![]() ![]() Thank you for your responses, guys! I honestly had no idea my choice is so limited! And normandc is right, there was also HeeksCAD which I tried before and had installed on my Ubuntu machine but it broke during last Ubuntu upgrade, no longer starts and I don't think I will be fixing it any time soon.īut as far as FreeCAD, it turned out to be an awesome software! Learning curve is kinda steep, too, but for what it does, I cannot complain. I've been printing a few parts designed in FreeCAD. But with extrusions you should have no trouble. As for STL export for 3D printing, you might encounter problems with very complex curved shapes produced with sweeps and lofts. If FreeCAD has a weakness, it's with DXF export. Don't hesitate to ask questions in the Help forum. It can be intimidating at first, because there are quite a few ways to do things. =10#p29329Įven if there's still a lot of work to be done in FreeCAD, it's already got diverse tools to create models. You can see an example of work flow here using the Part Design workbench: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3733&hilit=noob+que. Each operation you do is saved and shows in the Project tree, so you can go back in the history of your model to change things. FreeCAD is parametric: almost everything you do is editable. Like AutoCAD it can create lofts, sweeps, and quite a few things that AutoCAD can't. ![]() Polytechnick wrote:I do have some experience with an actual CAD (AutoCAD) in the past and would very much prefer a CAD that starts out with 2D projections and builds up 3D using extrusions of that. CSG (an open but non-standard file format) and. OpenSCAD is popular in the 3D printing community, but it's a tool for programming-minded people - which I'm not. All modern CAD software use B-Rep, and so does FreeCAD. True CAD software either use CSG (outdated) or boundary representation (B-Rep). They are polygonal modelers and as such cannot produce accurate and suitable models for CNC milling or laser cutting. True, there is BRL-CAD, but its modeling method is constructive solid geometry (CSG), which is very limited, and this almost 30-year old program has a very ancient GUI.īlender and Sketchup are not CAD apps. No package is available, so you need to compile yourself. There used to be HeeksCAD, geared toward CAM, but it's been more or less abandoned, with almost no activity. ![]() In 2010 I ended my quest because it was clear to me that FreeCAD would be THE open source 3D CAD app. I had a blog on which I reported my findings (CAD on Linux) which I took down last month. When I made the switch to Ubuntu in 2007 I looked for CAD apps on Linux, and tried quite a few of them. This is not biased, this is from experience. If we're talking about a true free and open source 3D CAD software, on Linux, the answer is unfortunately simple: FreeCAD is the only real choice there is. So, is this something FreeCAD would be good for or is there another free and open source CAD program for Linux you guys can recommend? It was kinda the main reason I didn't stick with Blender - was really hard to think straight away in 3D. I do have some experience with an actual CAD (AutoCAD) in the past and would very much prefer a CAD that starts out with 2D projections and builds up 3D using extrusions of that. But I never heard of Inkscape used for 3D, and I need to do a simple 3D model for a project, so it's time to move on. I've done quite a bit of 2D and I just use Inkscape as a CAD for that. I've looked at Blender (really tough cookie to swallow), TinkerCAD (browser based, now defunct) and Sketchup (no Linux support) so far but nothing "clicked" and I'm looking for something else now. I am looking for a (preferably free and open source) CAD program that I could run without jumping through additional hoops on my Linux PC (Ubuntu 12.04) with an eye on exporting the models for 3D printing as well as potentially for other types of CNC manufacturing, most often laser cutting (2D) but potentially CNC milling etc. Hello guys, I fully understand that this board may be just a little biased toward FreeCAD but perhaps different people picked a different CAD for a number of different reasons, and I hope that someone can give me a tip on picking the right CAD for the job. ![]()
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