Cant follow your tutorial on FreeCad

This article, from 10 months ago (very recent as these things tend to go), seems to cover it pretty well: [U]https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/subscription-types/[/U]

I think you are giving up too easily. All the functionality is the same, even if their icons are not showing. The Help function in FreeCad is useful. Type in the name of the command you are looking for and it will display that command in the menus.

Cheers

@Mac-7, that’s almost exactly my experience. Could I learn FreeCAD? Almost certainly. But is F360 easier? Yes. Not easy, but eas-i-e-r.

@Mac-7 I created a video on the DrVax YouTube channel which I am linking here that addresses the question a number of people are asking. This tutorial explains how to install the .19 pre-release on both macOS and Windows operating systems and then how to configure the toolbars and panels so they look like the ones I am using.

It is important to note that the toolbars change when you change workbench which is at times confusing.

Here is a link to the video.

I hope this helps. All the best. Irv

Is the problem that all the toolbar buttons are missing? If you click the >> buttons in the toolbars it will show all the buttons on that toolbar. I was able to complete the tutorials by poking around and looking for the buttons that I needed to press. It takes some exploration to find them, but all of the features Dr VAX is using in the tutorial videos are available in 0.18 and newer.

When you move from working type to working type ( sketching to modeling ) the toolbars changing to one another. This is almost for the most CAD softwares.

Thanks to everyone who took an interest in my situation

after exploring FreeCad and Fusion 360 I decided that those programs were too complicated and difficult to use for what I want to do

so I went back and watched the Dr Vax video on TinkerCad and imported 2d SVG files

I found that TinkerCad meets my needs 90% of the time and combined with Boxy SVG I can do 100% of my projects

with all the great tutorials on TinkerCad I dont need to be a genius and hurt my brain trying to master hidden constraints and other nerdy subjects

or worry about why my screen is different than whats shown on the tutorial

I learn TinkerCad by using it

And the more I use it the more I learn, and the more powerful it becomes

So there you have it

Problem solved

Thanks again to all

I didn’t want to go the TC route because I don’t want to be 100% online for design work. The important thing is you found something that suits you. Best of luck with it.

Thanks. I am getting more comfortable with F360, so there is that. However, having downloaded a few from TV, I’m getting more intrigued with OpenSCAD. One thing I really appreciate about it is that most of the models on TV include the OpenSCAD file, with Customizer. I think that’s awesome. I have one that I’m working with right now to print lens cap holders for my Canon lenses. The holders mount to the camera strap, so they’re always at hand. And, being a very long-time programmer I’m thinking I might have some affinity for OpenSCAD.

I recall my self back in the days when i used to use 4 or 5 different CAD softwares at once. From Rhino3D to TopSolid, from TopSolid to ProEngineer to SolidWorks to my Mom knows how much more then, to complete a project 100% before go to manufacturing the prototype. DUH!!!

I’m only on the 2d lesson, but so far OpenSCAD looks amazing. Place things exactly where you want, at the size you want, all with a single, short line of ‘code’. I’m looking forward to see how it handles cuts and other object manipulations.

I am a software developer, but I fail badly with OpenSCAD. I guess it is the 3D imagining you have to do, before creating something. With proper parametric design I simply draw a shape onto an object and remove or add material. It is like working with paper, scissors and glue :smiley:

Where it fails completely is adding fillets. This create a box, cut a cylinder and use the result to create a fillet is far to complicated in OpenSCAD. But that may only my lack of 3D handling my brain can provide. :smiley:

That is something I haven’t tried yet. It could be a deal breaker. Chamfers and fillets are really simple in F360.

They are two clicks in FreeCAD, too

Question: has anyone heard of or used DesignSpark Mechanical?

I use it too! Very easy and coplete engineering CAD FREE software

The couple of videos I watched certainly made it look like a F360 clone. Filleting was super easy.

'Course, it is propietary, so it has the same risks as F360 I guess, in that the company who makes it could change the licensing at any time.

This is for every free CAD

but not for FreeCAD :smiley:

Agreed. Being Open Source does give FC the advantage of not be subject to the whims of 1 company’s management. It has the advantages and disadvantages applicable to pretty much all Open Source SW.