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FreeCAD, OpenSCAD are FOSS alternatives. For "free as in beer" there's OnShape with the caveat that all your projects in the free tier are public, and that it

FreeCAD, OpenSCAD are FOSS alternatives. For "free as in beer" there's OnShape with the caveat that all your projects in the free tier are public, and that it runs on the browser or via mobile apps. The iPadOS app has Apple Pencil support which is pretty neat.

brudgers 6y ago
There is also BRLCad which is in the public domain.
IshKebab 6y ago
Unfortunately FreeCAD is kind of unusable (in the same way that KiCAD is), and OpenSCAD isn't an alternative at all. The only decent FOSS parametric CAD software I've found is SolveSpace, but it is quite limited, e.g. it doesn't even have a bevel tool, and there's no CAM. It's pretty much the Notepad of CAD. CAD is just one of those things that is too complicated and niche for FOSS to do well.
- oogway8020 6y ago
  Cadquery is a very nice python only API, based on the OpenCascade, much better API then FreeCAD. So someone looking to make parametric models via code, I think it's the best option out there.
- mrfusion 6y ago
  What are the limitations of openscad?
  - skykooler 6y ago
    The biggest one is that everything is done via, essentially, writing a program that creates the geometry; there's no interaction with a GUI.
  - IshKebab 6y ago
    It's fine for making stuff that is highly parametric and procedural, like gears and fasteners. You wouldn't want to design anything else with it though, like a car or a pen or a gun.
- jbay808 6y ago
  > CAD is just one of those things that is too complicated and niche for FOSS to do well. It's arguably too complicated for hackers to do well in their spare time, but there are plenty of FOSS projects in similarly complicated niche areas. The most successful ones tend to have companies or consortiums backing them, who aren't looking to make money on the softare itself but have it complement or support their other activities. OpenModelica for one example. I always wonder why a consortium of big manufacturers (say Ford, Caterpillar, Hitachi, etc) don't just throw their weight behind some FOSS CAD initiative and get something standard that they can rely on forever. I don't think it would cost them more than 3rd party software in the long run.
  - qppo 6y ago
    > I always wonder why a consortium of big manufacturers (say Ford, Caterpillar, Hitachi, etc) don't just throw their weight behind some FOSS CAD initiative and get something standard that they can rely on forever. The problem for these businesses is that their internal CAD libraries are essentially proprietary tooling, they don't have an interest in making it open source, and much of the tooling around those libraries and software packages is proprietary or patented. It's kind of analogous to Qualcomm's stranglehold over cellular communications. If you don't pay them you're also throwing away decades of IP and tooling around it, and lose interoperability.
  - dotancohen 6y ago
    > in the long run That's your answer. Seriously. People have taken the initiative and talked to the engineering departments and bean counters at large engineering houses (brands you're not familiar with, that do the engineering for e.g. Ford, etc but not the design which is typically in-house). The reasons are A) short term cost with no benefit, B) having to train staff, and C) compatibility with extant files. Not only will the current staff have to be retrained but nobody can be hired with experience with the tool.
incanus77 6y ago
I would highly recommend the Joko Engineering series of FreeCAD YouTube videos. I went from being pretty adept at OpenSCAD to getting FreeCAD to "click" by watching this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geSQlBczsWY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geSQlBczsWY After that, I spent a month last year doing a daily household item challenge, which really leveled up my skills and now there's no turning back. https://twitter.com/hashtag/30DayCADChallenge?f=live https://twitter.com/hashtag/30DayCADChallenge?f=live

brudgers 6y ago

There is also BRLCad which is in the public domain.

IshKebab 6y ago

Unfortunately FreeCAD is kind of unusable (in the same way that KiCAD is), and OpenSCAD isn't an alternative at all. The only decent FOSS parametric CAD software I've found is SolveSpace, but it is quite limited, e.g. it doesn't even have a bevel tool, and there's no CAM. It's pretty much the Notepad of CAD. CAD is just one of those things that is too complicated and niche for FOSS to do well.

oogway8020 6y ago
Cadquery is a very nice python only API, based on the OpenCascade, much better API then FreeCAD. So someone looking to make parametric models via code, I think it's the best option out there.
mrfusion 6y ago
What are the limitations of openscad?
- skykooler 6y ago
  The biggest one is that everything is done via, essentially, writing a program that creates the geometry; there's no interaction with a GUI.
- IshKebab 6y ago
  It's fine for making stuff that is highly parametric and procedural, like gears and fasteners. You wouldn't want to design anything else with it though, like a car or a pen or a gun.
jbay808 6y ago
> CAD is just one of those things that is too complicated and niche for FOSS to do well. It's arguably too complicated for hackers to do well in their spare time, but there are plenty of FOSS projects in similarly complicated niche areas. The most successful ones tend to have companies or consortiums backing them, who aren't looking to make money on the softare itself but have it complement or support their other activities. OpenModelica for one example. I always wonder why a consortium of big manufacturers (say Ford, Caterpillar, Hitachi, etc) don't just throw their weight behind some FOSS CAD initiative and get something standard that they can rely on forever. I don't think it would cost them more than 3rd party software in the long run.
- qppo 6y ago
  > I always wonder why a consortium of big manufacturers (say Ford, Caterpillar, Hitachi, etc) don't just throw their weight behind some FOSS CAD initiative and get something standard that they can rely on forever. The problem for these businesses is that their internal CAD libraries are essentially proprietary tooling, they don't have an interest in making it open source, and much of the tooling around those libraries and software packages is proprietary or patented. It's kind of analogous to Qualcomm's stranglehold over cellular communications. If you don't pay them you're also throwing away decades of IP and tooling around it, and lose interoperability.
- dotancohen 6y ago
  > in the long run That's your answer. Seriously. People have taken the initiative and talked to the engineering departments and bean counters at large engineering houses (brands you're not familiar with, that do the engineering for e.g. Ford, etc but not the design which is typically in-house). The reasons are A) short term cost with no benefit, B) having to train staff, and C) compatibility with extant files. Not only will the current staff have to be retrained but nobody can be hired with experience with the tool.

incanus77 6y ago

I would highly recommend the Joko Engineering series of FreeCAD YouTube videos. I went from being pretty adept at OpenSCAD to getting FreeCAD to "click" by watching this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geSQlBczsWY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geSQlBczsWY After that, I spent a month last year doing a daily household item challenge, which really leveled up my skills and now there's no turning back. https://twitter.com/hashtag/30DayCADChallenge?f=live https://twitter.com/hashtag/30DayCADChallenge?f=live