this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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3DPrinting

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Can't even take a short break from 3D designing stuff. Glad I'm switching over to FreeCAD. All I wanted was to grab some dimensions from an old model.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

IMO the bigger problem with FreeCAD is the topological naming problem. It's very easy to get frustrated because your model broke due to a change you made in an earlier feature.

The UI isn't amazing though, and that unfortunately happens quite a bit with open source software. Hopefully it'll go the way of Blender and KiCAD with an eventual major release that overhauls the UI.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

Yeah, coming in with no prior CAD experience I actually think freecad's interface makes sense, especially since I've used it for both 3d printing (one workbench) and mocking up building plans (a different lumber one I was able to download as an add-on - very cool).

I did run into the topological naming problem once though, and I'm far from a power user, so I've been meaning to check out the real thunder fork.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I keep bashing my head against the horrible UI way more as a beginner. Just as I manage to bring the million toolbars into a reasonable arrangement, I switch workspaces and then they're all messed up again. I couldn't care less about the topological naming problem right now

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hmm, that actually sounds like a bug. I haven't seen that on my end (once I set the locations of options in my toolbars they stay there, even after restarts). You may want to report that on their issue tracker. Sorry that you're having a rough experience!