# NURBGen: High-Fidelity Text-to-CAD Generation through LLM-Driven NURBS Modeling

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.06194 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.06194/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 26 of its 48 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Nov 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 26 of 26)

- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (2021)
- [Qwen3 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.09388/) (2025)
- [PointNet++: Deep Hierarchical Feature Learning on Point Sets in a Metric Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02413/) (2017)
- [ABC: A Big CAD Model Dataset For Geometric Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.06216/) (2018)
- [PointLLM: Empowering Large Language Models to Understand Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16911/) (2023)
- [DeepCAD: A Deep Generative Network for Computer-Aided Design Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09492/) (2021)
- [Large Language Models for Robotics: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.07226/) (2023)
- [BrepGen: A B-rep Generative Diffusion Model with Structured Latent Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15563/) (2024)
- [ParSeNet: A Parametric Surface Fitting Network for 3D Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12181/) (2020)
- [BRepNet: A topological message passing system for solid models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00706/) (2021)
- [LLaMA-Mesh: Unifying 3D Mesh Generation with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.09595/) (2024)
- [CAD-MLLM: Unifying Multimodality-Conditioned CAD Generation With MLLM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.04954/) (2024)
- [CAD-Llama: Leveraging Large Language Models for Computer-Aided Design Parametric 3D Model Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.04481/) (2025)
- [CAD-Recode: Reverse Engineering CAD Code from Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14042/) (2024)
- [CAPRI-Net: Learning Compact CAD Shapes with Adaptive Primitive Assembly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.05652/) (2021)
- [SECAD-Net: Self-Supervised CAD Reconstruction by Learning Sketch-Extrude Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10613/) (2023)
- [Img2CAD: Conditioned 3D CAD Model Generation from Single Image with Structured Visual Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03417/) (2024)
- [CADOps-Net: Jointly Learning CAD Operation Types and Steps from Boundary-Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.10555/) (2022)
- [TransCAD: A Hierarchical Transformer for CAD Sequence Inference from Point Clouds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12702/) (2024)
- [CADmium: Fine-Tuning Code Language Models for Text-Driven Sequential CAD Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.09792/) (2025)
- [SHARP Challenge 2023: Solving CAD History and pArameters Recovery from Point clouds and 3D scans. Overview, Datasets, Metrics, and Baselines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.15966/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models for Computer-Aided Design: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.08137/) (2025)
- [NURBS-Diff: A Differentiable Programming Module for NURBS](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.14547/) (2021)
- [MARVEL-40M+: Multi-Level Visual Elaboration for High-Fidelity Text-to-3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.17945/) (2024)
- [CADgpt: Harnessing Natural Language Processing for 3D Modelling to Enhance Computer-Aided Design Workflows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.05476/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Physics-in-the-Loop: A Hybrid Agentic Architecture for Validated CAD Engineering Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.19717/) (2026)
- [DreamCAD: Scaling Multi-modal CAD Generation using Differentiable Parametric Surfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.05607/) (2026)
- [BRepCLIP: Contrastive Multimodal Pretraining on BRep Primitives for CAD Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.05515/) (2026)
- [SharpNet: Enhancing MLPs to Represent Functions with Controlled Non-differentiability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.19683/) (2026)
- [CANTO: CAD-Native Transformer Operators for AI-Aided Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36806/) (2026)
- [Rethinking Human Intent-to-CAD: Parametric CAD Model Generation via Cooperative Multi-Task Alignment and Spatial-Aware Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.15681/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Generating editable 3D CAD models from natural language remains challenging, as existing text-to-CAD systems either produce meshes or rely on scarce design-history data. We present NURBGen, the first framework to generate high-fidelity 3D CAD models directly from text using Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS). To achieve this, we fine-tune a large language model (LLM) to translate free-form texts into JSON representations containing NURBS surface parameters (textiti.e, control points, knot vectors, degrees, and rational weights) which can be directly converted into BRep format using Python. We further propose a hybrid representation that combines untrimmed NURBS with analytic primitives to handle trimmed surfaces and degenerate regions more robustly, while reducing token complexity. Additionally, we introduce partABC, a curated subset of the ABC dataset consisting of individual CAD components, annotated with detailed captions using an automated annotation pipeline. NURBGen demonstrates strong performance on diverse prompts, surpassing prior methods in geometric fidelity and dimensional accuracy, as confirmed by expert evaluations. Code and dataset will be released publicly.