Submitted 1 month ago by meowmeow@quokk.au to 3dprinting@lemmy.world
I’m using Fusion360, and I dislike it for a lot of reasons, but it’s easy to use. I tried FreeCAD, but it was very janky in comparison. Shapr3D was surprisingly good, but there’s no way I’m paying monthly for my hobby usage. I need precision prints, so I can’t just use Blender or similar.
Is there some magical unicorn software I’m not finding?
Everyone is wrong. OpenSCAD is so much better than anything else. It’s so much easier to just write code. I regret wasting so much time learning Fusion.
SolidWorks and Creo primarily, if I don’t want to boot into Windows I’ve been using OnShape recently.
OnShape. If you’re familiar with Fusion360, OnShape requires almost no additional learning. Workflows are pretty much the exact same. It’s free under the guise that everything you make is OnShapes IP. But if you’re looking to model casually and aren’t making things you wish to patent, it’s great.
Not open source if that’s a requirement.
I think the free version is more nuanced then that. By using the free version you agree to:
1.Use it for non commercial projects.
2 Place your designs in the public domain for anyone to use. Any design created from a free account is made public and may be used by others.
I didn’t dig too deep so I’m not sure what restraints are placed on anyone using your design.
But at no point is Onshape claiming ownership of your design.
It’s free under the guise that everything you make is OnShapes IP.
This sounds insanely predatory and messed up. Is this not as absolutely nuts as it sounds? O.o
Just make a tool, and take someone else’s work with that tool as your own? For real? This sounds really sus.
Yes, that’s the deal. Pay for it or give up your stuff
Ya agree with ya there
90% fusion
9% tinkercad
1% dicking around in OnShape, getting frustrated, and giving up
TotallyWorthLife@lemmy.world 1 month ago FreeCAD, but basically because it was free and open source when I started learning (which wasn’t long ago anyways)
TruePe4rl@lemmy.ml 1 month ago FreeCAD, runs on a damn potato. Fusion bakes it into charcoal instead. At least that is my experience on a kinda low-end laptop.
Oh, fusion is a heavy beast for sure. I just can’t stand FreeCAD’s interface.
I just wish someone would make an open source project with sketch based modeling and…. That’s all! I don’t need materials, rendering etc. I literally only need STL export.
But it needs to be as easy as shapr3d—which is marvelous, but $38usd/m for some stupid reason.
FreeCAD and OpenSCAD. FreeCAD is steadily getting better and better.
SolidWorks
OpenScad because I do simple things like funnels or part bins.
Yep. I wasted so much time learning Fusion and getting it to work under Linux. Writing code is so much easier.
FreeCAD. Anything that’s not opensource is basically using you for some nefarious purpose. You’re a product or a product in the making or you’re making a product for them…you could be training a CAD AI to end all CAD.
FreeCAD is us. You use it, if you find a problem you report it or fix it. That simple. Your CAD files don’t die because the company changed CEO or died.
What sort of precision are you not getting from blender?
Once you set the parameters (I set mine to mm), I have found it to be accurate enough to make additional tools with which to measure.
Mind you, I don’t need accuracy down past a mm.
I like using Blender too. Granted, I’m already somewhat familiar with it for art purposes. But just for STLs, if you know what you’re doing you can actually get away with quite a bit using a boolean CAD-like workflow!
FreeCAD, and I recommend you give it a second try, while watching the excellent tutorials from Deltahedra and Mangojelly on YouTube. Lots of the jank can be avoided if you only know how, so the tutorials are extremely useful.
FreeCAD has gotten exponentially better with each release the last few years, and both active developers and funding/donations from users have increased exponentially. The future is bright. And unlike the “free” commercial programs, FreeCAD is immune to future rug-pulls and enshitification.
You might also want to try https://dune3d.org/ , a relatively new 3D CAD software
FreeCAD for most things. Microcad for anything I need to script. I hear OpenSCAD is promising.
Fusion360 for non-organic and Blender (with add-ons) for organic. I don’t like fusion360 for organic stuff. FreeCAD was supposed to get a big update at some point but I never tried it. Autodesk Inventor was alright but I didn’t like it as much as Fusion360.
FreeCAD, as of today, looks and feels like it was made in 2010 or earlier. I’m sure there is a type of person who FreeCAD check all their boxes and excites them to no end, but I am, sadly, not in that group.
Default look n feel does feel a couple of decades outdated. But it can easily be customized to look look much more modern and comfortable.
Youtube tutorials on how to get started often begins with customizing the user interface before even starting the modeling tutorial. I recommend Deltahedra and Mangojelly on YouTube
What are the main reasons you dislike fusion? I use MatterCAD - it’s full of headaches and bugs but I find it super intuitive and a very low learning curve.
I’ve beens thinking of trying fusion despite disliking Adobe.
Adobe doesn’t own fusion. Did you mean Autodesk?
The cloud. I hate it. It also has way more than I actually need. It’s bulky. It’s importing assets is very limited in ways that I need.
I’ll take a look at MatterCAD. Thank you for the suggestion.
k2za_john@mastodon.hams.social 1 month ago Too bad it’s Windows only. I’ve struggled with FreeCAD for a while, usually revert to TinkerCAD. That I can usually get it to do what I want with the suitable application of potty mouth…
Yes, but I dislike both Adobe and auto desk. The learning curve felt steep to me last time I looked at fusion.
OpenSCAD. Nothing for the faint of heart, you need to know what you are doing, but it is perfect for programmers like me.
I use autodesk inventor, which is like the more professional version of fusion360. But there is no free version and it is very expensive, i have a free student licence.
I like it way more than fusion360, and it is much better at Assembly’s. Still clumsy sometimes.
It doesn’t run on linux so i just remote into an old windows laptop when i need it.
I have tried freecad and onshape a lillte but i am just so used to inventor that its harder to use them.
I absolutely love freecad. There are dozens of us that actually really like it
I was learning with freecad.
Tried to defeature the screw holes on Steam Controller model and it crashed the application :/
I’m still learning so I have no idea how to do that manually :<
PetteriPano@lemmy.world 1 month ago I can’t wrap my head around 2D interfaces for doing 3D modelling.
I know my measurements, so OpenSCAD feels more natural. I have done a fair amount of 3D programming in the last three decades, though.
Plasticity. It’s the best balance I’ve found between cost and usability. And it doesn’t force you to save your files on someone’s cloud.
You pay annually and get updates but when your year is up you can choose to pay less for each subsequent year or stop paying and continue using the version you currently have indefinitely without future updates.
I was a SketchUp make guy back in the day and was able to stick with it a long time but it’s so old it isn’t working right for me anymore (Linux).
Plasticity is about the closest thing I have found. I paid about 175 the other day and plan to use this version for the next 10 years.
I did the Plasticity demo, but I got busy and forgot about it. Now I can’t do another demo.
What’s the unique identifier, email? Just use a different email address
natecox@programming.dev 1 month ago Same
I am a big fan of OnShape, its free for personal use. By that they mean that all your projects are publicly accessible when using the free options. Otherwise its the same as the paid option. As a hobbiest this is fine with me because I am putting all my stuff up with a creative commons license anyway. It is my way of giving back to a community that has given me so many designs for free.
Teaching tech did a great introductory series on it which includes a video about why he chose on shape.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGqRUdq5ULsONnjEEPeBxxStEsobDKAtV
If you have experience with other cad programs you’ll probably get through the videos quickly as the concepts translate from software to software, its just a difference in interface and execution.
I really wish onshape had a middle area between free and 1500 USD/y
Same with Shapr3D (which doesn’t export high res in free mode) I just can’t justify paying for subscriptions when I use it sporadically.
I don’t sell, and I don’t create frequently
Uhhhggggg I hate modern software!!!
OK, use the free tier if you don’t sell… And if you don’t like the terms, FreeCAD is your option.
Some of it will depend on what your goals and OS are. OnShape is pretty good, and being in-browser it’s inherently cross-platform. BUT… their free tier has the single worst licensing setup imaginable: your designs are public, you can’t make a single cent off them, BUT any paying customer (and arguably any other user at all) can. They also jump straight from free to enterprise pricing.
Fusion you know. Licensewise, the free version gives you a small grace zone to make a couple of bucks without issues, and you can at elast keep your designs to yourself.
SolidWorks has an extremely heavy and unfriendly web interface, but their in-browser parametric 3D CAD is better than it used to be, and you can get a maker plan for $25-$50 a year that gives you a little wiggle room to sell a few trinkets and not get blasted if someone or something rats you out to Dassault. If you’re on Windows, you’ll also be able to install proper SolidWorks (though files will be watermarked to limit them to a hobbyist/maker install.
Solid Edge is a bit clunkier than (real) SolidWorks or Fusion, is windows only, and there’s also a doughnut hole for limited commercial use, but it’s the full software and it’s free as in beer.
Since they cleared up the worst of the toponaming issue, FreeCAD is way better than it used to be. I still feel like the moment you have to do anything more than draw/extrude/fillet, then all the clunkiness comes back, though. It’s a brilliant project in its way, but it remains a mixed bag, shall we say.
I paid for a permanent license for my version of Alibre Design, and that’s what I generally use. It’s somewhere between SolidEdge and Solidworks in user-friendliness, and more than powerful enough for my keyboards and random widgets. I also do like the simplicity of owning my license and therefore fully controlling my designs, but it wasn’t cheap, probably two years’ worth of monthly payments on the Shapr3D usable tier or the fancy Fusion tier, so I will probably keep plugging along for a while yet. They have a more basic product (Atom) that’s missing some fairly useful features, but is still parametric and is rather cheap. It’s also all Windows only, though I keep hearing the next version will play nice with Wine/Proton. For now, my investment with Alibre is pretty much THE reason I occasionally boot back into Windows.
TinkerCAD (opwned by Autodesk like Fusion is) is great for certain things, and the “make shape, set solid or hole” workflow is much more intuitive for the abject beginner, but if you’re on Fusion you’re already past the need for it, i’d think.
There are other players (Rhino, Plasticity, DesignSpark, SolveSpace, among others), but Fusion, Shapr3D (for single parts only, no assemblies),OnShape, SolidEdge, FreeCAD, Alibre, and Solidworks pretty much cover mechanical CAD that’s (1) full-featured, (2) 3D, (3) got parametric history and (4) available with usable free or maker versions.
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago I use 3dstudio lol, because I know how it works quite well for my needs.
For 3d printing.
Wow that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago 😁
I have a licensed seat of Solidworks on my work computer; that’s where I learned to solid model. I also have an older pirated copy on my home computer but it requires Windows.
If I had to choose something free I would probably choose Onshape because it is very similar to Solidworks (it was created with help from one of the founders of Solidworks). However it sucks that all of your models are public.
Otherwise, the only viable option in my eyes would be Fusion 360.
I haven’t tried it, but I know there is a plugin for Blender that allows you to do parametric modelling but I’m sure the options are pretty limited.
mushuchupacabra@piefed.world@piefed.world 1 month ago I use FreeCAD.
I follow Mango Jelly Solutions and DeltaHedra on YouTube for tutorials.
I’ve had excellent results designing items for 3D prints.
Mango’s videos are great. I’d wager there are gems in there for even experienced users of freecad. I’m often surprised by some of the tricks he has.
Honestly most of the time I get by fine with Tinkercad if I’m making something functional, Blender if it’s decorative.
DampCanary@lemmy.world 1 month ago Either SketchUp 2017 or FreeCAD depending upon complexity
Sketchup was used in the real world? I remember using it in the mid 2000s to make a castle to add across the street from my house in Earth.
DampCanary@lemmy.world 1 month ago It was first thing I used when starting on Anet A8.
I liked that it was simple had all kind of add-ons for 3D printing (solid inspector, BezierSpline, Fredo Corner, Tax Engineering, …)
so I just kept using it
I mainly use Blender and manually type in the sizes for things, make heavy use of the boolean operators to make holes and cutouts. I would like to learn FreeCAD eventually. I refuse to use proprietary products and services for my hobby projects.
smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago Onshape is the way to go for free tier CAD.
Otherwise TinkerCAD can work, it’s just more of an MS Paint version of CAD.
Onshape is nice and I enjoy using it, but the free tier has some really absurd caveats that anyone considering the platform should be aware of:
Free users are restricted from commercial use and all designs are publicly-available.
Additionally, while free users technically continue to own the IP they create, they lose control of licensing rights. Section 1.7.2.2 Your content - Intellectual Property of the Terms of Use states
For any Public Document owned by a Free Plan User created on or after August 7, 2018, or any Public Document created prior to that date without a LICENSE tab, Customer grants a worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to any End User or third party accessing the Public Document to use the intellectual property contained in Customer’s Public Document without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Document, and to permit persons to whom the Document is made available to do the same.
In theory, this means that while free users cannot monetize designs they made on the platform, paid users can take those files and monetize them without the consent of the creator(s).
bw42@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I use Microsoft 3D Builder for most of my modeling stuff. Mainly for things like hardware type stuff. Or simple modifications to existing models if I need.
It has a simple interface, really easy to use. Builds models from simple shapes, no needing to learn a programming language or weird clunky interfaces.