I am not a design draftsman, I’m not an engineer. My workflow is usually: I put something on the scanner, load the calibrated scan, trace the outline, throw a few sketches on various planes in there, round a few edges, print it and I’m done.
Fusion 360 scratches that itch very well but requires me to keep a Windows VM and also their free model felt more and more unusable. OnShape is a nice substitute that works fine for me, but I don’t like the “free or 1500€/year” approach. Without a middle ground subscription for makers it feels that I could lose anything the second their energy prices for servers go up or something.
The list of CAD software is exhaustive, so I am looking for recommendations that fit my “eh, click, click, click, good enough” workflow. FreeCAD is way too unintiuitive for that. I have tried getting into it, but 3D printing is a tool for me and the learning curve quickly made using it another hobby.
So. Suggestions welcome. Scalding criticism about my lack of enthusiasm and consumer mentality not so much, but I guess that comes bundled with useful advice, so, eh, I’ll take it.
Yup. At this point, “locally installed, reliable, parametric modeling on Linux” = “FreeCAD, including Ondsel, and SolveSpace”. That’s it. Well, there’s code-to-CAD as well, which obviously retains parametric history, but goes about it very differently than a design tree.
For non-parametric modeling, BricsCAD and Plasticity enter the discussion. For parametric on the web, OnShape works very well but I hate their licensing scheme and the huge doughnut hole in their pricing model.
I was quite amazed reading NopHead’s blog a while back because he uses OpenSCAD exclusively, even managing to design an entire printer and its upgrades in there. I didn’t think any sane person could do this.