this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
311 points (100.0% liked)

3DPrinting

22109 readers
475 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
 

Get it while it's hot! New goodies to use and an improved UI for users.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] punkfungus@sh.itjust.works 10 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Time to give it another try I guess. I used Fusion almost exclusively until I switched to Linux (and have also used Solidworks in the past), and I found freecad 1.0 to be an exercise in frustration.

I gave it a very solid shot, but after many hours messing with it and watching tutorials I decided to try Onshape instead. I was able to become comfortable and productive in Onshape in less than half the time it took me to lose my cool with freecad.

The 1.1 update looks to be addressing some of the pain points, so they seem to be on the right track. I hope they keep that momentum going.

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

I have used Fusion and can get what I want from it. But I have an intense dislike of the clown car UI.

So sit down and watch MangoJelly's tutorials and practice them. Enjoy that smooth Aussie voice. It takes time to learn new things so don't give up. We're pulling for you!

[–] Noja@sopuli.xyz 5 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

What's the vendor lock-in like with Onshape? My father used a "free" year of Solidworks and when it was over he was locked out from all his projects unless he paid. He uses FreeCAD exclusively now and is happy to own his files.

[–] StupendousMan@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

With Onshape unless you pay them money your files are public. You can't use the free version for commercial use. Some advanced features are blocked like simulations.

[–] punkfungus@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago

I've been able to freely export .step files for anything I've made in Onshape. As another commenter said there are catches, like all your files are public if you're using the free version and there are premium features that require payment. But it's currently not locked down like it seemed Autodesk were preparing to do, where all your files live on their cloud only and can never be exported. For sure there is potential for the same enshittification with Onshape though, which is why I hope the freecad devs soldier on.

Also if you're worried about your files being public, just name them with codes indecipherable to anyone but you. It doesn't seem like the public file repository actually gets searched that much in general, and with a meaningless code the odds of someone finding and stealing a specific design are probably near zero.