3D CAD choices...

[kb58]

I forgot to add my main reason for avoiding a subscription product: I plan to retire in the next few years. Whatever CAD I get, I'm going to fully learn and stick with it. Because of that, I'm willing to spend $$$ on something, but don't want to end up playing $$$$$$ over the many years I'd like to think that I'd own/use it.

This whole "it's just pennies a month" is a sneaky way to drain people's bank accounts without them noticing, and so many services are heading that way...

 

[Aaron_W]

I forgot to add my main reason for avoiding a subscription product: I plan to retire in the next few years. Whatever CAD I get, I'm going to fully learn and stick with it. Because of that, I'm willing to spend $$$ on something, but don't want to end up playing $$$$$$ over the many years I'd like to think that I'd own/use it.

This whole "it's just pennies a month" is a sneaky way to drain people's bank accounts without them noticing, and so many services are heading that way...

I really dislike the subscription model. For a business that may need to have the latest and greatest version I guess it kind of makes sense, but for occasional use like a hobbyist it doesn't. I might go months without using a program, and it would drive me crazy knowing I was paying for it.

I've been using the X3 version of Corel Draw since 2006, it still works just fine for my needs despite the fact Corel has released 10 versions since then. Corel does at least allow you to buy Draw upfront for $500 without updates instead of paying the $250 / yr to have the latest version.

Don't even get me started on all this cloud based stuff....

 

[devils4ever]

I started with Fusion 360 and was wary of them changing their fee structure. They did. So, I switched to FreeCAD. I haven't looked back. It's not as polished, but it's functional for my needs (milling). The latest version (0.19) is vastly better and getting really good. Try it. It's free!

 

[Badabinski]

I'll add my +1 for OnShape. I would be willing to pay a decent amount of money for a CAD package, but I run Linux exclusively and none of the popular ones support it. The only CAD packages that run on Linux are either FOSS (which I've tried but struggle to learn), or have cataclysmic price tags. OnShape is great because it just works, no matter where you're accessing it from. Coming from Autodesk Inventor, I've found it very easy to pick up and use. I really don't care if someone can come and look at the files for my solid steel yarn winder, I just want to be able to model them and create prints.

 

[7milesup]

The cloud thingy really gets me. I want my stuff on my computer, not floating around in cyberspace.

 

[Aaron_W]

I started with Fusion 360 and was wary of them changing their fee structure. They did. So, I switched to FreeCAD. I haven't looked back. It's not as polished, but it's functional for my needs (milling). The latest version (0.19) is vastly better and getting really good. Try it. It's free!

I've found some good tutorials for FreeCAD. My favorite so far is Thehardwareguy, he has a number of FreeCAd tutorials and tends to get right to the point instead of rambling on like some do.

Thehardwareguy FreeCAD tutorial playlist

 

[devils4ever]

I'll add my +1 for OnShape. I would be willing to pay a decent amount of money for a CAD package, but I run Linux exclusively and none of the popular ones support it. The only CAD packages that run on Linux are either FOSS (which I've tried but struggle to learn), or have cataclysmic price tags. OnShape is great because it just works, no matter where you're accessing it from. Coming from Autodesk Inventor, I've found it very easy to pick up and use. I really don't care if someone can come and look at the files for my solid steel yarn winder, I just want to be able to model them and create prints.

FreeCAD runs on Linux.

 

[Badabinski]

FreeCAD runs on Linux.

I've actually tried it, but I've continually struggled to use it. I go through this cycle where I'll read the docs, try using it again, get frustrated, give up, and go back to OnShape. I spend the majority of my time in a command line on all of my computers because I really dislike most GUIs, so I struggle with poor UX and UI design that FreeCAD suffers from. I've heard that it's a brilliant piece of software, but I'm so bad at navigating anything that isn't a CLI or TUI that I just can't use it.

I'll probably end up biting the bullet and learning OpenSCAD, because I really like the thought of modeling directly via code rather than the indirect code generation of most modern parametric CAD systems.

 

[7milesup]

I've actually tried it, but I've continually struggled to use it. I go through this cycle where I'll read the docs, try using it again, get frustrated, give up, and go back to OnShape. I spend the majority of my time in a command line on all of my computers because I really dislike most GUIs, so I struggle with poor UX and UI design that FreeCAD suffers from. I've heard that it's a brilliant piece of software, but I'm so bad at navigating anything that isn't a CLI or TUI that I just can't use it.

I'll probably end up biting the bullet and learning OpenSCAD, because I really like the thought of modeling directly via code rather than the indirect code generation of most modern parametric CAD systems.

That seems like a giant step backward, by about 3 decades.

 

[Badabinski]

That seems like a giant step backward, by about 3 decades.

I would disagree (modern Linux shells are far, far more advanced and user-friendly than the basic interfaces available in the 80s and 90s), but I won't go into it because I'd rather not derail this thread. I'll just say that personally, I'm far more efficient and have a much easier time reasoning about what my computer is doing when I'm typing commands and writing one-line shell scripts to automate annoying tasks.