I've got an IQ of 87. So far, tinkercad is basically the best 3d modelling program for me so I can make stuff by using arrow keys to move around basic shapes.
Comment on Fusion 360 increasing annual price by $190 USD
rustyriffs@lemmy.world 11 months agoI wish I could wrap my head around freecad, but we’re just not there yet and we may never be.
May I ask why it is that you say this?
sj_zero 11 months ago
rustyriffs@lemmy.world 11 months ago
XD
Well at least you’re honest
MMNT@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Rhino 8 is very easy to use now with a new option like in sketchup for push/pull. They have a perpetual license so no subscriptions.
VandalFan77@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I also have this question. What is so different about the workflow between FreeCAD and other 3D CAD software? If you can do one, you can do the others.
Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 11 months ago
The learning curve is steeper mostly due to tools not having as intuitive names and ui layout.
I dove into fusion 360 last year and was making functional and nice parts within the first couple of hours. Since moving to Linux I’ve tried freecad and while I can eventually find the tools that do the same things, it is less intuitive to get there.
Additionally, when I run into a roadblock in fusion 360, I can usually find quick and easy explanations or tutorials for it, and just have not had the same luck with freecad. I can usually get the hurdle crossed with the tutorials but I find I have to look up the same stuff often as it doesn’t stick.
This is all nebulous as all hell, I admit. And I can vaguely tell that it does all the same things similarly to fusion 360, but it’s just different and obscured enough that I feel useless and obtuse using it and spend more time searching for tutorials and answers than I do designing.
I want to learn it. I want to use it. But I still find myself in fusion 360 when I need to get a part designed sooner rather than later - it took less effort and faffing around to get fusion 360 working in proton ge than getting to a stable point using freecad.
Halvdan@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
Well put. I have the exact same experience.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
FreeCAD is a strange mix of over-designed and unfinished.
There’s like three different workflows for doing parametric CAD, plus a drafting workflow for an AutoCAD architectural experience, plus workbenches for meshes, NURBS, etc. Occasionally a tool you need will be in another workbench. There is no official assembly workbench included. It’s not exactly obvious how workbenches work together. A lot of shortcuts which have become Just How You Do Things in other CAD software aren’t present, so you have to do things an awkward long way. Add-ons and macros can help…but are poorly documented if at all.