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PrintTalk: A Language for Constraint-Based 3D Modelling

Authors Jef Jacobs , Wolfgang De Meuter , Jens Nicolay

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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Software and its engineering → Domain specific languages
  • Software and its engineering → Multiparadigm languages
  • Software and its engineering → Constraints
Keywords
  • Programmatic 3D Modelling
  • PCAD
  • Domain specific language
  • Constraints

Metrics

Abstract

Programmatic CAD (PCAD) is an emerging alternative to traditional visual CAD software. However, state-of-the-art PCAD tools have limited or no support for constraints. Consequently, these tools depend solely on parametrisation for variability, reusability, and composition of shapes. This leads to problems such as parameter explosion, leaky compositional abstraction, and prevents a declarative approach to defining spatial patterns (linear, grid, circular, etc.) for the constituents of a composition. This paper describes the design of PrintTalk, a PCAD language that supports 3D modelling by composing shapes and expressing relations between them using first-class constraints. Evaluating PrintTalk against state-of-the-art PCAD tools demonstrates that its expressive abstraction and composition mechanisms facilitate the design and promotes the reuse of shapes.

Cite As Get BibTex

Jef Jacobs, Wolfgang De Meuter, and Jens Nicolay. PrintTalk: A Language for Constraint-Based 3D Modelling. In 31st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 340, pp. 16:1-16:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.CP.2025.16

Author Details

Jef Jacobs
  • Software Languages Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Wolfgang De Meuter
  • Software Languages Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Jens Nicolay
  • Software Languages Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Supplementary Materials

References

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