# Generating CAD Code with Vision-Language Models for 3D Designs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.05340 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05340/

## Key facts

- Cited by 62 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Oct 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11903/) (2022)
- [Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08485/) (2023)
- [BLIP-2: Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training with Frozen Image Encoders and Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12597/) (2023)
- [Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17651/) (2023)
- [Teaching Large Language Models to Self-Debug](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05128/) (2023)
- [Point-BERT: Pre-training 3D Point Cloud Transformers with Masked Point Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14819/) (2021)
- [LION: Latent Point Diffusion Models for 3D Shape Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.06978/) (2022)
- [PointFlow: 3D Point Cloud Generation with Continuous Normalizing Flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.12320/) (2019)
- [PointLLM: Empowering Large Language Models to Understand Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16911/) (2023)
- [Generating Sequences by Learning to Self-Correct](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.00053/) (2022)
- [DeepCAD: A Deep Generative Network for Computer-Aided Design Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09492/) (2021)
- [ULIP: Learning a Unified Representation of Language, Images, and Point Clouds for 3D Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.05171/) (2022)
- [IntelliCode Compose: Code Generation Using Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.08025/) (2020)
- [Point-Bind & Point-LLM: Aligning Point Cloud with Multi-modality for 3D Understanding, Generation, and Instruction Following](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00615/) (2023)
- [Synchromesh: Reliable code generation from pre-trained language models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11227/) (2022)
- [Diffusion-SDF: Text-to-Shape via Voxelized Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.03293/) (2022)
- [Evaluating the Text-to-SQL Capabilities of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.00498/) (2022)
- [Multiresolution Tree Networks for 3D Point Cloud Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.03520/) (2018)
- [CLIP2: Contrastive Language-Image-Point Pretraining from Real-World Point Cloud Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12417/) (2023)
- [SALAD: Part-Level Latent Diffusion for 3D Shape Generation and Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12236/) (2023)
- [How Can Large Language Models Help Humans in Design and Manufacturing?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.14377/) (2023)
- [3D-PreMise: Can Large Language Models Generate 3D Shapes with Sharp Features and Parametric Control?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.06437/) (2024)
- [Personalised Distillation: Empowering Open-Sourced LLMs with Adaptive Learning for Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.18628/) (2023)
- [Learning Defect Prediction from Unrealistic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.00931/) (2023)
- [Zero-shot CAD Program Re-Parameterization for Interactive Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03217/) (2023)
- [PointNorm: Dual Normalization is All You Need for Point Cloud Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.06324/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 62)

- [CAD-MLLM: Unifying Multimodality-Conditioned CAD Generation With MLLM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.04954/) (2024)
- [CAD-Recode: Reverse Engineering CAD Code from Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14042/) (2024)
- [CAD-Coder: An Open-Source Vision-Language Model for Computer-Aided Design Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.14646/) (2025)
- [CAD-Assistant: Tool-Augmented VLLMs as Generic CAD Task Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13810/) (2024)
- [CADmium: Fine-Tuning Code Language Models for Text-Driven Sequential CAD Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.09792/) (2025)
- [Seek-CAD: A Self-refined Generative Modeling for 3D Parametric CAD Using Local Inference via DeepSeek](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.17702/) (2025)
- [CME-CAD: Heterogeneous Collaborative Multi-Expert Reinforcement Learning for CAD Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.23333/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models for Computer-Aided Design: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08137/) (2025)
- [3DCodeBench: Benchmarking Agentic Procedural 3D Modeling Via Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.01057/) (2026)
- [From Idea to CAD: A Language Model-Driven Multi-Agent System for Collaborative Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04417/) (2025)
- [Pointer-CAD: Unifying B-Rep and Command Sequences via Pointer-based Edges & Faces Selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.04337/) (2026)
- [CADBench: A Multimodal Benchmark for AI-Assisted CAD Program Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.10873/) (2026)
- [Text-to-CAD Evaluation with CADTests](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.07807/) (2026)
- [IterCAD: An Iterative Multimodal Agent for Visually-Grounded CAD Generation and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.13368/) (2026)
- [CAD-Coder:Text-Guided CAD Files Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08686/) (2025)
- [Automated CAD Modeling Sequence Generation from Text Descriptions via Transformer-Based Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19490/) (2025)
- [ArtiCAD: Articulated CAD Assembly Design via Multi-Agent Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.10992/) (2026)
- [MUSE: Benchmarking Manufacturable, Functional, and Assemblable Text-to-CAD Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.28579/) (2026)
- [RLCAD: Reinforcement Learning Training Gym for Revolution Involved CAD Command Sequence Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.18549/) (2025)
- [Clarify Before You Draw: Proactive Agents for Robust Text-to-CAD Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.03045/) (2026)
- [EvoCAD: Evolutionary CAD Code Generation with Vision Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.11631/) (2025)
- [CADReasoner: Iterative Program Editing for CAD Reverse Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.29847/) (2026)
- [TOOLCAD: Exploring Tool-Using Large Language Models in Text-to-CAD Generation with Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07960/) (2026)
- [GeoCAD: Local Geometry-Controllable CAD Generation with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.10337/) (2025)
- [LottieGPT: Tokenizing Vector Animation for Autoregressive Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11792/) (2026)
- [CADFS: A Big CAD Program Dataset and Framework for Computer-Aided Design with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01925/) (2026)
- [CADDesigner: Conceptual CAD Model Generation with a General-Purpose Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.01031/) (2025)
- [CADFit: Precise Mesh-to-CAD Program Generation with Hybrid Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.01171/) (2026)
- [PairCoder++: Pair Programming as a Universal Paradigm for Verified Code-Driven Multimodal and Structured-Artifact Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01883/) (2026)
- [ShapeCraft: LLM Agents for Structured, Textured and Interactive 3D Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.17603/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Generative AI has transformed the fields of Design and Manufacturing by providing efficient and automated methods for generating and modifying 3D objects. One approach involves using Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate Computer- Aided Design (CAD) scripting code, which can then be executed to render a 3D object; however, the resulting 3D object may not meet the specified requirements. Testing the correctness of CAD generated code is challenging due to the complexity and structure of 3D objects (e.g., shapes, surfaces, and dimensions) that are not feasible in code. In this paper, we introduce CADCodeVerify, a novel approach to iteratively verify and improve 3D objects generated from CAD code. Our approach works by producing ameliorative feedback by prompting a Vision-Language Model (VLM) to generate and answer a set of validation questions to verify the generated object and prompt the VLM to correct deviations. To evaluate CADCodeVerify, we introduce, CADPrompt, the first benchmark for CAD code generation, consisting of 200 natural language prompts paired with expert-annotated scripting code for 3D objects to benchmark progress. Our findings show that CADCodeVerify improves VLM performance by providing visual feedback, enhancing the structure of the 3D objects, and increasing the success rate of the compiled program. When applied to GPT-4, CADCodeVerify achieved a 7.30% reduction in Point Cloud distance and a 5.0% improvement in success rate compared to prior work