Title basically.
One of my windows computers, which happens to be the one I happen to do the most CAD work on, can’t upgrade to windows 11 due to having an Ivy Bridge era Xenon (it’s an E5-1680 v2 for the curious, older used workstations are fantastic bang for the buck computers).
Switching to Linux on this computer has been in the cards for a while, but I hadn’t been in a hurry to do it. Looks like my hand might be getting forced…
It really has. As a lover of FOSS I can say that there still is an order of magnitude regarding usability, workflow and robustness of the models between freecad and fusion. I dislike everything about autodesk and its business model but I have to admit that fusion is also my go-to when I need to model something fast.
@SW42 When I tried Fusion 360 a while ago, it was the other way round. I didn’t really get the workflow and it was crashing from time to time. I have to admit though it was in a VM and it was the free version only (not sure if that still exists). So your mileage can vary. Also: if you have not tried FreeCAD version 1.x, your experience certainly is outdated.
I used to work as a mechanical engineer, so I am used to CAD Systems since I started with Autocad, went on to Pro/E Wildfire 2, had a stint with NX and Inventor. All of them used productively within the context of professional work.
Fusion was the first CAD I used for my hobby (3D printing) and it is seriously powerful.
Freecad the way it is now (and I tried 1.0 as soon as it got out) is akin to the old days where it wouldn’t let you work with a partially defined sketch or implied confinements by hovering/snapping to the line. I feel like I have to get out a piece of paper and plan out my model before I begin modeling, while using fusion I feel I can just pick it up and develop whatever idea I have right then and there.
It has gotten a lot better - really came a long way since the previous versions where I tried easel as well for the better workflow before 1.0. I never managed to get the same efficiency and usability I get from fusion, despite really trying.
How old are the old days, I used CATIA V5 for a stretch around 20 years ago and I’ve mostly gelled with freecad pretty well (some odd decisions here and there and some bugs, though a lot of those can be attributed to the kernel). I’m wondering if I’ve just got an old CAD head.