He polokalamu ʻo OpenSCAD no ka hana ʻana i nā hiʻohiʻona 3D CAD paʻa. He lako polokalamu manuahi a loaʻa iā Linux/UNIX, Windows a me Mac OS X. ʻAʻole like me ka hapa nui o nā polokalamu manuahi no ka hana ʻana i nā hiʻohiʻona 3D (e like me Blender) ʻaʻole ia e kālele ana i nā mea noʻeau o ka hoʻohālike 3D akā ma nā ʻaoʻao CAD. No laila paha ʻo ia ka noi āu e ʻimi nei i ka wā e hoʻolālā ai ʻoe e hana i nā hiʻohiʻona 3D o nā ʻāpana mīkini akā maopopo maoli ʻaʻole ia ka mea āu e ʻimi nei inā makemake ʻoe i ka hana ʻana i nā kiʻiʻoniʻoni kamepiula.

ʻAʻole ʻo OpenSCAD kahi mea hoʻohālike pili. Akā, he mea ia e like me ka 3D-compiler e heluhelu ana i kahi faila palapala e wehewehe ana i ka mea a hoʻolilo i ke kumu hoʻohālike 3D mai kēia faila palapala. Hāʻawi kēia iā ʻoe (ka mea hoʻolālā) i ka mana piha ma luna o ke kaʻina hana hoʻohālike a hiki iā ʻoe ke hoʻololi maʻalahi i kekahi ʻanuʻu o ke kaʻina hana hoʻohālike a i ʻole hana i nā hoʻolālā i wehewehe ʻia e nā ʻāpana configurable.

Hāʻawi ʻo OpenSCAD i ʻelua mau ʻano hana hoʻohālike nui: ʻO ka mua he geometry solid constructive solid (aka CSG) a ʻo ka lua aia ka extrusion o nā outline 2D. Hiki ke hoʻohana ʻia nā faila Autocad DXF e like me ke ʻano hoʻololi ʻikepili no ia mau kikoʻī 2D. Ma waho aʻe o nā ala 2D no ka extrusion hiki ke heluhelu i nā ʻāpana hoʻolālā mai nā faila DXF. Ma waho aʻe o nā faila DXF hiki iā OpenSCAD ke heluhelu a hana i nā hiʻohiʻona 3D ma nā ʻano faila STL a me OFF.