Title basically.

One of my windows computers, which happens to be the one I happen to do the most CAD work on, can’t upgrade to windows 11 due to having an Ivy Bridge era Xenon (it’s an E5-1680 v2 for the curious, older used workstations are fantastic bang for the buck computers).

Switching to Linux on this computer has been in the cards for a while, but I hadn’t been in a hurry to do it. Looks like my hand might be getting forced…

  • IMALlama@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    8·
    2 days ago

    Oh, I know. I am familiar with the fusion workflow and it generally just works - even when you mess with a feature way earlier in your timeline.

    I model some vaguely complex things and find that I often fiddle with things. From the last I looked into it, OSS CAD didn’t handle this very well.

    • Martin Hierholzer@norden.social
      5·
      1 day ago

      @IMALlama well, freecad really improved a lot recently. It may be worth looking again. One problem still may be the many different workflows you can use, some of which may be super inappropriate for complex stuff. I recommend the part design workbench with the sketch feature, combined with a spreadsheet for fully parametric designs. Sketches can now be attached to faces of the object, which is super helpful. Do all the fillets and chamfers at the end, ideally.

      • SW42@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        It really has. As a lover of FOSS I can say that there still is an order of magnitude regarding usability, workflow and robustness of the models between freecad and fusion. I dislike everything about autodesk and its business model but I have to admit that fusion is also my go-to when I need to model something fast.

        • Martin Hierholzer@norden.social
          2·
          1 day ago

          @SW42 When I tried Fusion 360 a while ago, it was the other way round. I didn’t really get the workflow and it was crashing from time to time. I have to admit though it was in a VM and it was the free version only (not sure if that still exists). So your mileage can vary. Also: if you have not tried FreeCAD version 1.x, your experience certainly is outdated.

          • SW42@lemmy.worldEnglish
            31·
            1 day ago

            I used to work as a mechanical engineer, so I am used to CAD Systems since I started with Autocad, went on to Pro/E Wildfire 2, had a stint with NX and Inventor. All of them used productively within the context of professional work.

            Fusion was the first CAD I used for my hobby (3D printing) and it is seriously powerful.

            Freecad the way it is now (and I tried 1.0 as soon as it got out) is akin to the old days where it wouldn’t let you work with a partially defined sketch or implied confinements by hovering/snapping to the line. I feel like I have to get out a piece of paper and plan out my model before I begin modeling, while using fusion I feel I can just pick it up and develop whatever idea I have right then and there.

            It has gotten a lot better - really came a long way since the previous versions where I tried easel as well for the better workflow before 1.0. I never managed to get the same efficiency and usability I get from fusion, despite really trying.

            • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.ukEnglish
              1·
              23 hours ago

              How old are the old days, I used CATIA V5 for a stretch around 20 years ago and I’ve mostly gelled with freecad pretty well (some odd decisions here and there and some bugs, though a lot of those can be attributed to the kernel). I’m wondering if I’ve just got an old CAD head.