We operated with just a network share before PDM. It made remote work almost impossible because of how long it took to load and save files to the server. Every time. PDM having a locally cached copy requires so much less network traffic. The only network traffic happening when you check new versions in, instead of as you save all day while working.
Also, the ability to search file properties has made finding existing parts and avoidance of duplicate parts so much easier. With just a network share, the only way to find things was a visual search. Our filenames are part numbers and if you didnât know where to look, finding parts took forever. Also, nobody has to maintain a spreadsheet cross referencing part numbers to descriptions. Just a recipe for errors to have data in two separate places that arenât linked.
Just because a file is checked out by another user doesnât mean you canât open it for things like insertion into assemblies or to do a SaveAs if you want to explore design changes without affecting the original. The only reason you should be checking out a file is because you intend to change it. Otherwise, itâs read-only to prevent accidental modification. If you need to modify something that someone may have accidentally checked out, just communicate with them and have them check it back in.
You donât even have to touch any âadvancedâ modeling features for FreeCAD to be useful. I primarily use extrudes and revolves of sketches in the Part Design workbench. The workflow is exactly the same as what I do at work every day in SolidWorks.
FreeCAD doesnât let you be as loosey-goosey with geometry as some commercial software. Thatâs because they donât have an army of developers paid to work on ânicetyâ features like that.
I can break SolidWorks models the same way that I can break FreeCAD models. No CAD software is immune to this. Some fail more gracefully than others. It doesnât mean itâs unusable. You should have seen the repairs I had to make to a SolidWorks model today because I needed to convert a generic extruded feature into a sheetmetal featureâŚ. It took a few minutes, but itâs no different than fixing things in FreeCAD because you changed the design.
It was a massively frustrating match. I completely agree that the officiating of this match was pathetic. I canât blame the guys for feeling like they were playing against an extra man. The ref and VAR unnecessarily inserted themselves into the game and just flipped it on its head. So disappointing.
It was a ton of fun to watch! Iâm so glad Morris got that goal. He deserves to score for how often he makes plays happen for others. Yeboahâs pass for Cucho was a thing of beauty.
Doesnât anyone know why Matan wasnât in the lineup?
Great win for the good guys today. Hope Farsiâs injury isnât bad. Glad to see Schulte get a clean sheet to start the season and Cucho already with his first goal. Too bad it wasnât two with the penalty.
When I want to extrude text in FreeCAD, I will create it as a SVG in Inkscape and import the SVG. I then make Shape binders of the SVG bodies and extrude them.
Iâve used Shapestrings for text, but itâs no fun. I find it easier to make in Inkscape.
Every CAD program has buttons for functions you may never use for the types of objects you design. A lot of commercial CAD has taken the approach of defaulting to a basic limited set of buttons that most people use. You can usually customize the interface to add any extra functionality you need. FreeCAD puts everything out there by default and you also have the option to customize to your needs. How can they possibly know what you need? As soon as they leave something out, theyâll be crucified for it. Damned if they do, damned if they donât.
With respect to tutorials âdroning on about useless shitâ, Iâll bet there are a lot of fundamentals being explained that are critical to understanding typical CAD workflows. Itâs not just FreeCAD. These same fundamentals apply to SolidWorks, Creo, Onshape, F360, etc⌠Itâs all generally the same.
The people that I see complain about FreeCAD often say they have no experience and that itâs because FreeCAD is somehow bad. I use SolidWorks every day at work and I use FreeCAD at home. I had no trouble learning FreeCAD because the modeling methods are the same. All CAD shares some common problems that you learn to avoid by experience. However, you need to learn the basics and make some mistakes to get good at it.
Many people start with intensely complex parts and get upset when they canât make what they want. Practice with easy parts and experiment with different methods. Often, there is more than one way to make something in CAD. Some might be better than others, but itâs situationally dependent.
Learn the basics, practice, and keep learning and youâll be fine regardless of what CAD you use.
If the filament comes in a resealable bag, I simply store the spool in there with some desiccant. For everything else, I use resealable 2-gallon bags with desiccant. My basement humidity is very stable around 30%, and I donât really have issues. Iâve never dried filament before printing. Thatâs going on 6 years.
I feel like I saw something today that had the tone that he might not be back next year, which would be a bummer. He was so good at swinging corners in.
I really have enjoyed their style of play this season. Their time of possession was astonishing and the absolute hustle out of all of them was so great to watch. The number of times that opposing defenders would be outrun on long balls was awesome. I canât get over how fast our guys are, especially Farsi and Yeboah.
This is a TEAM, and not a collection of individuals.
If you are used to using F360 or SolidWorks, this is the version of FreeCAD you should be using. It doesnât have the TNP problems that the main branch has. Of course, just like commercial CAD, itâs possible to break models by deleting references, and youâll have to fix them. Experienced users of CAD know this is always possible.
Iâve been using RealThunderâs branch of FreeCAD for a few years and Iâm able to do whatever I want, pretty much just like I do in SolidWorks in my day job. Most of my time is spent in the PartDesign workbench, which is really what most people designing for 3D printing should be using.
Remember that youâre using software built and maintained by volunteers. If you want constant improvement, youâre better off paying people whose sole job it is to work on the software. Itâs up to you to decide if itâs worth paying for.
I also have this question. What is so different about the workflow between FreeCAD and other 3D CAD software? If you can do one, you can do the others.
I would love for you to explain how the workflow is any different than in something like SolidWorks? I use SolidWorks in my day job and I use FreeCAD exclusively for my personal projects. It was a pretty seamless transition for me. Sketch->Feature, repeat, paying attention to order of operations in your model tree. Whatâs so different?
Is FreeCADâs UI a little rough in places? Perhaps, but a lot of the things that people complain about in FreeCAD are present in commercial software. If thereâs one thing that SolidWorks might do better is allowing you to get away with things like over-defining geometry accidentally. Itâs more forgiving of lazy modeling.
FreeCAD has improved significantly in just the last few years. There is a good community around it. We need more people using it and learning how to model.
Like others have said, Autodesk is a piece of shit company that continues to be customer hostile. They pulled the rug out from underneath users years ago with F360.
FreeCAD is a good alternative. A lot of people complain about the UI polish, and complain that models break. I'll admit that the UI isn't as polished as commercial software like F360 or SolidWorks. However, it's just as easy to break models in SolidWorks as it is in FreeCAD. I've been using 3D CAD for over 20 years, and it's always been a problem. Even with all of my experience, I still have to fix references that get broken as I make design changes. The more you use 3D CAD, the less you run into situations like this because you're able to think ahead and avoid them. Talk to any experienced CAD user and they'll tell you the same thing.
The workflows of FreeCAD are just like commercial software for most functions. There are definitely features that commercial software has that FreeCAD doesn't, but that's where you have to make the judgement about whether it's worth it to pay for it.
For me, I'll continue to use FreeCAD for my personal projects. I use SolidWorks at work, but we have different demands there, and it's worth the company paying the maintenance for it.
We operated with just a network share before PDM. It made remote work almost impossible because of how long it took to load and save files to the server. Every time. PDM having a locally cached copy requires so much less network traffic. The only network traffic happening when you check new versions in, instead of as you save all day while working.
Also, the ability to search file properties has made finding existing parts and avoidance of duplicate parts so much easier. With just a network share, the only way to find things was a visual search. Our filenames are part numbers and if you didnât know where to look, finding parts took forever. Also, nobody has to maintain a spreadsheet cross referencing part numbers to descriptions. Just a recipe for errors to have data in two separate places that arenât linked.
Just because a file is checked out by another user doesnât mean you canât open it for things like insertion into assemblies or to do a SaveAs if you want to explore design changes without affecting the original. The only reason you should be checking out a file is because you intend to change it. Otherwise, itâs read-only to prevent accidental modification. If you need to modify something that someone may have accidentally checked out, just communicate with them and have them check it back in.
You donât even have to touch any âadvancedâ modeling features for FreeCAD to be useful. I primarily use extrudes and revolves of sketches in the Part Design workbench. The workflow is exactly the same as what I do at work every day in SolidWorks.
FreeCAD doesnât let you be as loosey-goosey with geometry as some commercial software. Thatâs because they donât have an army of developers paid to work on ânicetyâ features like that.
I can break SolidWorks models the same way that I can break FreeCAD models. No CAD software is immune to this. Some fail more gracefully than others. It doesnât mean itâs unusable. You should have seen the repairs I had to make to a SolidWorks model today because I needed to convert a generic extruded feature into a sheetmetal featureâŚ. It took a few minutes, but itâs no different than fixing things in FreeCAD because you changed the design.
I just hope none of the injuries are serious.
It was a massively frustrating match. I completely agree that the officiating of this match was pathetic. I canât blame the guys for feeling like they were playing against an extra man. The ref and VAR unnecessarily inserted themselves into the game and just flipped it on its head. So disappointing.
I think I heard that the ref has been in the league for 13 years. Iâm not sure how given how awful he was.
Reminds of this classic clip of Jerry Glanville letting a NFL ref know how he feels đ
https://youtu.be/vxGEOEOylNA?si=7byN1YtOMDuQCN0T
It was a ton of fun to watch! Iâm so glad Morris got that goal. He deserves to score for how often he makes plays happen for others. Yeboahâs pass for Cucho was a thing of beauty.
Doesnât anyone know why Matan wasnât in the lineup?
I like how we never stop attacking and hustle. Thatâs the thing that impresses me most about this team: hustle.
You can also see in other teams that they rely on one player to carry them. With this Crew squad, everyone is dangerous and gives it their all.
Great win for the good guys today. Hope Farsiâs injury isnât bad. Glad to see Schulte get a clean sheet to start the season and Cucho already with his first goal. Too bad it wasnât two with the penalty.
When I want to extrude text in FreeCAD, I will create it as a SVG in Inkscape and import the SVG. I then make Shape binders of the SVG bodies and extrude them.
Iâve used Shapestrings for text, but itâs no fun. I find it easier to make in Inkscape.
Every CAD program has buttons for functions you may never use for the types of objects you design. A lot of commercial CAD has taken the approach of defaulting to a basic limited set of buttons that most people use. You can usually customize the interface to add any extra functionality you need. FreeCAD puts everything out there by default and you also have the option to customize to your needs. How can they possibly know what you need? As soon as they leave something out, theyâll be crucified for it. Damned if they do, damned if they donât.
With respect to tutorials âdroning on about useless shitâ, Iâll bet there are a lot of fundamentals being explained that are critical to understanding typical CAD workflows. Itâs not just FreeCAD. These same fundamentals apply to SolidWorks, Creo, Onshape, F360, etc⌠Itâs all generally the same.
The people that I see complain about FreeCAD often say they have no experience and that itâs because FreeCAD is somehow bad. I use SolidWorks every day at work and I use FreeCAD at home. I had no trouble learning FreeCAD because the modeling methods are the same. All CAD shares some common problems that you learn to avoid by experience. However, you need to learn the basics and make some mistakes to get good at it.
Many people start with intensely complex parts and get upset when they canât make what they want. Practice with easy parts and experiment with different methods. Often, there is more than one way to make something in CAD. Some might be better than others, but itâs situationally dependent.
Learn the basics, practice, and keep learning and youâll be fine regardless of what CAD you use.
If the filament comes in a resealable bag, I simply store the spool in there with some desiccant. For everything else, I use resealable 2-gallon bags with desiccant. My basement humidity is very stable around 30%, and I donât really have issues. Iâve never dried filament before printing. Thatâs going on 6 years.
I feel like I saw something today that had the tone that he might not be back next year, which would be a bummer. He was so good at swinging corners in.
I really have enjoyed their style of play this season. Their time of possession was astonishing and the absolute hustle out of all of them was so great to watch. The number of times that opposing defenders would be outrun on long balls was awesome. I canât get over how fast our guys are, especially Farsi and Yeboah.
This is a TEAM, and not a collection of individuals.
If you are used to using F360 or SolidWorks, this is the version of FreeCAD you should be using. It doesnât have the TNP problems that the main branch has. Of course, just like commercial CAD, itâs possible to break models by deleting references, and youâll have to fix them. Experienced users of CAD know this is always possible.
Iâve been using RealThunderâs branch of FreeCAD for a few years and Iâm able to do whatever I want, pretty much just like I do in SolidWorks in my day job. Most of my time is spent in the PartDesign workbench, which is really what most people designing for 3D printing should be using.
Remember that youâre using software built and maintained by volunteers. If you want constant improvement, youâre better off paying people whose sole job it is to work on the software. Itâs up to you to decide if itâs worth paying for.
I also have this question. What is so different about the workflow between FreeCAD and other 3D CAD software? If you can do one, you can do the others.
I would love for you to explain how the workflow is any different than in something like SolidWorks? I use SolidWorks in my day job and I use FreeCAD exclusively for my personal projects. It was a pretty seamless transition for me. Sketch->Feature, repeat, paying attention to order of operations in your model tree. Whatâs so different?
Is FreeCADâs UI a little rough in places? Perhaps, but a lot of the things that people complain about in FreeCAD are present in commercial software. If thereâs one thing that SolidWorks might do better is allowing you to get away with things like over-defining geometry accidentally. Itâs more forgiving of lazy modeling.
FreeCAD has improved significantly in just the last few years. There is a good community around it. We need more people using it and learning how to model.
Like others have said, Autodesk is a piece of shit company that continues to be customer hostile. They pulled the rug out from underneath users years ago with F360.
FreeCAD is a good alternative. A lot of people complain about the UI polish, and complain that models break. I'll admit that the UI isn't as polished as commercial software like F360 or SolidWorks. However, it's just as easy to break models in SolidWorks as it is in FreeCAD. I've been using 3D CAD for over 20 years, and it's always been a problem. Even with all of my experience, I still have to fix references that get broken as I make design changes. The more you use 3D CAD, the less you run into situations like this because you're able to think ahead and avoid them. Talk to any experienced CAD user and they'll tell you the same thing.
The workflows of FreeCAD are just like commercial software for most functions. There are definitely features that commercial software has that FreeCAD doesn't, but that's where you have to make the judgement about whether it's worth it to pay for it.
For me, I'll continue to use FreeCAD for my personal projects. I use SolidWorks at work, but we have different demands there, and it's worth the company paying the maintenance for it.