Time to GROW-UP - 3D Modeling Software

I'm pretty sure that complex geometry would have been impossible to do in Tinkercad

Nifty said:

learning from FreeCad that directly translated to OnShape

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BTW, I need to emphasize this point...

A LOT of stuff (even icons, steps, naming, etc.) directly converted over from FreeCad to OnShape. Everything from creating planes, offsets, lofts, shells, symmetric, etc. etc. etc.

Going from FreeCad to Onshape required me to watch a few videos, but was MUCH easier than learning FreeCad from TinkerCad!

I'm curious if Fusion360 is also relatively similar... but I dare not even go there with my brain about to explode! LOL!

Oh, and I found this video SUPER helpful when learning some of the basics:

Here's a question I can answer. I was using Sketchup Make, but had constant problems and couldn't achieve what I wanted. When I decided to start building some new parts (and built a nice new 350mm Voron 2.4 printer), I decided I needed new software.

I started looking at Fusion 360. But after a week or two, they emailed about new restrictions to the software. It was clear to me that AutoDesk was an unreliable partner if your weren't willing to pay big bucks in the long run.

Then I found DesignSpark Mechanical. Free, even for commercial use. Fully capable.

The downside is that there is a steep learning curve. But after about a month, I seem to have gotten enough learned that I can design complex parts. It will take much longer to be an expert. But, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. And you pay the learning curve with any of this software. Good online community support is available.

Bottom line is that I'm glad to have made the change.

Stick with FreeCad over Onshape. Onshape has too much Cloud/Sharing being forced on you, at least with FreeCad you can save your own files to your hard drive.

RogerR said:

The downside is that there is a steep learning curve.

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Interesting, I've not heard of it before! I looked at a video (albeit briefly) and I immediately noticed stuff that already (in my naivety) looked familiar to what I've seen in the other parametric design tools. That said, if you have SolidWorks and Fusion360 experience AND say the learning curve for it is high, I'll trust you on that!

Redbrickman said:

Stick with FreeCad over Onshape. Onshape has too much Cloud/Sharing being forced on you, at least with FreeCad you can save your own files to your hard drive.

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Honestly, I'm not very concerned about this at all... at least my lame designs being made public / opensoure. I know a lot of people do (and should) have issue with it... especially professionals, but that's not my space.

I've actually found the way OnShape does their cloud to be really nice. I ESPECIALLY like the "versioning" of individual projects. That's pretty cool / helpful vs. saving various files with different versions / names. That said, maybe I'll run into a situation where I wish I had a local file, but I'm also benefiting from having the designs synced with my home computer and my laptop when at my GF's house. Super convenient.

Also, I've found OnShape to be a bit less buggy than FreeCad. When I was doing the loft for my design, Freecad kept hitting problems, where it just "worked" with OnShape. Probably a lot of user-error on my side, but it got the job done easier and quicker for me.

I'm not abandoning FreeCad just yet, but I do find myself going to OnShape more.

That said: I still want to do a lot of design in Tinkercad since I know how to use it so much more... since it was my go-to for the past 3 years. I can only imagine how I'd be with a parametric tool if I had been learning that instead for the last 3 years!

Ya, I've hit a few walls too, but I'm forcing myself to keep at it.

Here are two things I'm printing now. I would have never have been able to do this (lofts) in Tinkercad:

Yiur way ahead of me @Nifty
I'm usually pretty good with software but I find all CAD quite difficult, however I intend to dedicate some time each day to really learn one of the programmes.