CAD for Hobbyist

[WillAdams]

A new development here is:

Plasticity 3D which was recently announced. Uses the same CAD kernel as SolidWorks, Siemens NX, and a number of other tools.

Described as "CAD for artists" and seems to be a competitor to Moment of Inspiration and Shapr3D.

https://www.plasticity.xyz

Perpetual licensing ($99 and $299), but locked to specific computers (up to 8 transfers w/o contacting support)

The application itself is opensource under the LGPL:
https://github.com/nkallen/plasticity

(the CAD kernel is proprietary, and apparently the $99 license fee only just covers licensing it and the attendant fees)

 

[jaguar36]

Seems like more of a competitor for Blender rather than any traditional CAD software.  They seem focused on stuff that looks cool, not actual dimensions, fits, assemblies and such.

 

[gunnyr]

[member=8712]Richard/RMW[/member] - I might have gotten ahead of myself on the book: consider  BEGINNERS Guide to SOLIDWORKS 2019 Level I  by Alejandro Reyes. Same publisher: SDC. Don't be afraid of buying a used copy of they're not immediately available.

Hans

I am much like [member=8712]Richard/RMW[/member], I tend to learn enough to solve my immediate problem and then, several months later go back to it and struggle to get my skills back..... [unsure] [unsure]

Based on Hans' [member=61691]TSO_Products[/member]  recommendation I'm going to give Solidworks a go.  I've attained a level of skill with Sketchup that allows me to do cabinets pretty easily.  I'm now interested in 3d Printing and am looking to be able to easier scale my projects.  For me it's worth some hours and a few bucks to explore other solutions.  SWMBO may not agree so much!!!  [wink]

I found a used Beginners Guide on Amazon for about $10 delivered!  Between that and YouTube I should have enough to keep me entertained for a while!

 

[rvieceli]

[member=42009]gunnyr[/member] My son, who is a fabricator, says Solidworks is the way to go as well. It will do pretty much everything you need and as it very common in the professional world seems unlikely to be abandoned.

He say there are a lot of online resources to help.

Ron

 

[gunnyr]

[member=42009]gunnyr[/member] My son, who is a fabricator, says Solidworks is the way to go as well. It will do pretty much everything you need and as it very common in the professional world seems unlikely to be abandoned.

He say there are a lot of online resources to help.

Ron

I've only started to look into it.  At $100/year for a Makers License, it seems to be worth it.  I bought a license for Sketchup before it went subscription and I'm thinking I'll continue to use it for cabinet type projects but I like the scaling capabilities I'm seeing on Solidworks for 3d Printing projects. 

 

[jaguar36]

I don't see the reason to pay for Solidworks when Fusion is very comparable in capability and is free.

They both have income limits, although Solidworks is $2k vs $1k for Fusion.

 

[Mr Speaker]

Another vote for Fusion 360 here. As mentioned above, it’s free for non-commercial/hobbyist use. I tried using it initially and got annoyed because I couldn’t do anything useful with it, then decided to work through a series of YouTube tutorials (not something I’d normally do, as I prefer to just work stuff out myself) and it suddenly all made sense. It’s a different way of working from any other 3D modelling software I’ve used, but actually it’s much more logical. I also really like the amount of control it gives you when creating 2D drawings from your models.

It’s more software than most hobbyists will ever need, but that’s a good thing. It means you’ll never be limited by it.

Yep, another for Fusion 360. I use coreldraw for my professional work, my CNC program V-Carve needs 2D DXF, and the 2D projection of most 3D modeling programs suck (circles are not round, that sort of thing). So I use Fusion for making things I want to 3D print. This ensures I use Fusion as a hobbyist, and yes steep learning curve but so much more powerful and stable than other programs. If you get stuck, there is always an answer in a forum somewhere.

 

[WillAdams]

(ob. discl., I work for the company)

Carbide 3D just announced an update which adds a number of features:
https://carbide3d.com/blog/create-big-file-update/

(mostly intended for cleaning up automatically traced files)

and I've been writing a bit about it at:
https://willadams.gitbook.io/design-into-3d/2d-drawing
https://willadams.gitbook.io/design-into-3d/toolpaths

and the Alibre folks have recently announced a big update to their products, having started by soliciting input from the community:
https://www.alibre.com/forum/index.php?threads/ui-proposal-feedback-requested.24543/

and the Shapeoko wiki went away a while back, so the pages listing opensource/free options moved to:
https://old.reddit.com/r/shapeoko/wiki/cad
https://old.reddit.com/r/shapeoko/wiki/cam

(and need to be edited and cleaned up)

I crashed and burned in Plasticity (despite buying a license) --- the interactive 3D stuff never makes sense to me, and also stalled on Alibre --- the tutorials are just too confusing, and I still rage about the time when I couldn't get a spline to work and it took almost a year for someone to explain that i needed to delete the preferences to get it working again, so instead I've been working on:
https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview

a programmatic system for using a Python-enabled version of OpenSCAD:
https://pythonscad.org/

to make G-code files for directly cutting in CNC machines and DXFs for importing into CAM applications for which I'm working on an interface in:
https://github.com/derkork/openscad-graph-editor

 

[gunnyr]

Glad to see this thread revived.  It is clear there is a solution available for everyone.

What I don't like about the free versions of Sketchup and Fusion 360 is that they are cloud based and you must store your projects with them in the cloud.  I figure if something is free, it is not the product, I am.  I generally like subscription based because updates are pushed out and I can stop paying at anytime. 

 

[jaguar36]

I figure if something is free, it is not the product, I am. 

Not necessarily.  I believe Autodesk's business model with Fusion is to give it away to students and hobbyists for free to gain a large knowledgeable user base, that is then interested in using it in a professional capacity.  Solidworks used to do this as well by giving schools a steep discount on licenses so that all the kids coming into the workplace would already be used to Solidworks.  With so many folks being good as using Fusion 360, it will cause businesses to buy it so they don't have to train folks.

 

[WillAdams]

Autodesk gave Fusion 360 away so as to take all the oxygen out of the room and rob all other projects of users and resources, and to get a buzz going and bandwagon effect, and lots and lots of training videos.

Now that they've gotten this, users have to pay, either now, or in the future.

 

[rmwarren]

I use F360 frequently, designing stuff to print and for SendCutSend, sometimes to use with Shaper Origin, on the free/hobbyist license.

There are some disabled functions but nothing that prevents me for getting full use. The most notable limitation is only 10 "documents" can be editable at any time. What this means in practice is I dump a lot of unrelated designs into a single document with each one being a separate component. For example, most of my 3D printing stuff is in a single document, I just select the component I am working on and set everything else to be not visible. If I bump into the 10-document limit, it's easy to set one of them to be not editable, then create a new document. There are no limits to how many documents you can have overall, just how many you have the ability to edit at any one time.

It hasn't prevented me from doing anything so far, but users who need more capabilities (PDF export, analysis of designs) may need to pay for a license. Seems pretty generous to me.

RMW

 

[SoonerFan]

Rereading this thread got me curious about what software my fellow Festool Fans are using today for software. I am using an old cabinet program that runs on Windows only and my only Windows PC is about 8 years old. To do designs for my CNC I am still using Easel. I am looking at options to change both. For me ideal would be something like one program that:

1. Is easy to learn (good forum, lots of design sharing, etc)
2. Has the ability to design cabinets including cut lists, 3D models, etc
3. Runs on a Mac or in a browser
4. Produces G Code for my Onefinity CNC
5. Has hobbyist price plan or something not too costly

I have looked at Fushion 360 but only the free version because I cannot justify the paid version. Also looked at Sketchup and a separate CAM program to produce G Code. I mostly build cabinets and use my CNC for inlays, templates, cut out parts, etc.

Curious what others with similar needs are using today. Thanks in advance.

 

[Cypren]

I've been on Fusion for about the past five years and am quite happy with it as a do-everything solution for CAD/CAM. I do a lot of fabrication besides woodworking -- 3D printing, machining, circuit design -- so having a single unified work environment for everything is a huge benefit. My brain also just clicks better with engineering-style parametric CAD than the more artistic style of programs like Blender or SketchUp, so I find it more intuitive and comfortable as well.

I'm not sure what packages are available out there these days specialized to cabinet shops, but that sounds like it would probably be more what you're looking for than general-purpose CAD software.

 

[hdv]

I use BricsCAD and I really like it. However, I don't think it will meet your requirements. It isn't cheap and it does not have a cabinet module.

Maybe FreeCAD would be something you can use?

 

[woodferret]

I'm assuming Mozaik and CabinetVision are over the top for cabinet-making part, and you probably meant more one-off designs anyways.  Sketchup + OpenCutList will do it fine for hobbyist.  It won't do gcode, but since you're cutting manually anyways it doesn't matter.  Since you mentioned inlays, I'd probably pair it with VCarve and just export any of the 'artistic designs' as SVG from Sketchup and reimport it into VCarve.

I do Fusion sometimes, but it's mostly for machining & 3d printing.  While parametric is fun, the built in BOM support is kinda meh.  I have yet to try JoinerCAD with it, which kinda looks promising.  It's hard to get away from Sketchup though since you can mock the entire room much more easily than in Fusion and see the design in-place.

Sadly, I don't think I can get away from Sketchup for mocks.  It'd probably be that first, then transfer the proportions to a ready-made parametric Fusion file for standard cabinet design if I do anything more than one-offs.

 

[bobtskutter]

I use FreeCAD (on linux).
I like it.
It takes a while to get used to but it works well.

There are loads of tutorials on YouTube.

Regards
Bob

 

[SoonerFan]

As I sort of expected, it appears there is not one “do it all” program for hobbyist cabinet making and CNC design.  Think I will check at the free versions of Fushion and Sketchup to see if these or the paid versions are upgrades from Easel. For now I will stick with my old cabinet making software. I own the cabinet making software so no cost while I look into options, including the new Easel cabinet making software. 

Thanks all for the input.

 

[WillAdams]

A further consideration is that since FreeCAD is opensource, if one wants it to have a particular feature one can either write it oneself, or hire a programmer to do so.

Same goes for bug fixing.