Generally speaking, I will recommend software based on the audience’s core competency.
As of FreeCAD 1.0 I can’t in good conscience recommend against trying it, especially anyone that is new and just learning the principles of parametric CAD.
I get that it is still not as easy, and it’s especially hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, but I feel anyone that is willing to learn how to use CAD in the first place can now learn how to use FreeCAD.
I have personally found it very fulfilling to learn FreeCAD in the last year and know I’m no longer tied to any source of enshittification in my 3D printing pipeline. (Shoutouts to MangoJelly and Deltahedran on YouTube btw.)
I also feel that as that audience grows for FreeCAD and its popularity rises, that in turn helps the users of the proprietary software. Healthy competition is important after all!
I used it a couple of weeks ago to create a replacement part for my canon 6D. I lost the top dial lol.
But in general, my interests are to create lens adapters and optics to use with my camera and my UV alternative photography printing projects.
My initial purchase for my 3D printer was to print IEMs and custom iem ear protection. Somehow I made the numbers work for my wife’s approval. And indeed I was able to 3D scan a silicon mold of my inner ear canal and then used blender and UGNX to create an IEM geometry. From there it was simple to get it sliced for the mars 3 printer. I totally hate that there’s not really a good opensource slicer for it on Linux. So design and slice on windows and then go back home to Linux until this last little camera part when I finally decided to do everything on Linux. FreeCAD for the design and the Linux slicer for the mars printer.
I started with FreeCAD 1.1 a few weeks ago, with virtually no CAD experience. Because I screw things up and change my mind a lot, the parametric approach has been rewarding.
Generally speaking, I will recommend software based on the audience’s core competency.
As of FreeCAD 1.0 I can’t in good conscience recommend against trying it, especially anyone that is new and just learning the principles of parametric CAD.
I get that it is still not as easy, and it’s especially hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, but I feel anyone that is willing to learn how to use CAD in the first place can now learn how to use FreeCAD.
I have personally found it very fulfilling to learn FreeCAD in the last year and know I’m no longer tied to any source of enshittification in my 3D printing pipeline. (Shoutouts to MangoJelly and Deltahedran on YouTube btw.)
I also feel that as that audience grows for FreeCAD and its popularity rises, that in turn helps the users of the proprietary software. Healthy competition is important after all!
I used it a couple of weeks ago to create a replacement part for my canon 6D. I lost the top dial lol.
But in general, my interests are to create lens adapters and optics to use with my camera and my UV alternative photography printing projects.
My initial purchase for my 3D printer was to print IEMs and custom iem ear protection. Somehow I made the numbers work for my wife’s approval. And indeed I was able to 3D scan a silicon mold of my inner ear canal and then used blender and UGNX to create an IEM geometry. From there it was simple to get it sliced for the mars 3 printer. I totally hate that there’s not really a good opensource slicer for it on Linux. So design and slice on windows and then go back home to Linux until this last little camera part when I finally decided to do everything on Linux. FreeCAD for the design and the Linux slicer for the mars printer.
I started with FreeCAD 1.1 a few weeks ago, with virtually no CAD experience. Because I screw things up and change my mind a lot, the parametric approach has been rewarding.