I updated to the 1.1 release candidates, and it’s been great. I do a lot of design for people who are remote, and being able to model things with more complex curves has been a game changer. Sketchup is adequate at the free level and not good enough to convince me to upgrade to paid.
The Assembly workbench has let me use FreeCAD much more closely to how I think about putting a piece together, and the sketcher-based workflow is a godsend for curved work.
1.1 is a huge leap forward. I delivered a table last year that I modeled for the client in FreeCAD. The model was super rough. I’m designing chairs for it now, and for the first time, I feel like my skills are the limit, and not the software.
If you’ve found it clunky before, it still has its rough edges, but it’s legitimately at the point where I think the good parts are good enough for me to overlook the rough edges and move to FreeCAD almost entirely.
I found FreeCAD extremely easy to use and intuitive. I watched a couple videos and followed-along with the tutorials, then started on my own item. It's a relatively simple 3-part component. I took measurements with digital calipers, and in a few hours was printing the first prototype.
A couple prototypes later (small measurement adjustments to account for plastic shrinkage, etc), I had the final model. Replaced all of the magnet holders since they were sure to go soon, too.
I had fun, and finally used my 3D printer for something "real". Pretty cool.
Maybe this isn't anything new to experience CAD users. I don't know if other CAD tools do this as I started using FreeCAD after playing with 3D printing.
Edit: After opening it up it seems better than before but still not a replacement. I can use the draw tool to create a rectangle but than immediately cannot apply symmetry or equal length constraints until I delete others which shouldn't overlap. Clicking to create a cut or hole opens up a window that does not make it easy to create a new sketch from within or place something from within (but you can just make a sketch were you want something and then open them up and that they lock onto).
I've generally been a pretty harsh critic of FreeCAD because it represents the only entry in the market of linux CAD and it has frustrated me that it does not just do what is known to work. This seems usable. Still annoying, still not a replacement, but usable. So progress.
Release Notes: https://wiki.freecad.org/Release_notes_1.1
This space lacks good opensource solution.
I have tried creating my parts, tried tinkercad (which is simple but limited)
Tried fusion. And pretty much other things don't support mac.
I've a hunch lots of vibe coders are going to come and launch stuff like freecad and Gimp (which I never liked, can't even get simple tasks done in gimp)
Future is bright for opensource powered by LLM coding on steroids.
I wish they settled on a nicer UX with less visual clutter. I use Blender and it is a _massively_ more complex application in every regard, yet its right-aligned panel and progressive exposure of toolbars feels infinitely more polished than FreeCad's clunky panel (which is often rendered with huge, oversized fields and buttons) and their legendary five-stacked toolbars.
Feels like that satirical Gillette ad, and is much harder to use and navigate, especially since quite a few UX options need to be turned on in Preferences to be usable...
This is best done on some kind of grid background but having a ruler (or two) is usually enough.
One suggestion, print one or two layers first to check the fit. Iterate with that before you print the whole thing.
Another helpful thing is to start drawing things parametrically. This should be familiar to programmers. You're using variables and you want to design things primarily through relationships. This becomes a huge unlock because scaling your parts becomes much easier
But once I saw their “philosophy” as it were, everything became so much easier.
Most importantly: I've got a 11 y/o and I think it's cool for the kid to see how it works.
Already watch a few vids. Doesn't look too hard for simple things.
There is no evidence here the latest update was vibe coded. It's fairly offensive to devalue the work that the FreeCAD developers put in like this.
It would be nice for there to be a more modern open source modeling library.
it's still tough to turn it into something i can then keep fiddling with in freecad though
put on "tron: ares" in the background to fully appreciate the model designing something that will be 3d-printed :)
Wasn't just printing other people's designs.
Great feeling to measure and design something then have it fit perfectly.
I think that's much easier as you don't have to go back and forth with a spreadsheet.
This is single want to give it another chance
Previously I'd get my calipers first and try to model using the direct measurements. The key point imo of the video was to take photos and model based on the photos, and then correct the measurements with your recorded measurements second.
For example, I made a gasket for my mini PC awhile ago using FreeCAD. Designing it was a hell until I discovered the Sheet Metal Workbench in the plugin manager, and just like that, I got it designed & manufactured within ~4 days.
During my experience, most of my time was spent on learning how to use the Sheet Metal Workbench as well as how it interacts with other FreeCAD builtin features. FreeCAD itself is not that hard to learn.
Also, there are Piping Workbench too if you want to work on pipes, Wood Work Workbench if you want to do wood work etc, see: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons. Use the correct workbench for the right job will save you a lot of time.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245787716-freecad-beginn...
and will be adding it to my next Amazon order.
It is hackable with languages other than Python too. The Python interpreter has no restrictions to access and execute everything it likes. Contrast this with Gimp, which it's Scheme interpreter cannot access anything except objects inside Gimp.
This opens some security hole risks in Freecad, given that plugins can execute arbitrary code in the user's machine, but that means one can write C, C++, Rust and automate the gui.
Freecad btw, very unfortunately, it loads each .so external library only once, and it will load the library only with different name or version number. I lost 5 hours messing up with Python versions and .venv installations till I figured that out.
There was a PDF I had a while back (can't remember the name) which has a bunch of shapes you had to design in a 3D CAD program, with some guiding measurements.
The shapes got harder to create as you progressed through the book. That was a good, fun way to sharpen my skills after I learned the basics.
DeltaHedra, another great YouTube channel, also released a good video that shows the previous and this version next to each other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYdobpjTypg
I don't know hat version FreeCAD is actually bundling, but from GitHub it looks like a fork of 7.8.1?
A B
width 2mm
length 3mm
After an enormous amount of work and dedication from FreeCAD contributors we are delighted to announce that FreeCAD Version 1.1 is now released and available for download.
There are significant amounts of improvements and new features. These include; transparent Part Design previews, interactive draggers added to tools like Fillet and Chamfer, 3 point lighting, a Clarify Selection tool, Assembly and FEM improvements and animations, a totally new CAM tool library system and much much more.
For a full list of changes and new features check out the Release Notes and if you want to support the ongoing development of FreeCAD then do consider making a donation!