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Solvespace is the best open parametric CAD package I've used by far. For people coming from commercial CAD packages like SolidWorks the design process is easy t

by leoedin 10y ago

Solvespace is the best open parametric CAD package I've used by far. For people coming from commercial CAD packages like SolidWorks the design process is easy to pick up. The UI is definitely a bit rough, but it's so much more powerful than anything else I've used.

nialo 10y ago
How is the crash rate? I used to use Inventor professionally, and that had a MTBF of perhaps 4 hours. I haven't needed a CAD program since then, but one of the things that'd make me try Solvespace first is that whitequark appears to actually care about reliability.
- whitequark_ 10y ago
  I care a lot about reliability! In fact, FreeCAD's incessant crashing (and the fact that it corrupted the savefile when doing that) was the single biggest reason I put so much time into improving SolveSpace, although working assembly support is a close second. Even in case that SolveSpace does crash, it has an autosave facility (with a five minute interval by default), and so you should never lose more than five minutes of work. You should also use the 2.x branch and not the released version 2.1, as the branch has some important bugfixes. I will release 2.2 within a few of days though.
  - FullyFunctional 10y ago
    I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. I just went through the tutorial and I'm duly impressed. I'll definitely try this for my next design. I couldn't find a way to donate, but I'd gladly send an appreciation to the people working on this.
doczoidberg 10y ago
did you use FreeCAD? what does FreeCAD lack compared to this?
- avhon1 10y ago
  Assemblies. Freecad technically has the ability to create assemblies, but it's been in beta for years, and you have to compile it from source in order to get it. Also, I find solvespace much easier to use the Freecad. Freecad has such a myriad of options and controls that I find myself often taking a while to find the one I'm looking for. Solvespace is a much more focused tool, having fewer but easier to find controls.

by leoedin 10y ago

nialo 10y ago

How is the crash rate? I used to use Inventor professionally, and that had a MTBF of perhaps 4 hours. I haven't needed a CAD program since then, but one of the things that'd make me try Solvespace first is that whitequark appears to actually care about reliability.

whitequark_ 10y ago
I care a lot about reliability! In fact, FreeCAD's incessant crashing (and the fact that it corrupted the savefile when doing that) was the single biggest reason I put so much time into improving SolveSpace, although working assembly support is a close second. Even in case that SolveSpace does crash, it has an autosave facility (with a five minute interval by default), and so you should never lose more than five minutes of work. You should also use the 2.x branch and not the released version 2.1, as the branch has some important bugfixes. I will release 2.2 within a few of days though.
- FullyFunctional 10y ago
  I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. I just went through the tutorial and I'm duly impressed. I'll definitely try this for my next design. I couldn't find a way to donate, but I'd gladly send an appreciation to the people working on this.

doczoidberg 10y ago

did you use FreeCAD? what does FreeCAD lack compared to this?

avhon1 10y ago
Assemblies. Freecad technically has the ability to create assemblies, but it's been in beta for years, and you have to compile it from source in order to get it. Also, I find solvespace much easier to use the Freecad. Freecad has such a myriad of options and controls that I find myself often taking a while to find the one I'm looking for. Solvespace is a much more focused tool, having fewer but easier to find controls.