Can't even take a short break from 3D designing stuff. Glad I'm switching over to FreeCAD. All I wanted was to grab some dimensions from an old model.
Solid Edge, Free for non-enterprise and actually very good... For now...
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Solvespace
Watch a few of these to get started, skip ahead as needed. It's got some limitations but leagues ahead of freecad in terms of UI and workflow.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGAjLwYQPgaBafzQTLA84IkTOptOdIsUX&si=sci5_24nPVyUEGqm
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/playlist?list=PLGAjLwYQPgaBafzQTLA84IkTOptOdIsUX&si=sci5_24nPVyUEGqm
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
FreeCAD may have quirks but it doesn't have this crap.
I just wish there was a FOSS alternative to Rhino 3D, or they offered a license that didn't cost $995 for a single user.
None of the cloud crap, doesn't required a subscription, and it can run on a potato ... it's just too damn expensive and Mac OS/Windows exclusive.
Me and Steam.
Here's how to not run into topology naming problem: use Parts workbench instead of Part Design
Edit: 69th comment on new instance!
Nice
Yeah I got into Fusion360 a while back but predictably it gets worse and worse. Now I have to learn freecad so I don't run into the same shit again lol
Give Solid Edge (from Siemens) a try. It has a free for hobby use edition. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it, and none of the stupid restrictions of Fusion.
Fusion 360 used to be free for the hobbyist too. FreeCAD is GPL licensed, so it will always be free.
Last time I tried FreeCad it crashed just about every time I touched constraints. Is that still an issue?
Also GPL is broader free
I'm getting disappointed in F360 as well, but existing open source alternatives are pure cancer. Basically, I've started making my own open source CAD. Hope to release some basic POC in a month or two.
Try solvespace. Freecad UI is a mess. Hopefully they fix it one day.
You're saying you're starting from scratch on a brand new CAD program yourself rather than contributing to an existing, established project like FreeCAD?
The existence of foss projects should never exclude the creation of alternatives if someone wants to try.
FreeCAD is a ridiculous mess. The only way forward for the project is to dump the code base and start from scratch.
I mean, it would be cooler to not call the existing ones "cancer," but I support them trying something new. Yes, it will be an uphill battle, but wasn't LuaJIT done by a lone genius? I hope they're successful and we have a new CAD option.
Cue xkcd comic about how we end up with new standards. It's the same with FOSS projects. Every new stubborn headed dev things they will get it right this time, wasting work instead of contributing and pooling efforts and resources that would get better improvement and quality faster than starting from scratch.
They are not pure cancer. You should be more grateful for the effort the FOSS community volunteers are putting into creating a free as in freedom ecosystem, without any reimbursement whatsoever. Instead, they're having their work attacked by folks like you.
Look, mate, I've contributed to many many open source projects over the last two decades. Including Klipper if we're talking about 3D printing. FreeCAD is a piece of shit. It's just a fact.
Fuck Autodesk. All my homies hate Autodesk.
All the real ones yoho solidworks
Look, I'll happily admit that F360 is an excellent CAD program. It kinda sets the standard, but the constant shifting of the goal posts for the free personal use license, plus the Hotel California nature of cloud streaming the app, just pisses me off.
My brother's using it professionally and he's quite happy with it. But his business is paying for a full license for him, so he gets all the benefits, and very few of the annoyances. He's readily admitted that, were that not the case, he'd be looking at FOSS alternatives himself.
I was gonna say, I don't use them professionally and it's been a few years since I tried some alternatives, but being able to use F360 free version and export to usable filetypes, plus the ability to make designs editable and read-only as needed to bypass the document limit, are absolutely amazing.
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