs.
Previously our web application was able to import and export scripts into the users file system, but we lacked the wider infrastructure which would allow us to persist users’ projects, give them the possibility to share the designs and automatically save their work. After we integrated experimental support for OpenCascade Technology Kernel we decided that it is time to take our Platform to the next level, this article will introduce you to some of the key scenarios that we now support.
Cloud Release of Bit by bit developers Platform
How users will benefit?
As a creator you get a chance to use a design and scripting tool that allows you to be as close as possible to your audience. People who may use your scripts do not need to install any software, you can send them the link to your public project and they will be able to open it, run it and use the resulting models or visualisations instantly. Because you have the option to make your projects public other people can access your scripts, learn from them and adapt your code for their own needs and purposes. We like to think that our Platform is becoming a social network for parametric CAD. If you like to keep your projects private, cloud infrastructure will help you with increased productivity, project, script and asset management.
This model also benefits beginners as they can learn by following other coders, analyse, copy and remix their scripts. Even if you do not know how to code, you can use our platform by configuring parametric models for your own needs that were made by others.
Check out the Public Gallery
We allow everyone who signs up to create Private and Public projects. Various subscription tiers allow for different quota limits, but in essence at this moment even in Free tier you get to test all of the features of Bit by bit developers Platform.
Visit our Gallery
Public projects gallery
Projects host Scripts and Asset files
We have made it simple to edit your Project details, create scripts, upload optimised pictures and various Asset files related to your Project. As before we support 2 types of coding on our Platform — visual (Blockly) and textual (TypeScript). You are free to choose whichever you prefer.
Example of Project Editor Screen
Asset Files
One of the main scenarios that will be allowed by our cloud infrastructure is importing various file formats into your scripts. We currently support STEP and IGES file imports. Support for STL and other types of 3D formats that our users may want to work on in their scripts will come later. We also will make it possible to import data in CSV and TXT file formats for various data visualisation purposes. Check the following video to see how STEP and IGES can be exported from RhinoCeros and imported into Bit by bit developers cloud.
Three Plan Tiers
Our plans at this stage differ only in quota limits and access levels to community projects. There are currently no 3D CAD features that differ per tier, so when you opt in to try our platform for FREE you get a good indication of what it will feel like when you would switch to our paid SILVER and GOLD plans. In fact even the ‘old’ style use of our 3D CAD application is still allowed — you can still run and open Public scripts made by others without creating an account. In that case you do loose all the nice features that allow structuring your work into projects, scripts and assets. Importing various Asset files will only be possible for users who have accounts. Next we will briefly discuss different visibility levels that your Projects can have.
Public Projects
When your Projects’ visibility is set to PUBLIC everyone on the internet gets to access it. When you use our FREE plan you can only have 2 Private and unlimited Public Projects. Being a user of a FREE plan you can not access projects of SILVER and GOLD Community spaces. In the future projects in these community spaces may include more advanced scripts which our paying customers do not necessarily want to share with the whole world.
SILVER Community Projects
SILVER plan tier allows you to create 50 Private and 100 Public projects, which may include projects that you share only with SILVER Community. You also get the access to Projects which are created by other users of the SILVER plan. Be aware that SILVER Community projects can be accessed and create by GOLD Community members. Users subscribing to SILVER plan can also create PUBLIC projects.
GOLD Community Projects
Projects which have their visibility set to GOLD Community are exclusively available to users that subscribe to our GOLD plan, which allows to create large amounts of private and public projects, scripts, upload and use large Asset files. Users of GOLD plan also can access and create both PUBLIC and SILVER Community projects.
Be aware that this information, including prices, quota limits and features available for different tiers can change in time, we may not have had time to update this article to reflect that. Always check our tier overview page for latest differences. Downgrading plans have decremental effects on these access levels and quota limits.
Navigate Projects and Scripts in the App Environment
You do not need to open the app to edit your projects or browse the public community galleries, but when you open the app we allow you to do all those things as well.
Example of Script Preview
Summing Up
This is the first step in building a social CAD network of Bit by bit developers. We hope you will like and use our latest features. This will not only benefit the community, but everyone who will visit our site. We invite you to sign up and begin sharing your code with others. If you have any questions let us know on info@bitbybit.dev
Also check out our small showreel video of experimental OCCT Kernel features