3d models from 2d drawings

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

According to latest news from MIMechE, a company called Spare Parts 3D has developed an AI driven package called Theia which if fed with 2d drawings will produce 3d models as ‘production grade 3d STEP file’ whatever that means

[paul1956Participant @paul1956]

Using multiple 2D drawings to create a 3D object is effectively how most CAD packages work now.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Assuming it needs digital 2D drawings such as .dwg or .dxf there won’t be many in a production enviroment using 2D to create parts these days so may have limited use.

[David SeniorParticipant @davidsenior29320]

Assuming that you are starting with a proper, fully defined 2D drawing that a competent engineer can interpret with no doubt (as any drawing should be) then generating a 3D model is trivially easy using an AI agent that links with a cad package (I have used Claude linking to FreeCad but there are other options). Clearly best if the drawings are cad drawings, but perfectly possible with scanned manual drawings.

It only gets more challenging when the scanned drawing is a rather vague assembly or layout that needs a bit of specialist knowledge to interpret.

Dave

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

IMechE used it to convert drawings of Lanchester car engine, so I doubt the originals were CAD, unless Lanchester was even more ahead of his time than I thought

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

There would need to be some calibration to allow for drawings not being quite to size, particularly if they are not the originals and why we say never scale from a drawing. And what about those machining drawings for cast parts, generally it is only the machined features that are dimensioned not the castings as the pattern shop would have had their own drawings to work from. Seems it does still need Human verification.

Theia 2D to 3D reconstruction

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