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Does anyone have any good resources on learning FreeCAD? I didn’t exactly find the interface approachable. Typically I use OpenSCAD for my basic 3D modeling nee

Does anyone have any good resources on learning FreeCAD? I didn’t exactly find the interface approachable. Typically I use OpenSCAD for my basic 3D modeling needs.

kiba 2y ago
I think the interface had improved recently.
WillAdams 2y ago
The Hackspace folks did a series of articles and put them out as a PDF: https://hackspace.raspberrypi.com/books/freecad https://hackspace.raspberrypi.com/books/freecad (last time I printed it, I had to add a blank to get things to duplex right)
greesil 2y ago
YouTube. I make some pretty basic things to 3d print with FreeCAD and everything I've learned came from YouTube. Typically for me it just new part, new spreadsheet, part design, sketch with dimensions parameterized from spreadsheet. Pad or some other boolean of solids, repeat starting at new sketch.
mitthrowaway2 2y ago
I like JokoEngineering's tutorial videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odr5viqPwkc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odr5viqPwkc My first tip for most people would be to start with the Part Design workbench, although if you're coming from OpenSCAD, you might prefer the Part workbench. FreeCAD has many different workbenches for handling various use cases, such as architectural models, surface trimeshes, 2D machine shop drawings, and so on. The various workbenches do mostly work together well, but for a beginner it's intimidating to have so many options. "Part Design" is probably the most familiar approach for people coming from high-end CAD programs like SolidWorks; it uses the 2D sketch + extrude workflow. The similarly-named Part workbench is for people who prefer to think in terms of boolean operations on solids, which is generally the OpenSCAD way.
infogulch 2y ago
Commenters in another thread recommend Mango Jelly tutorials. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41515552 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41515552 https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions
ragingroosevelt 2y ago
Not freecad related, but if you like programmatic cad like openscad, you may like cadquery even more. A lot of operations are way more natural and you can export step, not just stl.

Does anyone have any good resources on learning FreeCAD? I didn’t exactly find the interface approachable. Typically I use OpenSCAD for my basic 3D modeling needs.

kiba 2y ago

I think the interface had improved recently.

WillAdams 2y ago

The Hackspace folks did a series of articles and put them out as a PDF: https://hackspace.raspberrypi.com/books/freecad https://hackspace.raspberrypi.com/books/freecad (last time I printed it, I had to add a blank to get things to duplex right)

greesil 2y ago

YouTube. I make some pretty basic things to 3d print with FreeCAD and everything I've learned came from YouTube. Typically for me it just new part, new spreadsheet, part design, sketch with dimensions parameterized from spreadsheet. Pad or some other boolean of solids, repeat starting at new sketch.

mitthrowaway2 2y ago

I like JokoEngineering's tutorial videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odr5viqPwkc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odr5viqPwkc My first tip for most people would be to start with the Part Design workbench, although if you're coming from OpenSCAD, you might prefer the Part workbench. FreeCAD has many different workbenches for handling various use cases, such as architectural models, surface trimeshes, 2D machine shop drawings, and so on. The various workbenches do mostly work together well, but for a beginner it's intimidating to have so many options. "Part Design" is probably the most familiar approach for people coming from high-end CAD programs like SolidWorks; it uses the 2D sketch + extrude workflow. The similarly-named Part workbench is for people who prefer to think in terms of boolean operations on solids, which is generally the OpenSCAD way.

infogulch 2y ago

Commenters in another thread recommend Mango Jelly tutorials. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41515552 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41515552 https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions https://www.youtube.com/@MangoJellySolutions

ragingroosevelt 2y ago

Not freecad related, but if you like programmatic cad like openscad, you may like cadquery even more. A lot of operations are way more natural and you can export step, not just stl.