I use FreeCAD most of the time, but occasionally I'll also use OpenSCAD. It's a different way to think about drawings but in certain circumstances it seems easier.
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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Jup, freecad sucks balls, but there is nothing better. Opescad is nice if you are used to coding.
I do use OpenSCAD a bit, when the situation warrants it.
Probably not ideal for all models though
I started with blender and I agree: It's not made for technical modelling. There is a custom blender version with common CAD features, but I've been put off by the - typical for Blender - steep lerning curve.
Long story short: You can't go wrong with FreeCAD.
Once freecad clicks, you'll love it. I ditched fusion when the locked my files behind their servers and said I was using it for commercial work (I was not). FreeCAD is the way
FreeCAD is basically the only decent FOSS, but if you want to swap autocad for somebody else you can try onshape, it's browser based so works well on all platforms.
I have regrettably moved to Onshape as well. Closest to fusion and free as long as you’re just making things for your own use. OpenSCAD is powerful, but I can’t get past the learning curve. Wish I could use it though. One day, maybe.
I use OpenSCAD for some gears etc, but onshape for the rest. I used FreeCAD for work a few years ago as we were stuck on Linux, I can wield it well, but it's a bit clunky and would crash often on things like threads.
Onshape just works for the home hobbyist. I wish FreeCAD was a bit better, but I understand it's a lot of work, just the creature comforts of fusion and onshape are hard to give back up.
Price you pay..
Price you pay..
Honestly I could live with paying.
It's the subscription model that makes me want to vomit 🤮
It's free for hobbyist and have your models open...
(onshape)
I would gladly pay $299 once for security updates only and unlimited support, no feature updates. I just don’t want to pay $299 every twelve months.
I wish I could wrap my head around openSCAD. I have seen what it can do, I just can’t think in those dimensions when I’m drafting something.
Yeah it's more primitive, I don't see it as a full cad drafting replacement, but as mentioned, it's nice for things like gears and classic parameter based models.
Plasticity, it's not free, but it's opensource.
If you mean this Plasticity, it doesn't appear to be actual Free (libre) Software, just regular old EULA proprietary software.
there's this repo and it still seems to be maintained. I was following this project when it first started and tried it for a while it seems pretty solid.
It is in fact under LGPL
Interesting - they don't seem to publicize this at all on their site, nor do they mention the LGPL anywhere (that I could find). Their site only seems to offer it under an EULA.
I wonder if these LGPL sources are the full source of the application, then.
edit: prior revision of the readme clarifies that, although the Plasticity source code is LGPL, it uses a proprietary library which makes the resulting product proprietary. Presumably the expensive licenses are for this proprietary library and not for Plasticity itself. This proprietary library seems to be Parasolid, the geometry kernel. I wonder if there is a fully free alternative.