CAD Software -- free

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rmac
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by rmac »

benshell wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:51 pm I felt like Fusion 360 was so different from these other applications that even using it for a few years (since it came out) I never became as proficient with it as the others.
This is an interesting comment. Having never seriously used any 3D CAD except Fusion, I have a couple of questions:
  1. What do you mean when you say that Fusion is "so different" than the other CAD programs that you mentioned?
  2. I took a quick look at the website for Atom3D, and from what I saw there it looked a lot like Fusion to me. Is that a fair guess, or are the differences you're talking about something a person wouldn't discover until they got into it a bit?
Thanks,

-- Russell Mac
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Bill Shields
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by Bill Shields »

Having lived with autocad since day one (1981), converting to SOLIDWORKS was very tough.

Understanding SW helped me get going in fusion...but it is a very different way of looking at things. Traditional CAD morphed into doing 3D and solid modelling. Fusion started with a semi-clean slate and learned from (and emulated) what came before (and worked). I avoid saying copied, since in the end, most CAD systems all start looking alike, especially if they are doing solid modeling and using a common kernel.

There are still times when I want a simple 2D sketch and revert to my basic autocad since I can churn one out very quickly...although I use it less and less as I have learned how to do the same in Fusion..

It's the difference of being trained as a 2D paper draughtsman in the 1960's (me) and learning to design with 3D modeling at age 55 (also me) because I needed to create models of machine tools for our CAM software simulation.

If I were to use fusion 40 hours a week for 5-6 months, I would be very productive, but since I use it 4-6 hours a month, and am 70 with a stroke behind me, the learning curve has been (and will continue to be) a bit steeper.

I totally get the complaints about the cloud and all that it entails, but that is part of Autodesk's business model and if you want to play, it's their stadium
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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rmac
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by rmac »

Bill Shields wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:52 pmUnderstanding Solid@orks helped me get going in fusion...but it is a very different way of looking at things.
By "it" here, do you mean that Fusion is very different from SolidWorks? If so, that difference is what I was asking Ben about.
Bill Shields wrote: Traditional CAD morphed into doing 3D and solid modelling. Fusion started with a semi-clean slate and learned from (and emulated) what came before (and worked).
Except for a brief bit of dabbling with SketchUp, Fusion is the only 3D program that I've messed with. So I haven't seen how Fusion might be different than the programs that evolved from earlier 2D versions. Do you think that Fusion is better than the others as a result of having started with that semi-clean slate?
Bill Shields wrote: There are still times when I want a simple 2D sketch and revert to my basic autocad since I can churn one out very quickly...although I use it less and less as I have learned how to do the same in Fusion..
Ditto. As I mentioned, I find that Fusion is not the right tool for simple 2D drawings.
Bill Shields wrote: I totally get the complaints about the cloud and all that it entails, but that is part of Autodesk's business model and if you want to play, it's their stadium.
Having stuff in the cloud doesn't bother me as long as Fusion allows me to save copies of my work locally (which it does). The only irritant for me is that it's sometimes slow.

-- Russ
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warmstrong1955
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by warmstrong1955 »

If you just want simple 2D drawings, try NanoCAD.

-It's free. Once you got it, you got it.
-It's not cloud based, it downloads to your computer
-You can install it on as many computers as you want. I have it on 6.
-It opens all my old .dwg files I made on AutoCAD 2000, & 2004LT, and Draftsight (This was the only free CAD program I found that would do this, which was quite important to me) It will open .dxf's and others as well.

Not quite as easy to navigate as the others mentioned above, but once I figured out where a few of the menus are, (notes & text for one example) it's not a big deal. Most things are pretty much the same, so it's a quick learning curve.
I've been using it since 2017, when Draftsight decided free wasn't free anymore, and it'll be $250.00 a year if ya wanna keep it. Free is a good price for a guy who makes drawings for a bushing or pin on his tractor, a gear for his travelling sprinkler, or a wind chime that's in tune.

https://nanocad.com/products/nanocad-free/
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RSG
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by RSG »

benshell wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:51 pm Not free, but for the last year I’ve been using Alibre Atom3D:
https://www.alibre.com/atom3d/
Ben, knowing the program like you do would it be safe to say I could render this in the program without much difficulty?

Image
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benshell
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by benshell »

rmac wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:38 pm
benshell wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:51 pm I felt like Fusion 360 was so different from these other applications that even using it for a few years (since it came out) I never became as proficient with it as the others.
This is an interesting comment. Having never seriously used any 3D CAD except Fusion, I have a couple of questions:
  1. What do you mean when you say that Fusion is "so different" than the other CAD programs that you mentioned?
  2. I took a quick look at the website for Atom3D, and from what I saw there it looked a lot like Fusion to me. Is that a fair guess, or are the differences you're talking about something a person wouldn't discover until they got into it a bit?
Thanks,

-- Russell Mac
I missed the replies here, and it has been awhile now since I've used Fusion, but the biggest difference that affects my workflow is assembly constraints. Actually, I think Fusion calls them joints. In Autodesk Mechanical Desktop, Inventor, Solidworks, and Alibre, you assemble parts with constraints, e.g. on a plane or axis. Typically you'd need 2 or 3 constraints to fully constrain a part. Let's say you want to stack two cubes: you'd add three "plane" constraints on the sides. Fusion doesn't even have this concept: they use Joints, and expect that your parts all have holes or something to line up with a single joint. In the case of solid blocks, you can create a joint off one corner and assemble them with just a single joint. That's great, fewer steps right? But, what if the cube has rounded corners? It still has six sides, so planar constraints work exactly the same. But you can't join on a single corner when you don't have a corner! Now it's a huge pain, and you basically have to create "points" first where the corners should be, and then you can create your joint off those points. Since I do a lot of design for welding with tubing, the rounded corners issue comes up all the time. I also design for 3D printing, where I add chamfers and fillets everywhere, making assembly constraints in Fusion a huge pain.

I also prefer the way Alibre handles sketch constraints, global variables, and 2D drawings. And I like that Alibre works with my local computer filesystem rather than pushing users into the cloud.
RSG wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:02 am
benshell wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 8:51 pm Not free, but for the last year I’ve been using Alibre Atom3D:
https://www.alibre.com/atom3d/
Ben, knowing the program like you do would it be safe to say I could render this in the program without much difficulty?

Image
Yes this could be created in Alibre Atom3D. There might be a couple tricky details but it shouldn't be too bad.
Ben Shell
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Bill Shields
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by Bill Shields »

the spring will be a bear in most any CAD / solid modelling package, as will be the hand....
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Steggy
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by Steggy »

My experience with free (as in “free beer”) CAD has not been positive. While a lot of Open Source Software (OSS) is good-to-excellent (vidi Linux), that quality seems to be strongly influenced by how many in the OSS development community are likely to be end-users as well as developers. So far, CAD doesn't seem to be in that category of software.
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earlgo
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Re: CAD Software -- free

Post by earlgo »

When I was working for a large company as a mechanical design engineer, the drafting/modelling software of choice was Solid Works. I had an opportunity to use the software at home, so I downloaded it. After my personal Autocad license ran out and the SolidWorks license ran out, I looked for an alternate. I found Onshape. https://www.onshape.com It is very similar to SolidWorks, but slightly more complicated. There are 4 versions, free and professional. In the free version, everything you do is available to anyone logged into the site. The professional versions are not available to anyone but your cohorts in the list you provide. The monthly fees for the professional versions are explained. I don't draw anything but hobby stuff, so I don't care if a wooden box or odd sized toolmaker clamp is shared.
It too can import 3D models from McMaster Carr and other *.dxf files. You cans set up your own drawing sheet and import titles and materials and other info from the models. But you need to add dimensions to the imported models. If you change a dimension from the model, the software underlines the text so you know it is different.
Additionally, there are online self-learning videos and help information. It really is a very good software source.
--earlgo
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