Just read this. Someone used it before ?

3D Printing
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Just read this. Someone used it before ?

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Interesting idea but cloudbased service, proprietary and monthly fee. I’m sorry but I’ll pass.

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I actually don’t care if a software is proprietary or does cost money. I have often encountered severe issues with open source stuff when I want to do certain things (like extruding from svg or scale models/drafts). On the other hand there are plenty of very good oss at the market doing a great job and as I think, somehow the guys who make these tools have to earn a living somehow, without having to rely on other peoples’ generosity in terms of donations.

That’s what most people (at least the people I know) don’t do, because they can’t see the effort people put into tools like FreeCAD for instance. I donate sometimes to good developers but unfortunately I never see the features I want/need implemented properly for a given reason. On the other hand the paid software I use does the stuff I need and I also “donated” to them. So there isn’t much difference. And I don’t believe that much people (in terms of users) are good enough or have enough time to contribute to tools. If they can, fine.

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@Daniel_Stauffer I fully understand your position and I respect it. I also struggle on occasion with the shortcomings of FOSS software (lack of CMYK support with GIMP and Inkscape for instance) but I was getting tired of software that I couldn’t control. For example software removed remotely on devices (happened to me) and I had functionality taken away without the option to roll-back. I had software that I paid for abandoned by the vendor becoming obsolete over time. I’m not going to start about data collection. To me the cloud based software is making it worse because programs and data aren’t on the users PC anymore leaving the user with even less control. I therefore decided to migrate to Open Source taking the downsides for granted. Maybe I have the luxury to do so and others have not.

I do appreciate your stance on FreeCAD. I do like v0.17. These guys (and girls) have come a very long way with their product and are persistant improving it. They deserve people donating money to them

BTW: I’m not against paying money for software and the Open Source licences models allow that. I donate frequently to the makers of Open Source software but I just don’t think that donation is a viable business model. You already noted that a very small percentage of users donates. There’s a silver lining however with businesses like Red Hat, Arduino, Duet3D, Prusa Research and Lulzbot that developed models that are viable. If you’re interested in Open Source business models this is a very good series of articles on this topic https://www.linux.com/news/how-make-money-open-source-platforms.
https://www.linux.com/news/how-make-money-open-source-platforms

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I would say try out https://www.tinkercad.com it’s free, web based cad. It was pretty cool that I was able to import a STL from thingverse and edit it with no major seen issue as well.

If I was to pay for something I want to have it locally on my machine in the event the company changes its mind so that I retain the ability to keep using it and retain anything made in it.

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I used tinkercad alot and use other Autodesk products now, because they fit my needs better, but I didn’t know the STL “trick” thanks for that ! Actually I don’t like the cloud based model either, but inventor or one of the other solutions is way too expensive for me (using fusion360). But there is a “trick”:

You can export your model to a .f3d file and delete it from the online browser (hoping that not saving it doesn’t push it to the cloud) and make a new construction from a file if you want to work on it.