Just a Sparky
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- May 2, 2020
- Location
- Minnesota
I'm continuing my long-running hunt for parametric CAD options. I've tested several different offerings but none have been entirely to my liking. I'm wondering if anyone might have more suggestions for a CAD offering with the following features.
My brain resonates with the fully-constrained parametric workflow: Creating a fully constrained, rigid 2D sketch, extruding/revolving/sweeping/lofting/helixing that sketch to create a 3D shape, creating a new 2D workplane on a generated face of that shape (or anywhere else in the workspace) upon which to draw another fully constrained sketch, extruding/revolving, etc. again to add or subtract from the base shape, and so on until you are ready to use that part as the foundation for another or to assemble it to an existing part.
The ability to assemble individual parts together into a complete assembly is necessary for me.
A lot of what I do ends up getting either exported to Blender for use in 3D projects or turned into shop drawings for manual machining. I don't really need CAM capabilities at this point in time, but I'll never say never.
Alibre Design/Atom3D is so far the best candidate I've found, but it is very quirky, awkward software that has it's share of bugs and rigid idiosyncrasies that the developers refuse to fix. E.g., no ability to enable turntable/constrained orbit or to adjust orbit sensitivity - instead just telling their users to buy a 3D mouse and deal with it. Only *one* opportunity to name part files - only when saving them for the first time, not at creation nor after having already saved them. If you change your mind later you're boned. Manually renaming the files will break the project.
Solvespace is nearly perfect for me, but it's just someone's personal pet project. It's capabilities are very limited and it is not optimized for complex projects with lots of parts having their own internal dimensions.
FreeCAD is hot garbage.
Fusion 360 is just another micro-managed Autodesk product. Always online and no guarantee it won't get terminated or become subscription-based at any time. No way to orbit with middle mouse iirc.
CorelCAD seems like a nice product, but from my limited testing it seems to be much more of a traditional old-timey drafting and/or solid modeler. No real workplane support or parametric timeline that I can tell. Oriented more for individual parts?
Any other options you folks know about that might fit the bill for a fully-constrained parametric workflow? Software that can be purchased outright for $1,000 or less with optional maintenance rather than dealing with a stupid subscription?
My brain resonates with the fully-constrained parametric workflow: Creating a fully constrained, rigid 2D sketch, extruding/revolving/sweeping/lofting/helixing that sketch to create a 3D shape, creating a new 2D workplane on a generated face of that shape (or anywhere else in the workspace) upon which to draw another fully constrained sketch, extruding/revolving, etc. again to add or subtract from the base shape, and so on until you are ready to use that part as the foundation for another or to assemble it to an existing part.
The ability to assemble individual parts together into a complete assembly is necessary for me.
A lot of what I do ends up getting either exported to Blender for use in 3D projects or turned into shop drawings for manual machining. I don't really need CAM capabilities at this point in time, but I'll never say never.
Alibre Design/Atom3D is so far the best candidate I've found, but it is very quirky, awkward software that has it's share of bugs and rigid idiosyncrasies that the developers refuse to fix. E.g., no ability to enable turntable/constrained orbit or to adjust orbit sensitivity - instead just telling their users to buy a 3D mouse and deal with it. Only *one* opportunity to name part files - only when saving them for the first time, not at creation nor after having already saved them. If you change your mind later you're boned. Manually renaming the files will break the project.
Solvespace is nearly perfect for me, but it's just someone's personal pet project. It's capabilities are very limited and it is not optimized for complex projects with lots of parts having their own internal dimensions.
FreeCAD is hot garbage.
Fusion 360 is just another micro-managed Autodesk product. Always online and no guarantee it won't get terminated or become subscription-based at any time. No way to orbit with middle mouse iirc.
CorelCAD seems like a nice product, but from my limited testing it seems to be much more of a traditional old-timey drafting and/or solid modeler. No real workplane support or parametric timeline that I can tell. Oriented more for individual parts?
Any other options you folks know about that might fit the bill for a fully-constrained parametric workflow? Software that can be purchased outright for $1,000 or less with optional maintenance rather than dealing with a stupid subscription?