the ui is actually pretty good when you get used to it imo, it’s just that it’s very busy and intimidating for beginners
I think there should just be a simple builtin tutorial that beginners can access, that guides them through making a cylinder or something to assure them that freecad isn’t as intimidating as it looks
That’s a good idea, and I think that teaching yourself parametric CAD for the first time in freecad is extra difficult because it is easy to do things that look like they may work but actually break you model (especially dragging stuff around in the hierarchy).
I’m a mechanical engineer and have spent literal years in front of Creo and SolidWorks. Trying to use FreeCAD felt like flying a Cessna 172 after being accustomed to a business jet; they can ostensibly get you where you need to go, but the cost in effort to use the tool is not worth the cost saved in buying the commercial tool.
Onshape and Fusion360 both have tons of great tutorials available, and they are completely free for non-commercial use. There is a reason those are used by almost everyone in the 3d printing community.
“And they are completely free for non-commercial use.” I have seen both of their “community” or “maker” tiers get worse over time; the terms of those licenses becoming less permissive. I’ve been told by an Autodesk employee that it doesn’t exist for Fusion360. “There is no free software here.” I suggest against building anything that matters to you against those platforms.
the ui is actually pretty good when you get used to it imo, it’s just that it’s very busy and intimidating for beginners
I think there should just be a simple builtin tutorial that beginners can access, that guides them through making a cylinder or something to assure them that freecad isn’t as intimidating as it looks
That’s a good idea, and I think that teaching yourself parametric CAD for the first time in freecad is extra difficult because it is easy to do things that look like they may work but actually break you model (especially dragging stuff around in the hierarchy).
I’m a mechanical engineer and have spent literal years in front of Creo and SolidWorks. Trying to use FreeCAD felt like flying a Cessna 172 after being accustomed to a business jet; they can ostensibly get you where you need to go, but the cost in effort to use the tool is not worth the cost saved in buying the commercial tool.
totally get your point but I just don’t want to relearn the cad program when those proprietary options inevitably enshittify lmao
The best parametric CAD tutorials I found were those for OnShape.
Onshape and Fusion360 both have tons of great tutorials available, and they are completely free for non-commercial use. There is a reason those are used by almost everyone in the 3d printing community.
“And they are completely free for non-commercial use.” I have seen both of their “community” or “maker” tiers get worse over time; the terms of those licenses becoming less permissive. I’ve been told by an Autodesk employee that it doesn’t exist for Fusion360. “There is no free software here.” I suggest against building anything that matters to you against those platforms.
As long as you don’t need much, they are free. But, the good stuff is all pay to play.