FreeCAD

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Your own 3D parametric modeler.

www.freecadweb.org

FreeCAD is an open-source parametric 3D modeler made primarily to design real-life objects of any size. Parametric modeling allows you to easily modify your design by going back into your model history and changing its parameters.

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How can we help FreeCad? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey there! I love the idea of freecad. But I have so many troubls learning it. I started with fusion360, used solidworks for some time, used inventor a bit and use onshape mostly now. So I think I know how to navigate and learn new cad software. But its not as easy with freecad sadly.

I Would love this product to be more accessable and easier to use and undertand. What can we do besides jumping in on developing ourselves?

Switching form fusion or onshape to freecad feels like switching from python to assamlby.

So how can we help to improve freecad and make it a more usable program? It seems as if the devs try to reinvent everything and every menue compared to all other cad programs i have used. I am totaly fine with some issues or bugs, but i feel like its not up for success currently.

Thanks a lot, I hope you have some ideas

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Maybe this? https://wiki.freecad.org/Help_FreeCAD

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I have read through that before, though I think the problem is more fundamelntal than what we as a community can do. For most tasks listed, it is necessary to know freecad pretty well, but if I can not even learn it easily, how am I supposed to work on the code, help with bugs or documentation?

I just don't have the time to have a new project and learning freecad or even diving in on development feels like that.

It's not like I could invest 2h into learning a slightly different workflow, which I have already.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Not sure, but maybe write documentation or tutorials for the workflows you describe? I tried to learn CAD a few times, but always gave up :')

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

To be honest I don't really understand the differences between freecad and the other cads other than the ui and the topological issue.

I am absolutely not an expert, but I learned freecad by watching youtube tutorials, if I wanted to learn something like fusion360 I would do the same thing though speaking with friends of mine that use fusion their workflow is basically the same, the only difference is where to click to accomplish the same stuff.

Also, to be honest I am more of a cadquery/build123d than a freecad type, but still I am not quite sure how to really improve the situation.

Maybe someone could write a plugin to change the ui? Like https://wiki.freecad.org/ModernUI_Workbench. Or someone could make an interactive course for freecad. Like https://wiki.freecad.org/MOOC_Workbench but in english.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You just have to invest the time to learn it. There's nothing I've done in other platforms that I haven't been able to do in FreeCAD. I also don't find it harder to learn or more obtuse than other tools I've used (Fusion360, SolidWorks, Blender) - but you do have to understand how to do things the way FreeCAD wants you to. Once you get over that, you'll learn how to work around the limitations and see how truly powerful it is. When you do get stuck, there are tons of YouTube videos to help, and the documentation isn't terrible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think that is pretty much the point. The software expects me to do something a certain way, that just does not click with me and the workflow is not used by other software. So the steps to get there are not as intuitive

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I get that completely - though I'd argue the same is true of Fusion360 and SolidWorks, both of which I've used to varying degrees - and struggled through similar issues of getting the thing to do what I want. After a few projects on FreeCAD, things started to go a lot smoother, at least for me, as I got into the workflow that worked. It can be very frustrating when you get unspecific errors, or going back to change something in an earlier step breaks everything (which is an especially well known issue with FreeCAD, but can happen with any modeling programs).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I started with FreeCAD and therefore luckily never experienced a more intuitive solution. So far I managed to achieve everything I needed mostly using YouTube tutorials and the forum. Although it definitely has some bugs I'm really happy with it. =)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

i just tried it, didnt understand how to constrain a sketch, and quit to find something more intuitive. why cant my mouse click tell the sketch what it is, instead of manually defining all of it geometrically or whatever. maybe i'm just dumb, but thats how it was for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yes, the FreeCAD UI does need an upgrade. With more on-canvas working, and streamlining of tasks. I'm sure it will happen, but due to limited capacity, that will take time. It's hard to find people with experience in CAD and programming and UX.

To help with FreeCAD, the link, posted by someone here, seems the right way to go. https://wiki.freecad.org/Help_FreeCAD

And no, struggling to learn something that is sub par will not make it better for others. Be a part of the community here https://forum.freecad.org