Is it Worth Learning FreeCAD? Can It Be Used Commercially? |JOKO ENGINEERING|
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
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What most needs FreeCAD is some serious sponsorship and a few full time paid developers to make this program a good competitor to the dedicated CAD "standards".
Blender did-it, Godot did-it, now is the FreeCAD time to prove that can do it!
I really hope they adopt the blender model, I cant believe how good that software is for being free
let's make a crowdfunding
The people moving over from F360 could just invest one saved monthly F360 subscription fee as a yearly donation to FreeCAD. That should already help a ton.
It's funny how everyone that doesn't want to pay for Fusion floods over here and they're first comments are lets pour money into this thing.... Completely cooked!
@@Dasman5624 FreeCAD doesn't tries to nickel and dime free users, so they deserve the money.
I think a lot more people will be finding their way to this channel after the email I received today from Fusion 360 on the restrictions they are putting on their personal use license.
Agreed. I choose F360 over Free CAD last time because it was free and feature complete (for my purposes at least). Now, with the new F360 restriction, I'll have to switch. Free CAD is still not feature complete, but it is getting better.
I started using Fusion, but wasn't comfortable with investing a huge amount of time in learning it for precisely that reason and my search for an alternative brought me to Joko a few months ago. Having received the same email from Fusion a couple of days ago, I'm so glad i made what turns out to have been the correct decision!
I'm too deep into Fusion now. Spent a day cleaning up the UI of FreeCAD just so that I didn't dismiss it solely on the UI, but I'm not about to be doing 1 sketch for 1 feature since FreeCAD doesn't have sketch profiles apparently. Already trying anything I can to model in Fusion faster. Hopefully though more programmer eyes are on FreeCAD now so that faster workflow features get added. Not hopeful though as this seems like a fundamental limitation if it's not in FreeCAD already.
You are right. I lost my student license right when they were putting the personal restrictions in.
I was willing to pay for 360 but now I rather pick something else.
Count me in. I switched from SW I used to F360 when I became self-employed. Now I'll definitely move to FreeCAD.
And considering that it hasn't even reached version 1.0 yet. There's greatness to come
1.0 is just an arbitrary number, like picking when to exit early access for games
TalpaDK So true. Look at Firefox versions. Haven't looked what version was new in a while. Thought maybe it was in the 60's. It's at version 80. I think of versions as major releases. They have a much different concept as to what a version means.
That's a trifle misleading; FreeCAD may only be at v.19, but it's been around for 18 years.
FreeCAD has become a thousand times more fun to use because of your videos. Thank you!
😁
I love freecad because It's the only one running on Linux without any headache
Lol same
I use it on windows currently and from what i can see from this channel and a lot more, it actually runs better on Linux than on windows
Considering what autodesk is doing to hobbyists license, for sure, freecad is the best alternative out there.
That was always the case, though. The hobbyist license is changing in ways that have nearly no impact on users who aren't making money off the software. An active file limit (you can get around this by unarchiving projects) + no STEP exporting, that's it.
@@LongTailWoodcraft For now! They will continue to squeeze and limit features as time goes on their marketing team will make sure of that. The maker community built 360 into what it is today and this is how they are repaid. They clearly fail to realise that the success of 360 personal adoption has driven profits from industry as many personal users have cut their knuckles and skinned their knees investing in the product which for many follows them into paid employment and licenced 360 seats.
@@LongTailWoodcraft But with STEP gone/going there will be no escape route in the future
@@KeithSloan52 Step export removal has been reversed today apparently. But considering they planned to remove it once, my guess is that they're just putting it on the backburner for now until the community forgets.
@@ScrewUA-camAndYourAutoNames Yes I see they had a change of heart yesterday 25th. Looks like they woke up to the fact that they may have been facing a mass exodus www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/changes-to-fusion-360-for-personal-use/
Nice timing! Autodesk just started squeezing the hobby users of fusion-360 once again. Lots of people will change to being owners of their own files again.
As an amateur woodworker/maker I had started going down the Fusion 360 route from Sketchup, but after recent changes I was getting worried that my learning time had been wasted. This video has convinced me that Freecad is easily good enough and is the way to go. Fusion being deleted from my laptop today and Freecad installed.
Can you help me get better
The content in the YT community, especially this channel, have made FreeCad my goto 3D parametric software. FreeCad just so easy to use.
"Superbly, fantastic job." That's quite the compliment. I have a lot of respect for the developers that made FreeCAD.
They haven't even got functional measurements working.
This is an important video. Promoting and comparing FreeCad with other cad-software. It has the weight of your experience behind it. Thank you for your efforts and interesting point of view.
Yrs
I'm an engineering student, and I learned CAD with draft at 1st semester with autocad. Then on the 2nd semester we migrated to Solidworks because we started working with mechanical drawing and assemblies. We haven't touched CAD software since then, but I started using LInux (I use arch btw) and then I started searching for alternatives, and the one who pulled my attention the most was FreeCAD, but I was enstranged at first. Then I found your video about modelling an airplane, and since then FCAD started growing in me.
Thanks for your attention on my rant. I'm a lurker arround here but I love your content.
I use Linux too
Thank you for this review! It re-confirmed that sticking to FreeCAD is a right thing to do.
I have big hope on open source softwares, particularly Free Cad. It has been developing significantly since I learn about this software. I do hope it will be like Blender with lots of Patrons to fund the project!
Yes
As an Autodesk refugee, I'm in! A snatch like Fusion 360 was my last one, which I fell for.
Great video, I'm building out a Linux based workstation. I've only tinkered around a little bit with FreeCAD, but I'm coming from solidworks knowledge as well. Your video encourages me greatly to dig in deeper!
I'm loving FreeCAD thanks to JOKO Engineering! I can get overwhelmed trying to figure out how to do something in FreeCAD, but there's usually a tutorial of yours that walks me through the process. Thanks!
I am a retired mechanical engineer including being a CAD sysem administrator for a number of years. I used, initially, HP ME30/ME10 and then SolidDesigner, which was passed along a number of companies and is now know as Creo Elements/Direct by Parametric Technology. I've also tried a number of "parametric" CAD software, e.g., SolidWorks. I downloaded FreeCAD and played around with it briefly. I didn't like it. Firstly, for 95% of mechanical design the parametric approach is not only unnecessary but makes CAD design slower and more difficult. The learning curve for parametric software is MUCH steeper than software such as Elements/Direct (I still maintain a license for my personal use) which doesn't require making upfront choices that can unexpectedly have negative ramifications for the modeling at a later stage of development. With non-parametric CAD you are free to slice, dice, cut and paste freely. Any designer can jump into a model created by another without needing to understand just how the current state was arrived at. Those advantages are the reason that Parametric Technology (the developer of Pro Engineer, which was parametric) purchased SolidDesigner. Parametric looks great on paper but in practical use it just unnecessarily complicates design work. Still waiting for fully featured free non-parametric CAD software so I can drop my $1700/yr Creo Elements/Direct license. I most recently used Elements/Direct to model a system of aftermarket accessories for Jeeps, etc and derived patent drawings from the model. I received the patent (10604194) earlier this year.
"A system, method, and apparatus for modifying a vehicle comprising a cab enclosure configured to interface with a vehicle, a fixed deck, configured rearward of, and, cooperating with, the vehicle cab, and an extensible deck projecting from, and cooperating with, the fixed deck. The cab enclosure further comprises at least one roof adaptor comprising at least one roof adaptor panel connected to the vehicle and a lower cab enclosure comprising at least one panel connected to the vehicle wherein the cab enclosure elements, fixed deck, and extensible deck are connected to the vehicle without permanent modification to the vehicle."
Neat.
You sound and think like me. Can you help me file random patents
Can you ignore the parametric part of the program?
I'm glad you did this video. I have been learning and using Freecad at work since 0.17 and it has gotten worlds better in terms of usability. It's a great starting point for a company with no 3d cad capability and nobody with an attachment to a more expensive platform.
When I got my 3D printer I wanted make my own useful things to print. The earlier versions had a lot of issues with crashing, so you really had to save your work a lot, but it worked, was easy to learn and I was able to make everything I wanted with it.
🙏
I use it for my job, I’m getting better and better with it. Will continue to use it and implement it more and more into my workflow.
Amazing software. For FEA engineers who battle to learn more when commercial software are so expensive, I took Freecad and in about 20 min a FE model was solving and I never had used Freecad before. Really good job. Congratulations to the developers to provide this for free even for commercial use
Oh shit. SOLD. thanks for this comment
As retired "professional" user of commercial CAD software who has followed FreeCad for years, I find it to be an incredible tool. But does have limitations - as do all such tools. I look forward to seeing the future of FreeCad unfold.
Is it ready for primetime? I don't think so. It has a miniscule uptake by industry. Much like MicroSoft Office is the defacto standard for office suites, despite how competent LibreOffice is, FreeCad will always be an also-ran. At least until widely accepted universal file format uniformly adopted. And I'm pretty sure that ain't happening soon.
Can you use it to learn about 3D modeling? Most certainly! It will teach you how to think about designing and creating on your computer. The rest is simply learning where to find what the little icons to click to do something.
The presenter himself mentions he has absolutely used it for primetime jobs.
@@lawrencedoliveiro9104
That may well be true. Heck, I've used LibreCAD to throw out some quick and dirty 2D drawings for internal shop use too. That doesn't mean that industry is using it or will ever use it. (Side Note: Check LibreCAD out, it's pretty darned good for 2D work.) But when I needed to collaborate with someone on the other side of the planet, we needed to use a common tool. That common tool isn't FreeCAD.
But like it or not, software like SolidWorks rules industry at this time. Heck, Joko even has some very good SolidWorks tutorials. Which are every bit as good as his FreeCAD videos. His comparison comments between SoldiWorks and FreeCAD are fun and informative.
So now that I'm old a retired, I have switched full time to FreeCAD for all my personal modeling needs. It's an excellent piece of software for personal use. I think it's niche is the personal space because us non-pros need something to. Makers and hobbyists should flock to FreeCAD. Very nearly all the tools and toys of the commercial stuff, without the hassle of cost and ever changing licenses. So kick a buck or two into the pot for those who are working so hard on this project!
Whether this hypothetical “industry” will use it or not has nothing to do with quality, and everything to do with inertia. In a competitive industry, the one who is quicker to adopt new quality innovations will get a leg up on the others.
@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 "Industry" is NOT hypothetical. You typing on a computer is demonstration enough on that account.
Inertia is a real thing. And the best tool doesn't always win the hearts and minds of those that would use it. Even if you desire it with all your heart. It sucks perhaps, but it is what it is. Again a classic example or MicroSoft Office vs LibreOffice. It don't matter how much I like LibreOffice, professionally Office dominates office suites in day to day use. It has taken decades for LibreOffice to gain the small foothold it has today.
FreeCAD, as good and fun as it is to use, FreeCAD is a day late and a dollar short, (as my one Grandfather used to say), to the market. They are unlikely to make any kind of meaningful inroads into what the vast majority of companies will use to make money with.
So enjoy FreeCAD for your own personal use - I do.
@@ringding1000 So tell me, is there real competition in your “industry”, or not? Is it innovative and competitive, in which case important new developments stand a chance of being adopted, or is it dominated by inertia and stagnation, where the company with the million-dollar budget for telling everyone how wonderful they are will always win over the quality product that can’t afford that?
This vid was the push I needed a commit to learning FreeCAD basics. I don't dream of getting as good enough to make these types of models shown here , but so far it's been way beyond capable for 3d modeling hobby. Thanks for sharing with us!
Thanks for making the switch from 'real' programs to Fcad so much less daunting with your tutorial videos and this overview - inspires confidence that it's worth the time investment I'm making 👍🏻
Thanks for your video. This gives me good confidence about sticking with freecad.
Man you (and freecad) saved me from bankruptcy!
Thanks for this video. Coming from 20+ years of experience with Solidworks/Maya/Alias, I see the combination of FreeCAD for engineering, Blender for mesh modeling & animation, and Rhino for freeform NURBS modeling as a feature-packed, respectable package for indy designers and small companies for sure, and has a decently high ceiling for growth even for larger companies.
When I first started to learn to draw at the beginning of this year I started using freecad and gave up on it I thought it was a piece of crap I had Zero experience so everything was new. I tried Fusion 360 it is good but slow loading for me and now the fact it has been updated with new limitations I stopped trying to learn it. I also bought Qcad and tried Siemens solid edge "Only 2 d" very good but also limited. Went back to freecad and now I believe because I've gained a little more experience it is much easier to learn than when I first tried using it. It really is a great program and the price is unbeatable. I am using it to draw and make parts to cut on my CNC plasma table. Thanks for the great tutorials.
A truly great brief analysis and comparison from a clearly experienced design engineer who has been exposed to a significant cross section of the several applicable engineering and draughting, design and display software tools about which he speaks. This is a big deal to me, as it should be to many other designers. I am a relative late-comer to CAD tools, as I began with Longmann's logarithms and a selection of slide rules. I recall paying dearly (several hundered dollars) for a Sanyo Calculator WITHOUT a square root function!! what a luxury and productivity multiplier!!. So, I do speak from experience. Well done to Joko Engineering for providing a cross-sectional guide.
With Gratitude, pk.
Thanks a lot!
Moved from both Eagle and Fusion the second cloud storage was enforced. It was a blessing in disguise. KiCAD and FreeCAD are awesome applications and definitely worth the time investment. We don't look back. We're now using them both commercially. We pay donations now instead of licensing and fully support these projects. They're very good.
I think this video made an excellent point. Don't underestimate these apps. In some ways they're not the under dog. They're leading.
👍
Good video. I recently started with freeCAD for home use. At work I use NX, and the transition was dead easy. I haven't tried any complex surface modelling, but for stuff to make on a 3d printer, a lathe and a manual mill, it does anything I need
I'm trying to get to grips with 3D CAD and your videos are truly inspiring and keep me motivated. FreeCAD is incredible and to be free is even more so. One minor niggle - and I know I'll get slammed for this - is the UI is very heavy and reminiscent of the 90's. It kind of looks like, well, free software. Having said that, I'll be happy if the developers keep on focusing on functionality. They have my utmost respect!
There is an add in called glass that gives it quite a modern look. That may be covered here soon
@@JokoEngineeringhelp That would be cool - I'll have to do some searching and give it a go!
I love freeCAD soo much too.
In my other OpenSource software community (KiCAD) there is a FreeCAD WorkBench developed for assisting with integrating PCBs into MCAD. Modelling 3D components for KiCAD is my main motivation for learning FreeCAD, and have also been using FreeCAD for modelling for my 3D printer. Over in the KiCAD community, the attitude currently (2020-09-25) is to use FreeCAD 0.19 prerelease since it is basically at feature freeze. YMMV of course.
I didn't realize it had FEM. Now I have to learn it.
FreeCad will likely get a big boost because yesterday, Fusion360 neutered its free version. Probably the biggest loss is the removal of the export file types most used by automated fabrication machines (CNC, 3D printers, etc).
i can still export my stls for my 3d printer are you sure this is the case cause i am serius gonna jump to other cad software but for now as of yesterday i managed to export stls
Autodesk is a dinosaur that needs to go extinct. They business gouge, they have always set their pricing to exploit the large budgets of corporations and are dismissive of the general public. They really like to think of themselves as a "B to B" company, favoring other big corps like them.
Snobs that need to go.
Love from bottom of my heart❤. You made FreeCAD so easy to use for anyone.
You've persuaded me to stick with and learn FreeCAD. Also your instructional videos are great.
I started to use FreeCAD over F360 because of how easy it was to make a gcode for just cutting a rectangle. All I had to was sketch the rectangle, then choose the type of operation I wanted it to do on the face of the rectangle. I can also run FreeCAD on the same machine my CNC runs off of.
Freecad has cam?? Thats new to me
This in part answers my question on your comparison video. As a user of both systems you are happy with FreeCAD.
From the comments below comes the reality of proprietary products. The man with the program makes the rules and, like Microsoft and Adobe, change the look and feel or the file format just to drive more revenue through upgrades. When your material is stored on other systems ( eg cloud computing) issues of privacy arise apart from permanence of the system. Thirty odd years ago Geocities ( I think so called) suddenly shut shop and took everyones material with them.
FreeCAD for me, and a donation.
Getting back to pen and paper after moving to Africa I'm so happy that sombody have used their time Makin this and especialy that it's for FREE I'm back in business 😄😄😄 this will hopefully make it posibel Makin a big donation later they defently deserve it. Becorse it brakes the big monopoly Autocad and the few others have I'm happy 😊
lol now I'm really motivated to create something with FreeCAD. Unfortuanetely, I had a hard time creating some advanced curvatures with FreeCAD. Even PTC Creo had some struggle with it, but its solver was stronger at the very end than FreeCADs, so I sticked with that. But besides some hard to compute stuff FreeCAD is a really great way to go for every hobbyist engineer or industrial designer.
@Max D Yeah, I think you're right. It really depends on what you want to create.
I think I'm going to enjoy this program having worked with inventor then solidworks and then fusion 360.It's probably going to take me a week to adjust to the workflow I hope.
Thanks, subscribed! I am working backwards from being a SW user and now involved in some small scale consulting where IP is critical - for now I can assure my team that the existing and future data won't become public property. I started looking at OnShape and while that's very good, like Fusion360, the moment you put that stl (or whatever) in the workspace the data is out of your control. I've been designing and building products for half my life and I understand commercial pressures (so please use that to contextualise what follows) but I don't like the perverse definition of "sharing" that is becoming a de facto norm. Cheers guys, we only need to leave the world in a better place than we found it, so respect to your passion and hard work.
Lol
Thanks a lot! I have been getting the grasp and concepts of FreeCAD. I use CATIA v6 and SmartTeam at work and this is actually my first attempt to use a CAD program to make physical objects. So far I am learning a lot and can say now I am at the point of getting the concept of organization of parts and bodies are just as important when using FreeCAD!
If you have Catia and FC you are at the two ends of the spectrum. Both are excellent but Catia is HUGE.
I'm pretty excited about Freecad now after learning about Ondsel... someone finally figured out how to monetize the open source process in a way that really makes sense for CAD software.
Only issue for me is I'm a little torn between Blender CAD Sketcher and Freecad... I'm pretty fast in Blender these days and learning Freecad has been a real slow process which I kinda doubt will benefit me over just using Blender with CAD...
Like right now I'm working on a drive shaft for a submarine and I just wanna extrude the faces out like I would in Blender... but doing simple stuff is hard in Freecad and doing hard stuff in Blender is simple in Freecad... kinda wish you could just run these programs together to work on the same file in real time...
This is nice to hear from a professional.
FreeCAD is like manna from heaven for engineering students and graduates. Doesn't matter which way you cut it: Professional programs like Solidworks are prohibitively expensive. Even the student licenses costs a decent chunk of money that would be wisely spent elsewhere. If you're casually modelling a few parts for a side project or just brushing up on your skills, FreeCAD is the only viable way to do it. There are alternative programs but they usually feel like a cheap joke.
thanks! FreeCad only 3 people developing. Wow. I just did not know that part. Fantastic job and so are your vids on this.
Fully agree! FreeCAD is awesome! Been using it for ~ 7 years to design dome homes. FreeCAD does everything I need, with ease.
I forgot why I didn't liked your great content videos so much in the past... It was the (not so good) microphone sound of your voice! :-) What a great improvement meanwhile! But as I said, the content about FreeCAD (and not only) is one of the best to find here! Thank you!
Thanks I'm loving the new mic
I learned how to walk in FreeCAD and I agree with all your statements. By now I have grown accustomed to the convenience of Fusion 360, but I don't think that I couldn't do the same work in FreeCAD. It would take me some time to relearn the functions, but I could get the work done and the result would be pretty much the same 3D model.
If you're looking for a feature, and don't mind getting a little technical, I doubt they would mind the help! It's free as in Freedom, not just as in beer!
I'm not a developer so I can't help in that capacity, but I do donate to FreeCAD development every month with revenue from this channel. It's a wonderful software.
I like the user interface of freecad, I found it really simple to use. But the assembly workbench is not official, there is no interference detection and the 2d capability is really limited. I found it really limiting for other use than recreational
It's gone forwards a lot it seems from when I saw it last time... but standard support and standard libraries would be nice to have.
I hope it'll get more people providing content for it moving onward... these projects live and die by the amount of developers and content creators.
I have experience in Inventor, Fusion 360 and now starting to work with CATIA (I'm a high school student) and I gotta say I'm pretty interested in learning FreeCAD after watching this video!
Too bad schools won't most likely use this good software, though
Do you recommend FreeCAD for beginners?
I want to start learning a 3D design software because i have purchased a 3D printer…
I'm using it for work for designing plastic parts with one big exception. The shelling, aka called thickening in FreeCAD, is - to be kind - lacking. So, I have to take my models into Fusion 360 or SolidWorks to quickly shell them as even simple models fail in FreeCAD. For me that's the biggest drawback. Otherwise, I love FreeCAD
That's a fair point. Sometimes offsetting surface and trimming can replace shell, sometimes scaling a copied body and boolean subtracting can replace the shell function in the case you don't need an exact consistent thickness. Good luck
The biggest thing holding FreeCad back I think, at least this is the case for myself, is how insanely easy it is to break models. I created a bracket model, it worked great, even 3D printed it, no issues, right up until I went back and tried to make one change to the size of a chamfer, now the entire model is broken and I have no idea how to fix it.
Some of that could be related to the topology naming issue. There have been some huge efforts to get that worked out, so stay tuned!
There also might be a reference to feature(s) that used the chamfer and the update could have broken some things.
Betcha the downloads will be much higher now that Autodesk Fusion 360 has made such drastic changes (limits) for Personal Use license holders.
Great to get a qualified opinion on FreeCAD. I had invested heavily in Fusion 360 and was quite disappointed when they abandoned their amateur base - it was great while it lasted. I tried one or two other free design packages and was very impressed with FreeCAD when I finally tried it. I guess my designs aren't too complicated because when I get in trouble, I delete all the actions and get back to just the sketches, then retrace my steps, usually more efficiently the second (or third, fourth, etc) time around.
That's a great way to problem solve!
@@JokoEngineeringhelp Part of the Quest. I would encourage others to accept this as a clean method of design - as long as the sketches are clean, you can figure out which progression of actions is best. At first I was really frustrated having to back out my design, and within one or two times it kinda revealed itself to be a very clean & preferred
way to go.
Gee.. this is wonderful.. one thing i have noticed over the years with cad systems and that is many people are using only about 60-70% of the capability of their cad system. The for what ever reason jump in to another cad system in hopes of some new cad majic. for me it has been the up-hill learning curve to get the ultimate design results... thanks and great freecad video...:)
Wow just 3 people develop this, that's amazing.
Good timing with the implosion of F360
Thank you very much for making this video.
I couldn't agree more with nearly everything you said, but my background is a bit out of date (back when you had to have a Unix workstation and the cost per seat was 5 digits). :)
One of the best parts about FreeCAD is that its multiplatform and runs on Linux!
Icing on the cake is that I can use the ancient SpaceBall 2003 I have from back in the old days (but have switched to a smaller SpaceBall 5000). It's the best physical interface I've found for any 3D CAD or modeling software.
That said, I've been wondering what I'm missing by not using a modern commercial CAD software. From your assessment, it seems not much. :)
About the only complaints I can think of that I have with FreeCAD are the fillets (as you mentioned) in Part Design (the fillets in Part are enormously better by comparison), and the constantly changing Assembly workbenches. I finally got pretty good at Assembly2 when it was abandoned, so I switched to A2Plus. I'm not sure if that's the right direction to go as Assembly4 seems to be getting a lot of praise. Assembly3 seems to be an incredible project with some beautiful advancements, but requires running a forked version of FreeCAD, so I'm not sure that's for me.
Probably the most difficult workbench to get my head around is Lattice2. It's awesome, but for the stuff I wanted it for, it gets pretty hairy. :)
-About the only other thing I'd like to see is list of all the hotkeys! I stumble across gems on occasion, but I've not seen them all in one place before.-
Scratch that, someone created it since I last looked! wiki.freecadweb.org/Sandbox:Keyboard_Shortcuts
Thank you again for taking the time to make these videos.
I love FreeCAD but Draft workbench it's a nightmare for me, I was trying to draw a boat hull and it was impossible because misaligned points. Then i used Fusion360 and it was much more easy. So I think FreeCAD is a very good tool, but you have to spend a lot of time learning and fighting against bugs.
Just a quick note: FreeCad is not "Open Source", it is "Free Software".
It is not the same. It might seem like a small thing but free software goes way deeper than just "the source code is open", it is a philosophy and that to me gives the authors even more credit. They don't just offer it for free, they don't just open source the code, they believe we (the users) should be free to use and modify their software to our needs.
You might not know how to modify it, you might not want to, but they believe you have the right to do so. Commendable.
The Great Migration from Fusion360 to FreeCAD begins !!! Thank You SUBSCRIBED
Just donated some to FreecAD. I hope they keep improving it. Good job.
I feel that if FreeCAD could create Solidworks and Creo filetypes, then it would be one of the more dominant CAD programs
However, that might not be legally feasible. I wouldn't know the details. I'll check on that
@@averychurch1392 I think it's a matter of paying for the rights of using the formats, but I'm not exactly sure. There are some commercialization efforts behind FreeCAD currently, and perhaps formats are going to be an item.
My grievens with freecad is that some of the UX is abhorent at times.
For example selecting faces/lines one by one to add them to a feature ( like bevel/chamfer )
And there are no widgets you can drag on which makes editing more time consuming by having to move your mouse to the edit box and input a number.
I wish they would fix this and I'd definitely be using freecad more.
I do not see the absence of GD&T as a fault; perhaps as a blessing. Those who truly know GD&T will easily work around this deficiency. However, it has been my experience that those who are inexpert with GD&T tend to misapply and overapply this tool. They go overboard and make what should have been an easily manufactured part un-manufacturable.
All depends on your needs. I do use for all my projects!
Here because of F360 Personal license. Trying to learn FC..
I try the freecad before but quite hard to me ..cos I have not "cad draw" experience . just some on 3dsmax and blender. anyway, thank you for great share !!
I love and use FreeCAD myself. There may be some rough spots to be sure but it rarely lets me down. The big issue I have is that I need to learn better modelling practices, or no clever software can save me.
This freeecad will explode in popularity now, because of the update of license in fusion360, they are starting to monetize that app now.
YES.!!! FREE is FREE. THE CURRENT SYSTEM WASNT DESIGN FOR IT. 👍👍👍🤭
YES.!!! 👍👍👍🤭
I moved over from fusion 360. For home use modelling 3d stuff and even CAMing/CNC a couple of cabinets seems to be fine.
Two things that really stood out for me is the constraint system and fea. The constraint based system makes assemblies really come together well. And fea for 3d printing helps make stronger plastic models (& maybe wood/metal if you have that facility)
Performance is much better than fusion 360. Took about a week to learn
Great video! I'm in the AEC industry so unfortunately I don't have much reason to use FreeCAD. It's interesting to see 'free' software catching up to the big giants in the industry. I'm noticing that the big developers are adding more and more flashy features that nobody will ever use while neglecting to refine the key features of their programs. My hobby as of late is exploring 2D CAD alternatives. I don't see why a simple CAD program has to cost thousands (per year!!!) when we have a program like FreeCAD... for FREE!
And I don't know about the rest of you, but subscription pricing is a total turn off. That has become too popular in the software industry these days.
How many realise that FreeCAD's is the only neutral CAD file format that exchanges parametric models and data? It's neutral by definition because anyone can open and edit an FC file in their own installation, but FC models aren't "dumb solids" unless you want them to be. You can understand the fabled "design intent" and workflow through the history, profiles and paths can be exchanged through neutrals, but you can also transfer constraint relationships and parameters by copying or by spreadsheet into your favourite CAD program if FC's not for you.
I don't CAD for a living, if I did I'd starve. I'm a hobbyist & when I got my first 3D printer I found it was a LOT more involved than just telling it to print something. I had no idea how to use a CAD program & started with FreeCAD, but found it so frustrating to learn. The interface wasn't the problem, it was more me & what the tools actually did. I had no idea & found that playing with them to see what they did made whatever model I was trying to create vanish into thin air never to be seen again. I got my hands on Solidworks & because of the fact that if I did something wrong it didn't punish me by stealing my model, it showed an onscreen error message which I could look up, I learnt something. I experimented with SW for a couple of months & learned the basics good enough to be more familiar with CAD in general then tried FC again. Something must have clicked somewhere along the way, I can now create something in FC, use the tools (sweep, loft, subtractive, additive etc) with success or if I do make a booboo & FC steals my model, I can find it :)
So now I've uninstalled SW & use FC exclusively (for now) & I'm a happy chappy. So at the end of the day what FC really needs is a decent help environment, in comparison, that's where SW shines. I know there are UA-cam videos, some of which I've slept through they're that riveting. FC I think isn't for a complete novice, you have to have some basic CAD knowledge.
I enjoy Joko videos, they're to the point, crystal clear, really well narrated & make me think I can do that too.
Thanks! It's cool to hear others' experiences, I'm glad FreeCAD is working out, the price is more reasonable than SolidWorks!
One of the only real problems I have with it is the topological naming problem, but that can be fixed by using a fork that fixes it. Other than that it's good
Thank you for the good overview. FreeCAD rules! :)
I find it excellent, but the only annoying point is the topological naming problem. It is not that it cannot be avoided to some extent, or that it could be fully solved, but it often does result in having to remodel more than one should. Hoping for some progress on that at some point, but other than that - excellent.
LinkStage3 is your friend. 1.0 has it in the feature list to rid it in the mainline.
Oh boy, I guess I gotta try FreeCAD again !! Thanks for the encouraging video
See, Ive tried it once years ago but I just couldnt even create the simplest of shapes, just doesnt jive with me (even with tutorials that take you by the hand)
I can learn Blender and AutoCAD no problem but FreeCAD was just so different so I hope this time Ill go somewhere
Can you recommend a video that shows which methods to use in freeCAD? I keep going down wrong ways when trying to model. They say, "Oh don't use part" Use this way etc.
Thank you for the review . I am version 19 ..I have fusion 360 but my students have trouble getting through the maze of marketing requirements to get free access as a student
Awesome review. I'm a SolidWorks/Revit/ArchiCAD user myself. It's really impressive how FreeCAD is implementing all this stuff.
Combined with Blender, GIMP and Inkscape possibilities are pretty much endless.
Would that other Platform you're going to cover be OnShape?
Interesting view about FreeCAD compared to other 3D modelers!
I tried learning freecad a couple of times but it's too convoluted for my needs. Too much going back and forth between sketches and parts and other things. It seems they are trying to cram everything into one program which is nice if a person has months to learn it all. I found QCad which is exactly what I want for my needs. While 3D tools are nice and can speed things up for visualization I don't need them for making tool paths for an svg file. QCad has a much smaller learning curve and by just watching a couple of youtube videos you're good to go.
2:36 - Ill solve equations with my right hand and write names with my left hand
OK - i'll try it...personally i use another free to use software which isn't history based i.e a dynamic modeller. Unfortunately their drawing and limited exchange bundle is around $1000 US. But i really like to be unconstrained in part and assembly modelling - and my first decisions are never the last conclusions - so i change my mind a lot! I like to go very light with a design, maybe even running two designs almost simultaneously to see what transpires ( best outcome / most promising design). I to commend what has been done with FreeCAD.
Thanks for this!
It may help with one of my first steps in the post-covid economy.
Great video. I have used freecad for basic models, but I think after this I will advance in my complexity😎
It really help me during my daily work
Wow, I had no idea that it was just 3 people! Thank you for the video. Also, it is amazing how much FreeCAD improves with every iteration. 0.19 is doing very well.
Awesome video my friend. I used to use freecad, but not for long before switching to designspark, but I want to go fully into FreeCAD again..
Do you recomend Freecad for beginners? (for 3D printing purpose)
Sir Thanks for the Amazing video and this might be a game changer in life. Thanks for the whole developers for providing this software. It is a great service. This helps lot of small people like who cannot afford to high end softwares. Thanks Thanks Thanks.
I think there are 3 things wrong with free cad.
1) you end up with a clutter of constraints in your sketches.
2) Now and they you have conflicting constraints that are not conflicting. (This could be sometimes be solved by wiggling a few lines, weird)
3) Free cad crashes too often, mostly during using constraints.
Ok, there is one thing wrong with free cad: the constraints...
No update since than? The problems you mentioned are still persists?
I got into freecad recently for the cam path stuff for making gcode for milling machines. 0.18 made some weird results, version 0.19 worked perfect.
just subscribed, been a long time autodesk fan but got me convinced