this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
108 points (95.0% liked)

3DPrinting

19685 readers
103 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I am not an engineer. I'm not even good at math, and my spatial reasoning skills are nonexistent. With that in mind, here are the CAD programs I've tried.

Blender, Pros: Free, surprisingly comprehensive. Cons: Not parametric, can't precisely measure or constrain models, all the extra stuff you get like rendering has no use in 3D printing.

Onshape: Pros: Easy to use, convenient (I've successfully edited a model on my phone), free*. Cons: Runs ~~on someone else's computer~~ in the cloud, not private, enshittification is sure to come shortly if history is any indication.

Fusion360: Pros: seems to be what everyone else is using. Cons: enshittification is already happening, runs locally with limited saves in the cloud so you don't own your files but also don't get the run anywhere convenience of the cloud.

Plasticity: Pros: buttery smooth workflow, pay once run forever, runs and saves locally. Cons: Not peremetric so hard to go back and adjust things later.

FreeCAD: Pros: free, open source. Cons: workflow as rough as sandpaper, constantly crashes.

Plasticity and Onshape have proven to be the most productive choices for me. If only Plasticity were parametric it would be the perfect software for me personally.

I want to like FreeCAD, I really do, but it's so hard to use. I love Plasticity, but it's meant for making 3D assets for games etc. using hard surface modelling, not so much for manufacturing.

If I may digress for a moment, I work as a network admin. I'm familiar mostly with Cisco at work, but use Ubiquiti at home. Cisco equipment is monstrously expensive from a consumer or prosumer perspective, and the only way to get true hands-on experience is to buy used equipment from ebay which may still be pricey.

Ubiquiti's market strategy seems to be to make the kind of gear that a network admin would want in their home. It's inexpensive relative to the big fish like Cisco, but has a fairly comprehensive feature set. The idea is to entice Joe IT guy to buy Ubiquiti gear for his house, fall in love with it, then push for the company to switch to Ubiquiti the next time they upgrade.

What I want is the Ubiquiti of CAD programs. Easy to use, low barrier to entry but comprehensive enough to use professionally.

Suggestions/comments?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] daannii@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Also tinkercad. It's basic but honestly it works for most stuff I make for things around the house.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Fusion 360 is free for non commercial use.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (2 children)

My solution to the same issue was OpenSCAD. But it might not be for the faint of heart. For me, this is a godsend, working 100% in my mindspace.

[–] Decq@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (3 children)

If they so said have no math or spatial reasoning then OpenSCAD is the last tool for them to try.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Maybe I suck at CAD but love OpenScad as its easier for me to understand.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

As I said, it's right for me, but it might not be for everyone. If I was to invent a CAD system, I'd write something exactly like OpenSCAD...

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Marbles@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I second this. It was my step after tinkercad and never looked back. But I do love programming so maybe biased.

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Try freecad as a flatpak maybe ? Doesn't crash for me unless I do something stupid with fillets. It's harder, tougher to use than paid options but you own what you make at the end.

[–] Krtek@feddit.org 1 points 5 days ago

It hasn't crashed for me in a long time

[–] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

There's an entry missing in your list, which many people seem to not know about: Siemens Solid Edge

Like fusion, is free for personal/hobby use. But it's not "cloud based". Also unlike fusion, they aren't constantly scaling back what you can do with the free edition. Probably worth a shot.

[–] Doublenut@lemmy.zip 11 points 6 days ago

I've been using progeCAD for the last few years and its basically a clone of AutoCAD for a fraction of the price and you own it unlike autodesk's model they've had since like 2017 or something.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Blender has addons for parametric workflows. Actually, there's plugins to do anything you want.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 7 points 5 days ago

I would also highly recommend Destructive Extrude for Blender, a plugin that enables the push-pull modeling that made SketchUp an entry level CAD learner's dream (before Google sold it to Trimble who promptly ate it and shat it back out)

[–] feinstruktur@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 days ago

I recently looked into (affordable) Linux-CAD programs and stumbled upon VariCAD, which, checking their presentation, appeared pretty complete. Saying that I would just make a decision after throwing a serious project, multiple parts, workgroups, parameters and technical drawing generation, on it. Maybe someone can comment on it?

[–] blackbelt352@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Blender has an add on project called cad sketches in development. It's free to use and is donation supported just like Blender is. I haven't used it myself but it wouldn't hurt looking into it.

https://www.cadsketcher.com/

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

You can buy add-ons for this to auto-generate standard gear-forms and threads/bolts/holes. It is also parametric.

https://youtu.be/1jNDLUDL0gc

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] FleetingTit@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

That's not a parametric CAD software though. And it has the same pitfalls as Onshape.

TinkerdCAD is nice to slap together a few shapes or objects (as long as they don't need to be dimensionally accurate), but once you want to chamfer all egdes of a cube you are faster learning an entirely different software and creating the object from scratch.

[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

You can save files in fusion 360 locally. It's just not the main way the program encourages which sucks.

I think you have to like export instead pf save but you do get a .f3d file which is the same as what gets saved to the cloud.

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Onshape would be ubiquity. Easy to use, flash, has all the good bits, ripe to screw the customer at any moment once enough lock in is gained.

[–] fulcrummed@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

Depending on your system I think, I have been using Sketchup 2017 (whatever the last free version was they released) for years to make 3D models for all kinds of purposes, incl 3D printing. For my brain it has proven to be the most intuitive tool to learn, it’s been a really long time so maybe I have forgotten but I feel like the barrier to entry was pretty small. There is a lot of content out there from people giving tips and tutorials. There are plug-ins still flooding around that have really good functionality. I use it with a Connexion 3D Space Navigator mouse that’s prob 10+ years old. That’s been a godsend and adds so much efficiency and flow to the tool.

I don’t know if you can still download it from Trimble but there are sources for it elsewhere.

Have fun, whatever you choose.

[–] wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I use a free version of sketchup make from 2008. You can still find it out there on the internet for download.

[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

The last free-to-run version of Sketchup is from 2017, and ironically you can download it from the official website, you just have to dig for it. It isn’t immediately available, and they try their best to sell you the latest version.

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

I personally like OpenSCAD (with VSCode not with the built-in editor)

[–] Cris_Color@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I saw a bit ago that blended has an addon or plugin or something that adds parametric functions

I think I got the impression it's less powerful that proper parametric cad or something, but I figured I'd mention it in case that makes it a more viable option for you!

[–] filcuk@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago

Fusion is easiest to get going for 'serious' projects as a beginner.
I will use it while I can, or until an equal alternative is available. Nothing lasts forever.

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I will be blunt. If you are as bad at math and spatial reasoning as you say, then CAD probably isn't for you. You will always find it difficult and unrewarding. Design and engineering require a mindset you might not have.

As far as "cheap and easy and professional" CAD they ALL require effort to learn and money to gain entry for commercial versions. CAD is a skill and skills require effort to acquire. And it sounds as if you have no desire to put in very much effort.

For a CAD program to meet your want of cheap and simple, (professional means a lot of money and takes more than a few minutes of effort), look at TinkerCAD. It's free and simple enough that I teach that to 5th and 6th grade students well enough for them to make simple objects. Ain't nothing wrong with starting there and learning how to think about design and CAD before you might try and step into more demanding software.

[–] BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Hey, horses don't say woof.

load more comments (1 replies)

I haven’t used it but there is also tinkercad

load more comments
view more: next ›