102
Is there no good inexpensive CAD software? (lemmy.radio)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
87 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 36 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I've been using freecad with great success for years now and I'd say while I agree freecad is rough in terms of ux, it is highly usable, especially after 1.0 version. I feel like investing time in overcoming its flaws and weaknesses will pay off in the future, as it will enable access to a stable, eternally free and reliable software. Though I also agree it crashes frequently, I set a very frequent auto save and I don't often get screwed now.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    FreeCAD is a spectacular second CAD tool to learn. Once you understand the concepts and workflows for one of the industry standard tools, you will know how to translate that to FreeCAD speak as it were.

    As a first CAD tool it is atrocious. It crashes while you are exploring new tools and you just don't have the vocabulary (or muscle memory) to actually ask questions or search for answers.

    If someone really wants to get into hobbyist CAD (for 3d printing), probably the best flow is to start with TinkerCAD, switch to Fusion 360 (assuming you aren't running linux. Onshape if you are), and once you are comfortable and can build basically whatever you want change to FreeCAD if you want more control over your toolchain.

    And if someone wants to do this professionally? Fusion 360 is the endstate. Maybe you'll end up at a firm that uses the other family (which I think Onshape is part of?) but you will basically never find a company that wants FreeCAD formats.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    That's my take too. Also, while pre 1.0 development was kind of slow, it looks like it's picking up speed. I guess releasing 1.0 may have given it much needed visibility, and probably attracted some developers.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

    FreeCad was crashing on average every two minutes when I tried using it last month. I really want to like it but crashes need to be toned down...

    Edit: everyone is saying stable builds are fine, but I was just using whatever nixos had packaged. I'd assume that's the stable build but may be wrong.

    Also, amd system with up to date drivers so that's not my issue. Maybe sketches are just unstable?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Well, it definitely isn't suppose to be THAT bad. I can get a crash every half an hour or even longer. Usually for no apparent reason - like when I want to sketch on a face and the app switches from PartDesign workbench to sketcher or wise versa. And then after restart that doesn't happen again. That is annoying, has been happening for ages and would really like it to be fixed. But it's not every few minutes, more like half an hour to an hour.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Install the stable versions not the developer versions. Freecad is seriously good. I'm using both freecad and NX on a project. NX for drawings because freecad still chokes on drawings. But its getting better for drawings. We'll be fully jumping to freecad soon.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent