Yeah, I avoided Fusion (etc.) because of the usual bait-and-switch I've seen with commercial applications that claim to be "free" at some point. If I'm going to invest in learning a new application, I'd rather it be an open one.
I dove into FreeCAD with either version 1.0.0 or earlier. It was… rough.
To be sure, it was a whole new app so I expect initial navigation around the app to be challenging. But, wow.
Nonetheless, I did get a few things modeled up [1]. And for that I have to thank LLMs for steering me through using the app. I suggest others to try an LLM as a guide if you are learning (and I still am learning, of course). I like tutorials, but so often you can spend hours watching tutorials that cover all manner of ground where you simply want to complete a specific task—unable to find the tutorial covering how to do it.
Having said that though, I am eager to try this 1.0.2 version. (I'm also eager to fix a few minor MacOS-specific nits that I've already seen.)
[1] https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2...
I dove into FreeCAD with either version 1.0.0 or earlier. It was… rough.
To be sure, it was a whole new app so I expect initial navigation around the app to be challenging. But, wow.
Nonetheless, I did get a few things modeled up [1]. And for that I have to thank LLMs for steering me through using the app. I suggest others to try an LLM as a guide if you are learning (and I still am learning, of course). I like tutorials, but so often you can spend hours watching tutorials that cover all manner of ground where you simply want to complete a specific task—unable to find the tutorial covering how to do it.
Having said that though, I am eager to try this 1.0.2 version. (I'm also eager to fix a few minor MacOS-specific nits that I've already seen.)
[1] https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2...