Any FreeCAD tips / recommendations for a Fusion 360 Refugee?

[Ray Price]

Fusion 360's latest Collaborative Hub experience is a hot mess, and I'm about ready to drop Fusion if I can find a suitable replacement.  Initially I looked at SolidWorks but that one is way above my pay grade, so I'm looking elsewhere.

I read Charles G's FreeCAD 1.0 thread from about a month ago and I'm intrigued.  I've got 1.1.1 up and running and started going through some of the Wiki, and have watched the youtube intro for Fusion 360 users that was based on 0.19.

I'm continuing to look for other tips and intros, so if anyone has any recommendations or general comments let me know.

I saw the comments on Plasticity, but I think my requirements for specific measurements and fractional mm sizing for what I do probably takes it out of the running.

Thanks!

[Bryan Eckert]

Solidworks has a maker license for $15/month or $48/year:

https://www.solidworks.com/solution/solidworks-makers

You could give it a try and see for a month. I have it though rarely use it. Not sure why I continue it.

Plasticity does do fractional mm sizing, and formulas. They also have a 30 day free demo. It's very different than other CAD programs though, more of an artist tool workflow, which I picked right up on since I use Maya and other 3D modeling tools. I just used it this weekend to design some insta360 camera stick clamps for my touring bike rack.

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[Lee Foulkes]

im really into shapr3d. £20 a month a bit steep yes. Although not compared to a coffee in a popular coffee house. I only have a A14 chip 11” iPad Air and it still works great. On a 13” M4 or M5 chip iPad (drooling). I can only dream.

It’s just so easy to use. So intuitive. Not layers of menus and settings. Sit down on the sofa with a cup of tea - Apple Pencil in hand and dream up some crazy prints.

3MF output is great, the stl output not so much.

[Bryan Eckert]

Shapr3D is really cool, and really works great with the pencil

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[Sean]

As far as FreeCad the best resource I've seen is the tutorials that the MangojellySolutions channel on YouTube. Their tutorials are direct and the next video builds on skills you learned previously. 

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[Ray Price]

Thanks for the recommendations.

Solidworks - while the maker level price is attractive, technically I'm beyond the $2,000 / year limit on generated income.  Will have to think about it.

Shapr3D - looks promising, will have to dive into it more to see if it would match with how I've grown up designing projects.  My methodology follows the draw 2D with exact measurements  and then extrude / modify to build up to what I need.  Will have to see how well that works in Shapr3D

I'm working my way through Mangojelly's tutorials and they are very good.  I'm impressed with the depth available in FreeCAD, but haven't gotten into actually modeling my example project yet.  The modeling seems a bit cumbersome / more complicated than Fusion, but that might just be my bias, not having much experience with it yet.

Thanks again.

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[Ed Street]

SolidWorks Maker's License is prohibited for commercial use.  So that's kinda out.  I do use Shapr3d and have a pro license.  It is amazing and superb for use, and it does not care about commercial use; in fact, it's welcomed.

Yes, Shapr3d works well with a pencil. I have used it on an iPad with a pencil/stylus, and a Surface Studio with styluses and a touchscreen.  Touch screens are a whole new level for 3D modeling work.

$24.92 / month ($299 / year) is what? HALF the cost of Fusion 360?

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

Yeah.. Shapr3D with a pen is real slick.

[Ray Price]

I'll give Shapr3D a spin to see how it goes.  I have a WACOM tablet for my desktop, so might give that a try and if it works out, that would give me an excuse to get a tablet :)

Cost wise, I'm an early adopter of Fusion so I'm grandfathered in for an annual subscription of $300.

Any ideas if either FreeCAD or Shapr3D would be able to import my Fusion library in a CAD editable form?  I tried importing a STEP file from Fusion into FreeCAD and it came in fine, just didn't know enough about FreeCAD yet to see if I could then modify the import.

So it comes down to keeping the current budget with Shapr3D or freeing up some cash with FreeCAD.

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[Ed Street]

I import step files all the time. 

[Lee Foulkes]

iPad 13” M5 Chip.🤤with Apple Pencil 🤤 🤤 

I can’t afford one and really could get by with my 4th gen air. But by golly they (apple) and thier army of YouTube shrills have convinced me I must have one. Im not sure I can resist much longer.

Uk cell networks do a kind of hire purchase. £50 per month. Resist, resist!