I am just starting my 3d printing and MPCNC journey and up to this point I have been pringing things others have created on Thingiverse.com. I am chomping at the bit to start remixing some objects and creating ones of my own. Prior to 3d pringing I have been using DesignCAD 3d Max as a powerful inexpensive CAD package but the version I have doesn’t allow saving in .stl format and recent releases are very buggy and the coding has been outsourced to India. For 2d cnc it produces .dxf files with no problem and I like using what I am familiar with.
I really need a 3d CAD that produces .stl files. I have been experimenting with FreeCAD and have produced a good result on some simple designs. There is a learning curve but I am slowly catching on. I have seen so much written about Fusion360 that I signed up for a hobbyist license. I have minimal spare time and don’t want learn several different CAD solutions. What input do others have?
What are users here using for creating 3d designs?
At this point I am leaning toward Fusion360 but am worried just a bit that at some point all users will have to pay an annual or monthly fee to keep using the software. FreeCAD works pretty well but is somewhat more primative and requires moving objects using coordinated in input boxes instead of drag and drop.
Just a quick opinion. I think Fusion 360 CAD is a good place to start, not the CAM.
As for only learning one…it does not matter. Once you understand how CAD works they are all extremely similar. Line, dimension, extrude, cut. Those 4 commands can build most anything.
It doesn’t work great with existing stls, but I use onshape. I like it because it works on any machine (even my wife’s in a pinch). Sketchup has a good stl plugin for importing and editing, but working with stls is just a pain in general. AFAIK, the web form of sketchup does not have the stl plugin.
I also use OnShape.com. It is free but everything you make is public so others can copy your work. Not a problem for me. It has a very simplified interface and I thought it was easy to learn. It works in most common internet browsers even on weak computers. It also works on phones and tablets. You must be online to use it.
I also have the hobbies license for Fusion 360 but it overwhelmed me. So many features. But that was mostly the CAM I was looking at. I have been thinking about giving it another try for CAD.
Those of you using onshape are you using the education version? Otherwise it seems quite expensive $1500 per year is way out of my league. I am thinking of setting up a makerspace at a local school or boys and girls club. Onshape looks like a good choice for that environment.
I think I will begin the dive into Fusion360. If I need something simple I can get that done in FreeCAD as well.
Onshape is free if… I can’t remember… but I don’t pay for it. I think if you make everything public and you aren’t using it for businesses that make money, thwn it’s free.
SketchUp has a machine version. I think fusion 360 uses the cloud only for model storage and license stuff. AFAIK, the actual program is local. Those are both windows though. Solid works.
I’ve had a horrible time figuring out how to use SketchUp or F360. I just found it really unintuitive to move stuff in 3D, etc. So I went for OpenSCAD. I am much happier thinking algorithmically about these things than dragging things in 3D on a 2D screen.
Many people are the other way around.
At some point I acquired a cheap SpaceMouse style of device (a SpaceBall 4000 serial that I made a USB adapter for), with the hope it would help with my mental block, but I still haven’t gotten around to figuring out how to use a visual CAD system.
I use Windows 3D Builder for simple things. It is really simple to use. But does have some flaws. So far it has worked on everything I have thrown at it.
for more complex things the only software that has made sense to me it s Blender. But it has it’s own issues. But very powerful. And 100% free and client side, not cloud. There is a pretty steep learning curve. But once you understand it, it works well.
vertices, edges, faces, easiest way to understand the flow.
would love to see a combination of those 2. So far haven’t found anything like that.
I hate constraints, absolutely annoying to the nth degree.
On paper, I should love openscad, and I tried. There are just two things that bothered me.
I had a hard time choosing the right object to modify. Having to name everything, and not having a good way to choose this cube to scale. I could use an editor feature similar to excel, where I could click a face or an object after opening a parenthesis and it would pick it for me.
I had a hard time describing things in a way that was relative enough to be even a little parametric. It’s pretty crucial in CAD to change a number at the beginning to see the results at the end. It doesn’t have to ne full blown variables, but changing the extrude lwngth in step 3 from 5mm to 5.5mm or something like that. Maybe it was my own fault. Sketchup can’t go back in time either, so I ended up redrawing things from scratch a couple of times.
@Jeffeb3 I use variables in OnShape for a while as well. I have watched the tutorials and occasionally search for an update on my question here. But when they first released the variable feature you couldn’t create a global variable. They were all scoped to the parts pages. Do you know if they ever made it possible to make a global variable? or share a variable (or Sketch) from one parts page to another? Right now I have to copy and paste to different parts pages. Annoying when I need to update something in multiple places.