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Description
FreeCAD is a general purpose feature-based, parametric 3D modeler for CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE and PLM, aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits a wider range of uses in engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties. It is 100% Open Source and extremely modular, allowing for very advanced extension and customization.
FreeCAD is based on OpenCasCade, a powerful geometry kernel, features an Open Inventor-compliant 3D scene representation model provided by the Coin 3D library, and a broad Python API. The interface is built with Qt. FreeCAD runs exactly the same way on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux platforms.
Features
- Rock-solid OpenCasCade-based geometry kernel, allowing complex 3D operations on complex shape types, and supports natively concepts like brep, nurbs, booleans operations or fillets
- Full parametric model allowing any type of parameter-driven custom objects, that can even be fully programmed in python
- Complete access from python built-in interpreter, macros or external scripts to almost any part of FreeCAD, being geometry creation and transformation, the 2D or 3D representation of that geometry (scenegraph) or even the FreeCAD interface
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User Ratings
User Reviews
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I have been trying to lean CAD for a long time. Apart from not being able to afford AutoCAD I have tried the Demo version and by the end of it I'd be lucky if I could draw a cube. I have been using FreeCAD for a little over a year now to draw mainly things that I need to visualise, till this my only option was a sheet of paper and a No2 Pencil if I was lucky I'd have a ruler handy. FreeCAD falls in with my mindset 100% its not over complicated there are very nice tutorials to get you drawing and the only things I could think of to improve would be screw threads I have drawn some but they are hollow and 3D printers don't like that. Gears would be nice and maybe a way to curve an object EG curve a cone into a something like a horn shape for an air duct. Now If you are a CAD designer with "real" CAD experience you will be falling of your chair laughing at the fact that I don't know some technical term for what I asked, but that's who this is aimed at. At the end of the day I have used FreeCAD to design many really cool things if you would like an example I have shared a few on thingyverse search for my username redsalamander all of it's done in FreeCAD. It simply works for me and my feeling is until they find something that can draw what I'm thinking this will do very nicely thank you.
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Cool app, works great!
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600 5 star ratings <-- haven't used a professional parametric 3D cad program. 150 1 star ratings <-- have used a professional parametric 3D cad program. A shovel is a godsend if you were digging with your bare hands. It kind of sucks if you had an excavator. FreeCAD is nowhere near professional 3D cad software such as Solidworks or Autodesk Inventor, which cost thousands of dollars/euros. Features are sparse, ui is clumsy. But it's free. I tried to give this 2/5, but I honestly cannot. For I have used professional 3D cad software.
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Cool program - but the interface is terrible. It requires a tutorial just to find basic tools - and the measurement tool does not show unit type, so when I imported a file and finally found the measurement tool is just told me it was 664 long.
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I discontinued Autocad and tried Freecad do continue drawing my house in 3D. I tried to move objects and extrude planes, and create walls... nothing was possible?? When I click a plane I can not extrude it.. the extrude button stays grayed out??? I have tried all kind of options for 20 minutes. Nothing works. Maybe this program actually is capable of doing anything, but the user interface makes it impossible to use. I am happy to teach the programmers how to make it user friendly. Terrible software. I can not use it.