Your first part
This is the fastest possible tour of HelioCad. In five minutes you will go from a blank workspace to a real, editable parametric solid — no installs, no setup.
Before you start
- A HelioCad account (the free trial is enough)
- A modern browser
- 1
Open a new workspace
Sign in and create a new project. You land in the Model workspace with an empty viewport, the AI chat panel on one side, and the feature timeline on the other.
- 2
Describe the part
Open the chat panel and type: a 60 mm cube. HelioCad writes the parametric model, runs it, and renders a solid cube in the viewport. That block is fully editable — not a static mesh.
Tip: Always include units. 60 mm is unambiguous; 60 is not.
- 3
Add a feature
Send a follow-up: add a 20 mm through-hole centered on the top face. The AI edits the model and the hole appears. Notice each change becomes a step in the timeline.
- 4
Edit a dimension
Open the extrude feature in the timeline and change the height from 60 mm to 40 mm. The solid updates instantly — this is what parametric means.
- 5
Let it autosave
There is no Save button. Your project is already persisted to the cloud; close the tab and it will be waiting when you return.
What you built
A parametric block with a through-hole that you can re-edit at any time — and a feel for how chat, the timeline, and the viewport work together.
Follow along in HelioCad
Open a workspace and build it as you read. It runs in your browser — no install required.
Start free trial