# AI CAD generator that outputs a part, not a picture of one > Most tools ranking for "AI CAD generator" return a raster image or a frozen mesh. Here is the difference between an image, a mesh, and native CAD features, and how to tell which one you are being sold. URL: https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad-generator/ Updated: 2026-08-15 --- # An AI CAD generator that produces a part you can edit. Three different things are sold under this phrase. Two of them cannot be manufactured. ## Most “AI CAD generators” generate an image. A large share of the tools sold as AI CAD generators are general image models. They return a raster that resembles a technical drawing: no geometry, no dimensions anything can measure, no DWG, no STEP, nothing a machine shop can quote. Below that sits a real and useful category: text-to-mesh tools that produce genuine 3D, as triangles. Good for a render, a prop, or a print. Not a part, because a mesh has no concept of a hole, an axis, or a tolerance. The third tier is the only one an engineer can release: **native CAD features with dimensions**, created inside the CAD system the part will live in. ## The three tiers, side by side. | | Image generator | Text to mesh | CADABRA | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | What you get | A picture | A triangle mesh | Native features in a part file | | Measurable dimensions | No | Approximate only | Yes, and they drive the model | | Tolerances and GD&T | No | No | Applied from your standard | | Exports STEP | No | Sometimes, as converted geometry | It is a SOLIDWORKS part | | Survives a revision | No | Regenerate from scratch | Change a dimension and rebuild | | A supplier can quote it | No | Rarely | Yes, with the drawing and BOM | ## What a real generator has to do. ### Hold every dimension you state. An engineering instruction carries dimensions, references, and a standard. A generator that cannot hold “6 mm counterbore on a 40 mm bolt circle” as three separate constraints cannot make a part. - Dimensions become driving dimensions. - Hole and fastener standards come from your configuration. - The result is checkable against what you asked for. ### Land in the file you already work in. Generating outside your CAD seat means an import, and an import means a body with no history, no design intent, and no parent-child relations. [How that works in practice](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/). - No STEP round trip. - Feature tree, sketches, and relations intact. - PDM revisioning still works. ### Carry through to the deliverables. Geometry is the start. What ships is a drawing, a BOM, and a quote package. - [Drawings on your title block](https://cadabrai.com/cad-to-drawing/). - [BOM from the assembly structure](https://cadabrai.com/bom-generator/). ## AI CAD generators, answered. ### Do AI drawing generators produce real CAD files? Most do not. A large share of the tools ranking for “AI CAD generator” and “AI technical drawing generator” are general image models: they return a picture that looks like a drawing, with no geometry, no dimensions you can measure, and no DWG, STEP, or PDF a supplier can quote from. ### Can I edit an AI-generated 3D model or an STL? Not in the way engineers mean by editing. An STL is a triangle mesh: it has no concept of a hole, an axis, a face, or a dimension, so there is nothing to change a value on. You can sculpt or re-mesh it, but you cannot set a bore to Ø12 or apply a tolerance. Parametric CAD carries features and dimensions. ### What is the difference between STL and STEP? STL is a mesh of triangles approximating a surface, used for 3D printing and rendering. STEP is exact boundary-representation geometry, used for manufacturing, inspection, and CAM. STEP carries the real shape; STL carries an approximation of it. Neither carries a feature history. A native part file does. ### Is text-to-CAD output editable, or is it a dumb mesh? With CADABRA it is editable. Prompts are resolved into native SOLIDWORKS features such as extrudes, cuts, fillets, patterns, and Hole Wizard operations, so every result lands in the feature tree with its sketches and dimensions intact. You can roll back, edit a dimension, or change design intent exactly as you would on geometry you modelled by hand. ### Is there a free version? Yes. The Free plan needs no card and includes baseline monthly usage, Ask Mode against your CAD model, live web search, and read-only model understanding. Every paid plan is a multiple of that baseline usage. ### Do I need my own SOLIDWORKS license? Yes. CADABRA is an add-in, not a CAD system. You keep your existing SOLIDWORKS license, files, libraries, and PDM, and CADABRA works inside them. ## Generate something you can machine. Start free, inside SOLIDWORKS, on the license you already have. ## Keep reading - [Text to CADPrompts that resolve into native SOLIDWORKS features, not an imported mesh.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad/) - [Text to CAD vs Text to 3DMesh or parametric.](https://cadabrai.com/text-to-cad-vs-text-to-3d/) - [AI CADWhat AI CAD does today, and what it does not.](https://cadabrai.com/ai-cad/) - [Free AI CADThe four meanings of free, and where each one runs out.](https://cadabrai.com/free-ai-cad/)