Time to GROW-UP - 3D Modeling Software

[Nifty]

I watched this video and I'm now tempted to learn "onshape". Thoughts?

I think it's time to grow-up from tinkercad... but to what? OnShape, fusion 360, Solid Works, or something else?

 

[Nifty]

I've been playing with www.onshape.com and have been pretty impressed / happy with it so far!

 

[Nifty]

I'm going through this playlist and really enjoying learning!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGqRUdq5ULsMDOxmu10AGPDIOkzNYu7D7

 

[The Hat]

I am also toying with the idea that I need something better that OPENSCAD and as usual, our friendly members here suggested FreeCAD as good alternative.

I’ve had a look at it and it’s not as simple as they say but with a bit of extra effort I may be able to use it without swearing at it every five minutes.

I’ve printed out a few help me pages to get started but am waiting on the right time to get stuck in, that’s usually when Ted is sleep at my feet, the one thing Ted and me have in common is, he hated Tutorial talking videos playing, so I mostly avoid them.

Over the past few years I have struggled when making some parts that I needed with OPENSCAD and have spent far to much time on just one part, I know there are shorter and easier ways to do things but I find it hard to change my stubborn ways.

I going to dabble more in FreeCAD over the Winter and hopefully will get to the point where I can actually make something in it, if I can’t make simple basic items then I’ll continue to use my old favourite OPENSCAD. Here’s an example:-

color("cyan") ............................................. (Colour)
rotate([0,0,45]) ......................................... (Angle)
translate([-15,-35,-41]) ........................ (X,Y,Z Position)
cylinder(d=13,50); ................................ (Object)
..............................

That gives a 13 mm circle 50 mm long with a 45 angle, in an exact position..
It's so simple even I can use it...
I might have a quick peep at @Nifty’s suggestion of www.onshape.com

 

[Nifty]

Ya, OPENSCAD is WAY too programmer / coordinates / math for me.

Funny that I'm moving from something much more simplistic (tinkercad) and you'd be moving from something much more complex (OpenCAD).

One of the things I like most about the bigger / popular platforms is the number of videos, tutorials, etc. available for when I want to learn or figure stuff out.

 

[Nifty]

Wow, lots of great videos for OpenCad. I'm wondering if I should move from Onshape over to it?

Here's the tutorial I'm watching now:

 

[ninj]

Here's another good starting point:

 

[Nifty]

I forced myself to make something in FreeCad.

Took me a while longer than it would have in Tinkercad, but I think that's the nature of learning new things!

It's a reducer for chicken feed to go from a box container to a 4" pipe:

 

[The Hat]

I forced myself to make something in FreeCad.

That's brilliant @Nifty, that’s really something, to finish out a project on your first attempt, I reckon your learning curve has flattened out quite a bit, now if only I can manage to make something constructive without shouting at the screen and walking away.

The problem I have is to get weaned off OpenScad long enough so I won’t keep going back to it.. OpenScad is very good but I'm limited to what I can do with it, hence FreeCad..

 

[Nifty]

After a LONG day learning FreeCad, I got frustrated with a few things and decided to go back to OnShape.

A combination of the learning from FreeCad that directly translated to OnShape + OnShape feeling a bit "cleaner" and "polished" allowed me to go from 4 hours learning / creating the model above in FreeCad, to about 30 minutes learning / creating this model in OnShape: