FreeCAD 0.19 - Hackdot

Re:FreeCAD 0.19 by mch82 on Sunday March 21, 2021 @07:12PM (#26535014)

It’s quite useful for 3D printing enclosures or mechanical devices. Edit: FreeCAD is designed to work the way tools like CATIA work. Think of parametric CAD less as a “concept development tool” and more a “programming language that can be compiled to gcode”. Then a CNC machine can build your object from gcode. The expectation is a designer works on paper or a drawing tool first to conceptualize a part (like a UI designer might work in Sketch) and then a mechanical designer works in FreeCAD (like a software developer works on Angular).

MagicaVoxel is a much simpler tool that’s more like working on a sandcastle & can be 3D printed.

Blender is probably better for animation / games.

For home additions, Trimble SketchUp is more productive because there is a large library of building components pre-modeled (like doors or standard pieces of wood that can be purchased at Home Depot).

For PCB layout, there are other specialized EDA tools references in other comments.

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Re:FreeCAD 0.19 by _carbyau_ on Monday March 22, 2021 @01:17AM (#26537092)

I use only Blender for 3D printing.

It's feature set isn't great for accurate mechanical engineering where you can find the measurement for every bit nice and easy. It really is "Connect the Dots 3D". It is more of a "make a cool digital object" thing.

But for example, I can take an object, turn it to "goo", play forward 5 seconds of animation and 3D print a "melted" version of that object. I mean, I don't know why you would, but you can.

Blender enables artistic possibilities for objects in ways that FreeCAD doesn't.

But you can use both!

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