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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

by 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.
    - mft_ 7mo ago
      You definitely need to use a mouse with a middle button/scroll wheel, IME. With this, there are presets which work just like other CAD programs e.g. Solidworks. Without it, it’s very difficult to use, but that’s not unique to FreeCAD. The base UI is quite bad but there are ways to improve it - either through settings and better organisation [0] or via plugins. I’d suggest to watch a couple of tutorials specifically on 1.1 ([1] was my entry point) as every CAD program had quirks and frustrations at first. I’d say that for hobby-level creations, 1.1 now has ~80% of the usability of Solidworks, once you figure out how. I’m not sure what’s going on with the performance on your system; I’ve used various 1.1 versions on a Windows laptop and a MacBook Pro and they’re both sufficiently performant. (I usually use a development or RC build from GitHub [2]) [0] https://youtu.be/LKq7hgbu7ks https://youtu.be/LKq7hgbu7ks [1] https://youtu.be/VEfNRST_3x8 https://youtu.be/VEfNRST_3x8 [2] https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases

by Doxin 7mo ago

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.
  - mft_ 7mo ago
    You definitely need to use a mouse with a middle button/scroll wheel, IME. With this, there are presets which work just like other CAD programs e.g. Solidworks. Without it, it’s very difficult to use, but that’s not unique to FreeCAD. The base UI is quite bad but there are ways to improve it - either through settings and better organisation [0] or via plugins. I’d suggest to watch a couple of tutorials specifically on 1.1 ([1] was my entry point) as every CAD program had quirks and frustrations at first. I’d say that for hobby-level creations, 1.1 now has ~80% of the usability of Solidworks, once you figure out how. I’m not sure what’s going on with the performance on your system; I’ve used various 1.1 versions on a Windows laptop and a MacBook Pro and they’re both sufficiently performant. (I usually use a development or RC build from GitHub [2]) [0] https://youtu.be/LKq7hgbu7ks https://youtu.be/LKq7hgbu7ks [1] https://youtu.be/VEfNRST_3x8 https://youtu.be/VEfNRST_3x8 [2] https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases