Comment on I liked Fusion 360, I like Onshape - but I'd rather like something that I won't lose over the whims of one company. So, what?

BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• noni@feddit.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You can download Ondsel ES directly from GitHub, no account needed: github.com/Ondsel-Development/FreeCAD/releases

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  • bluewing@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You only need an account if you want access their cloud storage and sharing management. You can get a tiny free account if you want. I signed up for the freebie since I sometimes work between 2 computers on the same project. But if you only use one computer, it’s not going to get you anything extra.

    You can add Ondsel Lens to your regular install simply by installing it through the add-on manager if you want.

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    • Player2@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      If you can install custom software on those computers, Syncthing is completely free and no account needed

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  • BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Oh ok ty. Didn’t know that

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• zipsglacier@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Freecad +1

  WAIT !

  I think each person has to recognize that there is a time/energy cost to get out of enshittification hell, and then decide how much they’re willing to pay. If the answer for you is at least “an afternoon of video tutorials”, then Freecad will be fine for you. It’s a complicated tool that you need some help learning; that’s ok. It won’t become your new hobby.

  If you don’t want to pay that cost, that’s understandable. If you feel mad that there is a cost at all, that’s ok too. That’s how enshittification works, and it sucks. As I said, each person will have to decide whether and how much they’re willing to pay to get out of it.

  Anyway, the MangoJelly tutorials in YouTube are really excellent, and will have you up and running in a few hours at most. (My CAD needs are also very basic, and I was done after the first two parts, 30 min each.) For following along, I would recommend just using the main version, so that it matches his tutorial exactly, and do the steps as he shows you. It feels dumb, but it’s such a fast way to learn. You can decide later if you want to switch to one of the other branches, depending on what features you care about or what annoys you most.

  www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGNkhS8RKFIJWGj1a…

  Here’s one of his later videos about tracing from a photo, but I haven’t watched it:

  youtu.be/xQcDoAhmoa8?si=MkdyXVtATiNWesJ4

  You can do it!

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• callcc@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The 1.0 release is around the corner. It’s only a matter of a few weeks. It has the toponaming problem fixed and a built in assembly toolbox!

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  • BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Woohoo!

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  • monotremata@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Oh, cool! I didn’t know about that. I might actually check it out once that’s released.

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• JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Freecad mainline.

  The feature freeze is on and they have a UI overhaul and a Topological Naming Problem fix.

  I am using the 0.22 dev version with the fix and oh boy it makes a huge difference. Obviously deleting a face where there was a feature attached to results in an error still. It makes it viable to use the mainline instead of realthunder fork.

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  • callcc@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Full agree!! I use the dev version too!

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• ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’ve tried both the link branch and ondsel, and I honesty think they’re about the same level as regular freecad. None of them are even near as intuitive to use as e.g. onshape, they’re actually a bit of a chore to use IME.

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  • BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah they are a bit of a pain to use, but still better than having your files taken hostage by autodesk or onshape

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  • VandalFan77@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You don’t even have to touch any “advanced” modeling features for FreeCAD to be useful. I primarily use extrudes and revolves of sketches in the Part Design workbench. The workflow is exactly the same as what I do at work every day in SolidWorks.

    FreeCAD doesn’t let you be as loosey-goosey with geometry as some commercial software. That’s because they don’t have an army of developers paid to work on “nicety” features like that.

    I can break SolidWorks models the same way that I can break FreeCAD models. No CAD software is immune to this. Some fail more gracefully than others. It doesn’t mean it’s unusable. You should have seen the repairs I had to make to a SolidWorks model today because I needed to convert a generic extruded feature into a sheetmetal feature…. It took a few minutes, but it’s no different than fixing things in FreeCAD because you changed the design.

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    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I don’t want to spend hours just getting to know how to use the software for my basic needs. FreeCAD is (or was when I tried 8 months ago) not intuitive enough for me, so I moved to something that allowed for easier simple modelling. 3D modelling is not what I enjoy, I just need it done so I can do the stuff I actually enjoy. It’s a tool I want to spend as little time as possible with.

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• morbidcactus@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I found Freecad has become fairly intuitive if you already have traditional parametric cad experience, there’s definitely a few quirks but generally super easy to adapt to if you come from solidworks, inventor and the like, trying to convince my dad to give it a try as he’s been getting back into design since retiring and he’s been paying for a solid works license. Personally use ondsel but mainline freecad is totally useable.

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• bluewing@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  No, you don’t need an account if you get Ondsel from their git github.com/Ondsel-Development/FreeCAD/releases

  But, there is a free account that even gives you a bit of cloud storage if you want it. Or you don’t even need to sign into it if you don’t want. They do want to sell cloud storage for commercial use - Daddy’s got to make a living you know. But, the software is still open source and free to keep and use as you see fit.

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