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> You can probably guess my opinions on it though, the software is very good but the cloud-based vendor lock-in is grating, and the free tier is hobbled beyond

> You can probably guess my opinions on it though, the software is very good but the cloud-based vendor lock-in is grating, and the free tier is hobbled beyond the point of usefulness. On the plus side, being browser-based, it works perfectly on Linux. > The 1.1 release of FreeCAD should be soon. I really want FreeCAD to succeed, but blimey they have a big hill to climb. My fingers are crossed. Since these parts mostly seem to be laser cut acrylic (so mostly 2D), it seems like solvespace would do a good job at cranking out the designs. I haven't used it for a larger project like this though, maybe it was already considered.

Doxin 7mo ago
For what it's worth I've been using FreeCad 1.1RC2 lately, and for me it's the first FreeCad version worth bothering with. It's now a tool I actively reach for over OpenSCAD and Blender for various projects. Previously I couldn't make the simplest part with it. I can't wait for the release proper, but I can heartily recommend everyone try the release candidates as well. I've got a feeling this is the tipping point for FreeCad like 2.5 was for blender.
- bschwindHN 7mo ago
  I'll give it a shot, I remember absolutely hating FreeCAD's UI last time I tried it.
  - Doxin 7mo ago
    I mean I'll be honest, it's still a car crash of a program, but at least it's now a usable car crash. I've found the following workflow to be pretty good, using the part design workbench: - create a part - create a body - create a sketch - pad/pocket/revolve/etc - repeat with additional sketches to taste I've also been using the proxy object thing, I forget the name, the button is a green blob, to "import" geometry from a master sketch into more specific sketches.
    - bschwindHN 7mo ago
      > I mean I'll be honest, it's still a car crash of a program I'm glad you said that so I feel a little less mean... I gave it another try but it still feels pretty dire. FPS is bad on a macbook pro with a 120Hz screen on simple models and sketches. I explicitly selected "touchpad" as the navigation scheme, but I still can't figure out how to rotate, and even figuring out panning took me longer than almost every other 3D program out there (blender, PrusaSlicer, macos quick look STL viewer, solvespace). It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. Buttons and actions that are completely irrelevant to me are shown, but disabled, which gives a really cluttered feel. There's still "part design" and "part" benches. No idea what distinction is being drawn there. Obviously part of this is from me being inexperienced with the tool, but as a new user all these issues add up to something that doesn't feel approachable or enjoyable to use. Solvespace has its own issues, but at least it opens instantly and is generally a joy to use. I'll watch some others slog through FreeCAD 1.1 though so I don't have to, and maybe I'll learn something.
      - regularfry 7mo ago
        > It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. Lots of it is single-threaded, which is an endless frustration on a machine with umpteen cores. Especially frustrating given that it means compute happens on the UI thread.
      - fainpul 7mo ago
        > It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. The splash screen can be disabled and it takes 3 seconds to start on my mac. Fusion however has two splash screens (first a regular one, then one that covers the whole app window) and it takes 32 seconds to load! (to be fair, once loaded it's much better than FreeCAD).
        bschwindHN 7mo ago
        Oh yeah, you won't find me defending Fusion. I can understand when you're loading a heavy scene or recomputing _everything_ in a complicated model, but I can't understand multi-second loading times and splash screens for loading...the start screen.
spragl 7mo ago
Solvespace can also be used for 3D. It is sad that FreeCAD gets all the attention. If Solvespace had some of it, and the development time following from it, it could get improvements and some of the cool stuff in their pipeline. That would IMO make it a much better CAD program than FreeCAD could ever become.
- bschwindHN 7mo ago
  I know, it's just that in this particular blog post, the designs mostly seem to be extruded 2D sketches which solvespace is particularly good at with its sketch interface. Solvespace can also do a lot of useful 3D stuff, but it's also missing a lot so I can't in good faith recommend it for any arbitrary CAD work.
alnwlsn 7mo ago
For 2D, sometimes I find it nearly easier to write the gcode by hand (or make a python program that writes the gcode for you). It really isn't as complicated as it sounds, especially if you can tolerate doing 3D in openSCAD.
- bschwindHN 7mo ago
  I'm very into code-based CAD, I actually gave a small talk on it a year or two ago. A longer term goal of mine is to make some sort of hybrid CAD modeling tool which is mostly code-based, but has a GUI for certain things like defining sketches/constraints, and selecting particular geometric features that are hard to describe in code. Here's a link to the talk if anyone can bear to listen to me for an hour: https://youtu.be/0wn7vUmWQgg https://youtu.be/0wn7vUmWQgg

Doxin 7mo ago

For what it's worth I've been using FreeCad 1.1RC2 lately, and for me it's the first FreeCad version worth bothering with. It's now a tool I actively reach for over OpenSCAD and Blender for various projects. Previously I couldn't make the simplest part with it. I can't wait for the release proper, but I can heartily recommend everyone try the release candidates as well. I've got a feeling this is the tipping point for FreeCad like 2.5 was for blender.

bschwindHN 7mo ago
I'll give it a shot, I remember absolutely hating FreeCAD's UI last time I tried it.
- Doxin 7mo ago
  I mean I'll be honest, it's still a car crash of a program, but at least it's now a usable car crash. I've found the following workflow to be pretty good, using the part design workbench: - create a part - create a body - create a sketch - pad/pocket/revolve/etc - repeat with additional sketches to taste I've also been using the proxy object thing, I forget the name, the button is a green blob, to "import" geometry from a master sketch into more specific sketches.
  - bschwindHN 7mo ago
    > I mean I'll be honest, it's still a car crash of a program I'm glad you said that so I feel a little less mean... I gave it another try but it still feels pretty dire. FPS is bad on a macbook pro with a 120Hz screen on simple models and sketches. I explicitly selected "touchpad" as the navigation scheme, but I still can't figure out how to rotate, and even figuring out panning took me longer than almost every other 3D program out there (blender, PrusaSlicer, macos quick look STL viewer, solvespace). It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. Buttons and actions that are completely irrelevant to me are shown, but disabled, which gives a really cluttered feel. There's still "part design" and "part" benches. No idea what distinction is being drawn there. Obviously part of this is from me being inexperienced with the tool, but as a new user all these issues add up to something that doesn't feel approachable or enjoyable to use. Solvespace has its own issues, but at least it opens instantly and is generally a joy to use. I'll watch some others slog through FreeCAD 1.1 though so I don't have to, and maybe I'll learn something.
    - regularfry 7mo ago
      > It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. Lots of it is single-threaded, which is an endless frustration on a machine with umpteen cores. Especially frustrating given that it means compute happens on the UI thread.
    - fainpul 7mo ago
      > It still has a splash screen and takes quite a long time to load, like an application from the 90s. The splash screen can be disabled and it takes 3 seconds to start on my mac. Fusion however has two splash screens (first a regular one, then one that covers the whole app window) and it takes 32 seconds to load! (to be fair, once loaded it's much better than FreeCAD).
      - bschwindHN 7mo ago
        Oh yeah, you won't find me defending Fusion. I can understand when you're loading a heavy scene or recomputing _everything_ in a complicated model, but I can't understand multi-second loading times and splash screens for loading...the start screen.

spragl 7mo ago

Solvespace can also be used for 3D. It is sad that FreeCAD gets all the attention. If Solvespace had some of it, and the development time following from it, it could get improvements and some of the cool stuff in their pipeline. That would IMO make it a much better CAD program than FreeCAD could ever become.

bschwindHN 7mo ago
I know, it's just that in this particular blog post, the designs mostly seem to be extruded 2D sketches which solvespace is particularly good at with its sketch interface. Solvespace can also do a lot of useful 3D stuff, but it's also missing a lot so I can't in good faith recommend it for any arbitrary CAD work.

alnwlsn 7mo ago

For 2D, sometimes I find it nearly easier to write the gcode by hand (or make a python program that writes the gcode for you). It really isn't as complicated as it sounds, especially if you can tolerate doing 3D in openSCAD.

bschwindHN 7mo ago
I'm very into code-based CAD, I actually gave a small talk on it a year or two ago. A longer term goal of mine is to make some sort of hybrid CAD modeling tool which is mostly code-based, but has a GUI for certain things like defining sketches/constraints, and selecting particular geometric features that are hard to describe in code. Here's a link to the talk if anyone can bear to listen to me for an hour: https://youtu.be/0wn7vUmWQgg https://youtu.be/0wn7vUmWQgg