4 ms·

(Not GP) I've never used Catia and I'm not in mech eng, but to me FreeCAD seems like an MVP Fusion360 clone inexplicably made with a '90s GUI toolkit. I'm glad

by OJFord 4y ago

(Not GP) I've never used Catia and I'm not in mech eng, but to me FreeCAD seems like an MVP Fusion360 clone inexplicably made with a '90s GUI toolkit. I'm glad it exists, and appreciate the herculean task that it is, it's just a shame, and it really is clunky/unintuitive compared to F360. Personally I think some focus on UI & polish would go a long way, drive more adoption, which is presumably somewhere on the long road to more support in development and funding. I get the impression it's probably made by and for a few though, scratching an itch and not too bothered about adoption. Even among hobbyists it seems to be a fairly uncommon choice - pick a Youtube channel and it's usually Fusion360 I find (and as far as I've seen not sponsored, unlike Altium Designer say which is an even weirder (more limited/expensive) choice for a hobbyist).

alpaca128 4y ago
As a hobbyist I can't imagine using anything but OpenSCAD. I know it's not comparable in capabilities and has its quirks, but it feels like Python for CAD - I get stuff done quick. It's so simple the cheatsheet covering 100% of commands takes up one page, so I don't need to waste time looking up details. And as it's all code it spares me from clicking through all kinds of menus. I do miss FreeCAD's chamfer & fillet tools, though.
- regularfry 4y ago
  Where FreeCAD ought to be able to take over is in the things that are a bit more complex that OpenSCAD just doesn't have the tooling for. Multiple-part assemblies is one of them that immediately comes to mind, now that there's some reasonable FreeCAD functionality for it.
  - Brian_K_White 4y ago
    Fillets.
- floxy 4y ago
  >Python for CAD You might be interested in CadQuery: https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery
- JohnFen 4y ago
  I use both FreeCAD and OpenSCAD. Some things are easier in one, other things are easier in the other.
JohnFen 4y ago
I use FreeCAD heavily, and I honestly love what I can do with it. In terms of results, it's fantastic. But I agree with you about the UI -- it's straight up painful, and knowing how to work it doesn't make it less of a PITA. Especially when it comes to telling you what you've just done wrong. It's almost like it's just trying to torture you.

by OJFord 4y ago

alpaca128 4y ago

As a hobbyist I can't imagine using anything but OpenSCAD. I know it's not comparable in capabilities and has its quirks, but it feels like Python for CAD - I get stuff done quick. It's so simple the cheatsheet covering 100% of commands takes up one page, so I don't need to waste time looking up details. And as it's all code it spares me from clicking through all kinds of menus. I do miss FreeCAD's chamfer & fillet tools, though.

regularfry 4y ago
Where FreeCAD ought to be able to take over is in the things that are a bit more complex that OpenSCAD just doesn't have the tooling for. Multiple-part assemblies is one of them that immediately comes to mind, now that there's some reasonable FreeCAD functionality for it.
- Brian_K_White 4y ago
  Fillets.
floxy 4y ago
>Python for CAD You might be interested in CadQuery: https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery
JohnFen 4y ago
I use both FreeCAD and OpenSCAD. Some things are easier in one, other things are easier in the other.

JohnFen 4y ago

I use FreeCAD heavily, and I honestly love what I can do with it. In terms of results, it's fantastic. But I agree with you about the UI -- it's straight up painful, and knowing how to work it doesn't make it less of a PITA. Especially when it comes to telling you what you've just done wrong. It's almost like it's just trying to torture you.