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Competition
Landscape around Design Intuition — who's nearby, what they do differently.
- also, idea about "reducing the noise in the marketplace"
Closest Competitors (browser-based, indie/open-source, parametric)
| Tool | Stack | Status | Price | Vibe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CADmium | Rust -> WASM, SvelteKit, Three.js | Early prototype | Free/OSS | Closest cousin — local-first, browser, sketch+extrude, code-first option. Targets hobbyist 3D printing. |
| Chili3D | TypeScript, OpenCascade -> WASM, Three.js | Alpha | Free/OSS | Full BREP kernel in browser. STEP/IGES import. More traditional CAD feel. |
| SolveSpace | C++, constraint solver | Mature, desktop | Free/OSS | Parametric constraint-based. No browser version. Minimal UI, functional. |
Adjacent (different angle, overlapping audience)
| Tool | Angle | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Plasticity | "CAD for artists" — NURBS, G2-continuous fillets, beautiful UI. Desktop only. | $150 indie |
| Shapr3D | Gesture-based modeling, iPad/Mac/Win. Parametric + direct. Polished UX. | Free tier, $38/mo pro |
| Onshape | Full browser-based professional CAD. Version control built in. | Free personal, $$$$ pro |
What DI Does Differently
- No BREP kernel — mesh/wireframe with algebraic constraints, not OpenCascade
- Intuition-first — hand-tweaking, visual feedback, artist sensibility over engineering precision
- Orientation system — quaternion-based, trig redistribution, fixed/variable derived from bounds
- Algebra engine — compiler, eval, reverse propagation, constraint system — all custom
- Graph-native — scene is a graph (inherited from ws), not a feature tree
The Gap
Plasticity is pretty but not parametric. Onshape is parametric but corporate. CADmium is the closest spiritually but leans hobbyist/3D-print. Nobody's doing "parametric CAD as art tool with algebraic constraints in the browser."