That’s not true. FreeCAD can do those things just fine. In fact, I have been able to do every single thing in FreeCAD that I used to do in Fusion360. There is a learning curve, but FreeCAD is extremely capable.
The problem with FreeCAD is that the UI is abysmal. There is tons of duplicate functionality in different benches, but if you start in one you might discover that it doesn’t have what you need and have to start over in another.
It’s the reason I jumped on a cheap solidworks license, was fully intending to use it as my primary cad package but I just found it kinda clunky. To be super fair, I recall using it years ago and it’s come a long way and I run it on my lab machine because Linux, but even not touching cad programs for almost a decade solidworks was just way easier to come back to.
This is a result of the topological naming problem. FreeCAD currently doesn’t handle this well at all. There’s been a lot of work on this front though - you can use realthunder’s fork which should be a lot better in this regard. Alternatively, you can avoid creating features directly on top of other features, and instead make planes and reference them exclusively.
I’m interested because I need CAD for my business, I’m running fusion 360 with in a VM ad paying for the license but I would like to move away from it.
I’ve noticed that as well. Closest would be blender, but that doesn’t even work on my Linux computer. Because the graphics card or possibly a different card doesn’t support it
I’m going to check it out again. It sounds more than decent for most things. Do you have any tutorials you learned from. The “learn fusion 360 in 30 days” is what I used to learn fusion
Not any that I found useful sadly :D, FreeCAD is mostly used by Engineers, so finding a coherent easy to understand tutorial isn’t easy. I got the gyst with trial and error and watching people use FreeCAD.
3 Lessions which makes FreeCAD flow make sense.
In Part Design a Sketch Lives within a Body, so you create Body then Sketch
The Sketches white lines needs to be complete, with no gaps. If you need to add structure (like adding a circle to a box), you can do so with construction geometry (blue lines)
When a line turns green (or construction turns light blue, it’s constrained. Meaning it won’t move.
For me this was what allowed me to understand how to use FreeCAD well enough to replace Fusion. Everything from what I’ve used thus far, is based on this hierarchy and order of operation.
And that probably won’t be the end.
Very happy (and after 2 years usage still extremely unskilled) with FreeCad.
FreeCAD is pretty much useless, it still doesn’t have basic modelling features like fillets, chamfers, etc.
That’s not true. FreeCAD can do those things just fine. In fact, I have been able to do every single thing in FreeCAD that I used to do in Fusion360. There is a learning curve, but FreeCAD is extremely capable.
The problem with FreeCAD is that the UI is abysmal. There is tons of duplicate functionality in different benches, but if you start in one you might discover that it doesn’t have what you need and have to start over in another.
Can you apply them to your drawings/sketches?
This isn’t true? Fillets and chamfers are available in the PartDesign workbench.
Can you apply them to your drawings/sketches?
I’m not sure about chamfer (I haven’t used it in my sketches) but fillet is definitely included in the Sketcher workbench.
Must be a new feature, good to know.
Freecad not free as. Autocorrect got me again
Is free as a good enough replacement? I like fusion for the sculpting mode as well. I would rather go to an open source replacement though
Freecad sucks. I use it exclusively and it sucks.
But it’s the only foss option and the only Linux option.
It’s the reason I jumped on a cheap solidworks license, was fully intending to use it as my primary cad package but I just found it kinda clunky. To be super fair, I recall using it years ago and it’s come a long way and I run it on my lab machine because Linux, but even not touching cad programs for almost a decade solidworks was just way easier to come back to.
Nah freecad still sucks. Change anything deeper and nothing recomputes correctly.
This is a result of the topological naming problem. FreeCAD currently doesn’t handle this well at all. There’s been a lot of work on this front though - you can use realthunder’s fork which should be a lot better in this regard. Alternatively, you can avoid creating features directly on top of other features, and instead make planes and reference them exclusively.
The trick for me is constant forced refreshes
Are you running solidworks on linux ?
I’m interested because I need CAD for my business, I’m running fusion 360 with in a VM ad paying for the license but I would like to move away from it.
Nah I’m not unfortunately, my desktop is running windows but everything else uses various flavours of debian.
I’ve noticed that as well. Closest would be blender, but that doesn’t even work on my Linux computer. Because the graphics card or possibly a different card doesn’t support it
Blender maybe can do some CAD, but its not CAD
Not sure about sculpting, but in terms of sketching I find it good but flawed.
Getting to grips with sketching and how you need to complete shapes, and using support lines is a learning curve.
However I find it quite rewarding and worth the time to learn.
I’m going to check it out again. It sounds more than decent for most things. Do you have any tutorials you learned from. The “learn fusion 360 in 30 days” is what I used to learn fusion
Not any that I found useful sadly :D, FreeCAD is mostly used by Engineers, so finding a coherent easy to understand tutorial isn’t easy. I got the gyst with trial and error and watching people use FreeCAD.
3 Lessions which makes FreeCAD flow make sense.
For me this was what allowed me to understand how to use FreeCAD well enough to replace Fusion. Everything from what I’ve used thus far, is based on this hierarchy and order of operation.
thanks!
Thank you that helps