I am a software engineer and a woodworker. Now if they'd just bring out a Linux version I'd be much happier :-)
I'm a great believer in FOSS and I'd love to have a Fusion360 substitute - but at the end of the day the hobbyist licence is free and maintaining a windows machine to run it isn't that much of an overhead. Could the UI benefit from more stability? Yeah - probably, but I seem to feel like the rate of change has slowed of late. It also has a logical and consistent UI and a complete workflow. Fusion360 on the other hand has good (not exceptional but certainly adequate) documentation and a plethora of you tube channels to help. So can FreeCAD be used by beginners - of course it can - but the learning curve is very very steep. I would offer up Darktable as an example of a FOSS tool that has managed to make an arcane and obscure toolset relatively accessible. Making things easy to use for beginners is hard, takes a lot of time and requires a different expertise. Which is reasonable given that's the profile of the people that create and maintain it. In this case you need a good and thorough understanding of how 3D CAD operates, what the uses and limitations are and how that aligns with what you are trying to achieve.Įssentially it's a toolbox for experts. FreeCAD - as with many FOSS tools is really aimed at people who know how the underlying principles work.
