User:Normandc

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Revision as of 17:47, 14 September 2014 by Normandc (talk | contribs) (Fixed links)

Hi, my name is Normand and I'm a FreeCAD fan.

As a designer, I've been using CAD apps regularly for the past 14 years. To any designer/engineer/architect/draftsman, CAD is usually just a tool to get your job done. But to me, it's always been a subject of interest. I like to keep up with current trends and to know what's out there.

What brought me to FreeCAD

At home I started using Ubuntu, a "user-friendly" GNU/Linux distribution in 2007. I was quickly taken with the open source philosophy and proceeded to look for open source CAD apps. I found out there weren't that many. I followed FreeCAD from afar but at the time, it was of limited use to end-user not ready to dabble in python scripting. In early 2010 I installed the latest version and saw that it had improved by leaps and bounds, and was starting to be usable by "simple human beings".

I've been hooked and since then, I've tried to help the FreeCAD project in any way I could. Not being a programmer, this has translated into helping out newcomers in the forums, contributing to the online documentation, and testing the software. I also instigated in part the Ubuntu PPA repository creation by doing some early research (translated: I talked about it on the forum, posted some links!), but all the actual work was done by wmayer, one of the main developers to whom I'm very grateful for his help. To anyone interested in trying out or testing the latest development in FreeCAD, the Ubuntu PPA is by far the easiest way to do so.

CAD apps I've used/tested

Through the years, I've used and/or tested the following MCAD apps on Mac, Windows and GNU/Linux. This is not an exhaustive list.

  • Autodesk AutoCAD from v2.17 in 1987 on a floppy (!) to AutoCAD 2009
  • Ashlar Vellum: very briefly when I was a Mac user in the previous century!
  • Autodesk Mechanical Desktop v1.0 to v6.0. Mechanical Desktop (MDT for short) was a software layer over AutoCAD, giving it extended functionnality and history-based parametric modeling, while still giving access to the regular AutoCAD feature set. Due to its AutoCAD foundation, it was not efficient with moderate to big assemblies. It is no surprise that Autodesk chose to develop a separate parametric modeler from scratch, Inventor, and discontinue MDT as soon as Inventor was on par feature-wise.
  • SolidWorks: when I had a peek at SolidWorks 2000, I saw how a parametric modeler should be, I was using the clunky MDT at the time.
  • Solid Edge: my current CAD tool at work. My employer is using an older release for compatibility with a supplier, so I haven't been able to familiarize myself with Synchronous Technology, the "Direct Editing" implementation from Siemens PLM.
  • Autodesk Inventor, briefly
  • PTC Pro|Engineer, very briefly. Even with some experience with afore mentioned parametric CAD, it looked hard to apprehend to me. Was available on Red Hat Entreprise Linux for a brief time. Last version was Wildfire 3 in 2007.
  • QCad: available in two versions, a basic (and old) 2D drafting open source app on Linux, and a very affordable commercial app on Windows, MacOS X and Linux.
  • VariCAD: couldn't get used to its GUI.
  • GraphiteOne: Linux-only proprietary parametric modeler. Used the Open CASCADE kernel up to v1.3, then it switched to Parasolid. The latest version GUI was SW-like but it was quirky. The website has been down for more than a year.
  • MEDUSA4: very odd 2D/3D hybrid. You draw 2D views on a drawing sheet, and the software builds the 3D model from it. I wanted to test it more but I haven't found the time yet. One thing to know, it uses a proprietary format. You need to pay to get DWG out of drawings.
  • HeeksCAD: the only other 3D open source program (apart from FreeCAD) in this list (because I've been unable to run NaroCAD). It's pretty good, with interesting features. At some time, geometry creation tools were more complete that FreeCAD... it is no longer the case. Its scope does not seem to be as ambitious as FreeCAD, and focuses on CAD/CAM. Unfortunately, its development seems to have stopped.
  • DraftSight: a very well done free for personal use AutoCAD clone. Read the EULA though, and install wittingly.
  • LibreCAD: a fork of QCad Community Edition updated to run on the Qt4 libraries. Since QCad CE is deprecated, LibreCAD is my 2D CAD program of choice.

What I'm waiting for in FreeCAD

  • A complete sketcher and advanced tools for 3D shape creation. Both have seen incredible improvements in the current v0.13 stable release.
  • An Assembly module. Talk has started among developers, and this might see the light in v0.14.
  • A Sheet Metal module. As part of my work, I sometimes design sheetmetal components, and although I can't see how this could be of use to me outside of work, it would still be very cool to have in FreeCAD. I don't think this will get coding time in the foreseable future, because the development team remains short-handed. I'd very much like to program one myself in Python (taking example on Yorik), but I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'll have to get a working knowledge of Python.

Links

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