CAD software for the modern day hobbiest?

AverageDutchGuy said:

Keep in mind though, this is for 3DEXPERIENCE Solidworks for Makers, which is a cloud based version of Solidworks, not the "normal" Solidworks. Might not matter for everyone, but I for one don't like browser based "always online" solutions. Unfortunately that basically rules out pretty much every single affordable semi-professional CAD offering currently.

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It isn't browser based. You install Solidworks on your computer. You can even create a desktop shortcut so you don't have to launch it via the 3DExperience website. You can save everything locally on your computer and basically not really use the cloudy stuff at all. It is the full version of Solidworks as well, just with the Maker restrictions on usage.

If you want to look at something else Siemens do a hobbyist license version of Solid Edge. Solid Edge is comparable with Solidworks. This Solid Edge is also the full version (with similar license restrictions to Solidworks Maker version) and is completely free. It is all installed locally and has no cloud component at all.

mlewis said:

It isn't browser based. You install Solidworks on your computer. You can even create a desktop shortcut so you don't have to launch it via the 3DExperience website. You can save everything locally on your computer and basically not really use the cloudy stuff at all. It is the full version of Solidworks as well, just with the Maker restrictions on usage.

If you want to look at something else Siemens do a hobbyist license version of Solid Edge. Solid Edge is comparable with Solidworks. This Solid Edge is also the full version (with similar license restrictions to Solidworks Maker version) and is completely free. It is all installed locally and has no cloud component at all.

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Ok, that is different from what the website of Solidworks Maker edition led me to believe then. I may have been misled by the line: "3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS® for Makers comes with cloud-connected and browser-based 3D CAD design and modeling tools that will help you make anything you want" (bold by me) but reading deeper on different parts of the site indeed it does seem that it's the 3DEXPERIENCE bit that comes with some browser based stuff/tools and you can then install the normal Solidworks from that "browser portal". So I stand corrected.

That does make it worth considering. I still like working with Solidworks the best out of all the 3D CAD programs I've tried (Solidworks, Solid Edge, Fusion 360, FreeCAD, NX). It just matches my preferred/natural workflow and way of thinking the best.

Admittedly it's been a long time since I tried Solid Edge and at the time I still had a student license for Solidworks (which is what I learned for my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering) but I never quite got along with it.

AverageDutchGuy said:

Ok, that is different from what the website of Solidworks Maker edition led me to believe then. I may have been misled by the line: "3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS® for Makers comes with cloud-connected and browser-based 3D CAD design and modeling tools that will help you make anything you want" (bold by me) but reading deeper on different parts of the site indeed it does seem that it's the 3DEXPERIENCE bit that comes with some browser based stuff/tools and you can then install the normal Solidworks from that "browser portal". So I stand corrected.

That does make it worth considering. I still like working with Solidworks the best out of all the 3D CAD programs I've tried (Solidworks, Solid Edge, Fusion 360, FreeCAD, NX). It just matches my preferred/natural workflow and way of thinking the best.

Admittedly it's been a long time since I tried Solid Edge and at the time I still had a student license for Solidworks (which is what I learned for my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering) but I never quite got along with it.

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There is a browser based CAD tool in 3DExpeirence - X Shape. It is for creating more organic shapes. I haven't used it. Personally I prefer Solidworks over Solid Edge as well. I use both in my actual job. They each have their own quirks.

One place I've found Fusion 360 to be superior to SolidWorks is when you need to do something with SVG or vector images. F360 will happily import those into a sketch without issue whereas SW either won't read them (SVG) or will do horrible things in trying to read the data (DXF, AI - which requires Illustrator to be installed locally).

I've found myself keeping F360 installed just to read in SVG files like logos which I save out as a STEP file so SW can open those up without issue. Then I convert the outline to new sketches and copy those over to the part I'm working on. It's not elegant, but it works.

I started on Sketchup and it was pretty decent like 10 years ago but meh, I outgrew that. I used Fusion for a while but got tired of the constant switchy-foot with the licensing. Onshape seems like a nice package, but again for my hobby-level stuff it isn't amazing and I worry about losing my stuff. So, over the years I've learned how to use FreeCAD and it's gotten a lot better but you still need to be mindful how you construct a part or it'll get all wonky with the topological naming issues. Parametric CAD is cool though, I like being able to drive a design from a spreadsheet.

But lo, a challenger appears! Ondsel took on FreeCAD's development and in a relatively short time they've massively improved the user experience. Still Free, but you can certainly throw them some money and get some collaboration tools. Toponaming is still a thing, but the work is being done.

One thing I struggle with in FreeCAD is anything resembling an organic shape. Curves are weird to lock down and I regularly argue with the sweep and loft tools. So, I got really nutty and imported my mesh files into Blender to do some post-processing to add nicely rounded stuff, textures, whatever. But dear Lord is that software obtuse.

Aurich said:

I'm curious about Plasticity: https://www.plasticity.xyz

No subscriptions, not expensive.

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Interesting. Although it would want repurchased occasionally, as it's for a year of updates and then stick with whatever the last version was. So perpetual license (to a fixed version) rather than lifetime (like I purchase for Displayfusion, Daemon tools, etc). I may take them up on that 30 day trial.

AverageDutchGuy said:

cloud-connected and browser-based

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I have no problems saving the gcode and using it on our cnc's custom web/ routers

Dune3D seems to be pretty nice for very basic FOSS CA https://docs.dune3d.org/en/latest/

Similar to SolveSpace but has fillets and chamfers.

Doesn't have lofting and sweeps yet though.

For programmatic modeling I've been playing w/ CadQuery which does have lofting and sweeps.