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> you could have saved yourself some time and downloaded one of the many, many versions of this available online already. I enjoy the act of technical drawing

> you could have saved yourself some time and downloaded one of the many, many versions of this available online already. I enjoy the act of technical drawing and 3d design. Downloading pre-existing models doesn't have the same "I did that" feeling. Especially after a long day at the coding mines, doing some shape manipulation is like brain yoga. The biggest reason why I love freeCAD is how it's just there. All other cad software has long user agreements, log-ins, subscription tiers. The fact I can just install it and open and get to work somewhat makes up for the odd workflow. I learned AutoDesk Inventor when I was practically a child so I always reached for it when I could get a student license, but after that expired and the cad market started moving fast, I just went to freeCAD. I don't want to do real work in a browser, I hate browsers. So on Linux its either freeCAD or wine+fusion360.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago
> I enjoy the act of technical drawing and 3d design. Downloading pre-existing models doesn't have the same "I did that" feeling. Especially after a long day at the coding mines, doing some shape manipulation is like brain yoga. Right! I have a cheap 3D printer. It took me over a year to decide that buying it wouldn't mean another white elephant gadget. So I made myself a list of things I'd always be able to download and print if I never managed to learn CAD. I've barely printed any of them, because I can do my own things already. God loves the OpenSCAD/code CAD devs I am sure, but it is not really the case that you can just "program" general objects, because real life things are not simple geometrical constructions; there's a lot of arbitrary organic design in them. A lot of compromises and tweaks and useful accommodations, that lead to some hellish maths (and if I was good at maths I'd have a maths degree, not a CS degree). I decided I would push past the pain points of learning FreeCAD, and I have now become comfortable enough in it, and designed enough real things. I am borderline religious about the impact the combination of FreeCAD, PrusaSlicer and a cheap 3D printer has had on my ability to reason about physical objects, and make things I have only before imagined. It's incredibly liberating: I am now someone who can make physical things. Like you I also love that I don't have to think about costs or licences. FreeCAD isn't perfect but it's not in the same "clearly left behind" category as GIMP. It's more like QGIS: somewhat idiosyncratic but actually quite powerful. It's made my life enormously better.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago

> I enjoy the act of technical drawing and 3d design. Downloading pre-existing models doesn't have the same "I did that" feeling. Especially after a long day at the coding mines, doing some shape manipulation is like brain yoga. Right! I have a cheap 3D printer. It took me over a year to decide that buying it wouldn't mean another white elephant gadget. So I made myself a list of things I'd always be able to download and print if I never managed to learn CAD. I've barely printed any of them, because I can do my own things already. God loves the OpenSCAD/code CAD devs I am sure, but it is not really the case that you can just "program" general objects, because real life things are not simple geometrical constructions; there's a lot of arbitrary organic design in them. A lot of compromises and tweaks and useful accommodations, that lead to some hellish maths (and if I was good at maths I'd have a maths degree, not a CS degree). I decided I would push past the pain points of learning FreeCAD, and I have now become comfortable enough in it, and designed enough real things. I am borderline religious about the impact the combination of FreeCAD, PrusaSlicer and a cheap 3D printer has had on my ability to reason about physical objects, and make things I have only before imagined. It's incredibly liberating: I am now someone who can make physical things. Like you I also love that I don't have to think about costs or licences. FreeCAD isn't perfect but it's not in the same "clearly left behind" category as GIMP. It's more like QGIS: somewhat idiosyncratic but actually quite powerful. It's made my life enormously better.