I explore Plasticity for hobbyist use. Plasticity brings a trendy startup take on CAD design with a minimalist UI and pure direct modeling. I find it barely usable and question its accessibility.
Posts tagged "CAD software"
I explore DesignSpark Mechanical Explorer for hobbyist use. DSM is a stripped down version of Ansys SpaceClaim that takes out most of the manufacturing features and leaves behind a very barebones modeling app with an approach that’s both quick to use but punishing when you get things wrong. Its comparable to Solid Edge’s synchronous environment but IMO not as reliable.
I explore Solid Edge Community Edition for hobbyist use. While Solid Edge is basically unknown to the 3D printing hobby crowd it seems a valid competitor to Fusion 360 and Onshape with a mixture of feature-based and direct modeling.
I explore Autodesk Fusion 360 for hobbyist use. Fusion 360 is one of the most popular picks in the CAD world and its free version is stripped down but not to the point of making it unusable (for now). Definitely worth checking out.
I explore FreeCAD for hobbyist use.
FreeCAD is the most featureful of the FOSS options but it’s incredibly frustrating to use and IMO not reliable enough for the time being.
However the team seems to care so I have hopes for the future.
I explore Onshape for hobbyist use.
Onshape is an incredible application that is both powerful and intuitive.
The free tier gives you everything, provided you are ok with the non-commercial and non-private constraints however performance gets really sketchy with complex designs and the pricing is steep.