Measurement integrity

Numbers are only useful if you can trust them. In Cadre, volume, surface area, and watertightness are computed from the model’s geometry by the same kernel that builds it — not estimated on screen. That is a trust property, not a convenience feature.

What is measured

• Volume and surface area — computed directly from the model’s geometry: exactly for a flat-faced solid, and to tessellation resolution for a curved surface. Build a 10 mm cube and read 1000 mm³ and 600 mm².
• Bounding dimensions — the model’s extent along each axis.
• Watertightness — whether the solid is closed and manifold, reported live in the Property panel as a watertight / open-edge readout.
• Overhang — a toggleable heatmap that tints each surface by its build-angle severity for FDM, so you can see where a print will need support.
• Point-to-point distance — an interactive measure tool in the viewport.

Why it is a trust property

There is only one geometry engine (see Architecture), so the measurement you read, the flag the AI reviewer cites, and the file you export all come from the same source. They cannot quietly disagree.

This is also what keeps AI review honest: a measured flag has to carry a real number from this layer, and a flag the measurement does not support is dropped. The measurement is the anti-guessing floor under every claim Cadre makes.

Watertightness and booleans

Because watertightness is measured, Cadre can refuse to produce a broken solid: a boolean operation that would yield a non-watertight or non-manifold result is rejected with an explanation rather than baked in. An imported mesh that is not watertight is flagged by its open-edge count on import, so you know before you build on it.

Honest precision

Volume, surface area, and watertightness are computed from the model’s triangles — exact for a flat-faced solid, and accurate to the tessellation for a curved one; a STEP export additionally carries the true curved surface. Interactive manufacturability metrics such as wall thickness and overhang angle are sampled from the surface: measured from the model, not guessed on screen, at sampling resolution rather than analytically perfect. Cadre states the number and the threshold so you can always check it yourself.