I am not a design draftsman, I’m not an engineer. My workflow is usually: I put something on the scanner, load the calibrated scan, trace the outline, throw a few sketches on various planes in there, round a few edges, print it and I’m done.
Fusion 360 scratches that itch very well but requires me to keep a Windows VM and also their free model felt more and more unusable. OnShape is a nice substitute that works fine for me, but I don’t like the “free or 1500€/year” approach. Without a middle ground subscription for makers it feels that I could lose anything the second their energy prices for servers go up or something.
The list of CAD software is exhaustive, so I am looking for recommendations that fit my “eh, click, click, click, good enough” workflow. FreeCAD is way too unintiuitive for that. I have tried getting into it, but 3D printing is a tool for me and the learning curve quickly made using it another hobby.
So. Suggestions welcome. Scalding criticism about my lack of enthusiasm and consumer mentality not so much, but I guess that comes bundled with useful advice, so, eh, I’ll take it.
Blender?
@JohnnyCanuck @the_fourth not a CAD. Can be sort-of made one, but not ideal. Something like FreeCAD is better but both Fusion and Onshape are much better in terms of UX.
OP didn’t ask for a CAD specifically but just mentioned looking at the list of CADs, so I thought it might be worth throwing in the mix.
People have been trying to make Blender have some basic CAD functionality, but it’s just not there yet.
I admit I haven’t tried https://www.cadsketcher.com/ with it yet, though.
Cadsketcher was much easier for me to pick up for designing simple parts. Still haven’t used it for anything too complicated but I couldn’t get over the FreeCAD quirks like not being able to do multiple extrudes from the same sketch.