I think what makes it difficult choosing CAD packages is that each developer has their own particular take on how the interface/process should be. There’s little common ground - unlike word processors/text editors… It’s a similair situation when choosing pcb layout packages. It’s finding that particular one you can best relate to or have an infinity with. FreeCAD & Blender just don’t do it for me on first “prod and poke” impressions. OpenSCAD I can relate to, as mentioned earlier in this thread - because it appeals to those with a programming background - which I’m comfortable with. I’ve ordered the Blender ‘3D printing DVD’ as I think that package may be better suited to produce more organic looking “arty” models than those (more engineering type models) OpenSCAD excels with. Anyone have any other 3D printing orientated packages for “arty” stuff they’d recommend?
I looked at OpenSCAD but it is all scripts- I find mouse click and menu driven easier to make 3D objects with- but I see the advantage of having the objects scripted- there you can tweak the parameters- with blender and freeCAD you would need to delve into the project file- which nobody does.
Interesting to hear the comments about Blender producing unusable geometry. @Chris_Rennie - I spent a fair time learning to script Blender to produce generated shapes for printing but had to many issues to be fixable when checking them. I’m now playing with FreeCAD to try and do the same thing (both are Python scripted but I’m finding documentation and examples harder to come by with FreeCAD), but as you found I’m not sure how suited it is to more organic type shapes. Anyone had much experience printing FreeCAD generated mesh based shapes?
Despite the dramatic learning curve, I have used Blender a lot for designing and exporting to stl files. Currently Blender has an add on specific to evaluating mesh data for potential errors related to 3D printing, like overhangs, non manifold edges, 0 area faces, etc. You can also do a degenerative dissolve to super simplify faces, and a modifier to do a high resolution all quad mesh that’s solid, it’s easy to export and is easier for a slicer to parse. It’s my goto for finding problems with other people’s files to determine printability.
yeah I think Blender has more documentation out there, and probably more plugins than FreeCAD- it seems like Blender has been around longer and/or is being more developed than FreeCAD - for example there is a gears plugin for making 3D gears- I wonder if FreeCAD has a similar feature.
@Ted_Huntington Blender has a bigger development community behind it and probably a better origin. FreeCAD was originally based on a 2D CAD application to which 3D methods were added (this must have caused considerable headaches for development).
FreeCAD development is very incremental due to available resources. Any major re-factoring or fundamental change is a hurdle. This is why the Assembly work bench has been in development for so long.
Documentation is always a problem for resource-limited projects although the Wiki does seem to keep up with developments. Broad-ranging documentation is a little sparse I agree.
I think FreeCAD is one of those projects that is gaining momentum with users and it needs an injection of development resources. If something happened to FreeCAD like CERN’S involvement with KiCad that would be a great boost.
I believe there is a built-in gear generator within FreeCAD but I have not used it myself.
Blender is python based, and allows for users to create their own niche addons with a built in python editor. If they work, users can make them available for anyone else to use, and refine their script based on community feedback. Official releases from the Blender Foundation are released based on users changing needs over time. There are addons that change the entire layout of the gui to suit specific needs, like Blender Sensei, which is pretty impressive.
@Michael_Anton1 - FreeCAD is actually Python Based as well.
@Ax_Smith-Laffin FreeCAD exposes a lot of its internal APIs through a Python Interface for scripting purposes.
Much of its internal functionality and libraries it uses are coded in C++.
@Neil_Darlow Thanks- that got me searching and there are indeed gear plugins for FreeCAD - looks worth trying- one funny thing about Blender is that many people complain that selecting is the right button by default- I got used to it, but many people change it to the left button in the settings.
I actually had no idea FreeCad was python based so well! Where Blender, for all is abilities, doesn’t work well for a 2D geometry sketch with constraints that greatly add efficiency to mechanical models I should look into FreeCad for that purpose alone. Normally for that kind of work, I look more to ZW3D, but this has real potential to make life a lot easier.