I am not a design draftsman, I’m not an engineer. My workflow is usually: I put something on the scanner, load the calibrated scan, trace the outline, throw a few sketches on various planes in there, round a few edges, print it and I’m done.

Fusion 360 scratches that itch very well but requires me to keep a Windows VM and also their free model felt more and more unusable. OnShape is a nice substitute that works fine for me, but I don’t like the “free or 1500€/year” approach. Without a middle ground subscription for makers it feels that I could lose anything the second their energy prices for servers go up or something.

The list of CAD software is exhaustive, so I am looking for recommendations that fit my “eh, click, click, click, good enough” workflow. FreeCAD is way too unintiuitive for that. I have tried getting into it, but 3D printing is a tool for me and the learning curve quickly made using it another hobby.

So. Suggestions welcome. Scalding criticism about my lack of enthusiasm and consumer mentality not so much, but I guess that comes bundled with useful advice, so, eh, I’ll take it.

  • Rolivers@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    18·
    4 months ago

    I’m quite happy with FreeCAD. It’s not really intuitive but I’ll gladly take that over any other program with those modern account/subscription/cloud bullshit “features”.

    • Caveman@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      4 months ago

      Seconded FreeCAD. It was my first CAD software and I didn’t have massive amount of trouble with it being a hobbyist with no CAD experience.

      • Rolivers@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        3·
        4 months ago

        It was also my first CAD program. Perhaps not having experienced others makes it easier to tolerate the quirks of FreeCAD.

        • neclimdul@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          Some of the nightlies are actually ahead of ondsel in features actually. But while you can get close, the theme and UI changes don’t work very well in freecad. You might be able to write some plugins to do it but I haven’t seen them.

            • neclimdul@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              4 months ago

              Yeah similar but when I’ve tried a lot of the UI ends up looking wrong. Bad font or UI colors, etc.

              Not hating on freecad, I like it and they’re working hard, just want to make clear it’s not fair to suggest a normal person could make it look the same.

              Additional note. It’s a weird discussion. My understanding is development is flowing back and forth with the intention of ondsel being mostly a set of pro cloud plugins. Use what you like today because you can swap tomorrow.