I am currently on win10 but have been toying with mint and liking it. I intend on fully switching over soon. I have also been toying with the idea of some simple 3D modeling, like making custom parts for projects around my house. Maybe using a CAD software to generate stls for a 3D print or using it to spec out parts for a design made out of aluminum extrusion (like 8020) little things like that. I was thinking about getting a solidworks hobbyist license for 45 a year but solidworks doesn’t support Linux. I could keep a Windows dual boot HDD, but fuck that. Any suggestions on a CAD software that fits? Have a gaming PC with a 3060 and some beefy hardware.
Everyone said freecad.
If you already know cad then it will work fine*. If not, you will not have an easy time getting going in it. Start with something that’s widely supported with a million tutorials like 360 or solidworks. Consider skechup or whatever.
Cad is not straightforward unless you have training in design/drafting. Do not make it harder on yourself.
Plasticity looks nice
FreeCAD works pretty well once you learn the UI
I like FreeCAD, but I’ve heard people complain about it.
I’m not an ME, so I certainly don’t make use of all the CAD features needed, so maybe that’s why I don’t get the complaints. Still, it suits my needs which mostly involve modeling PCBs and building enclosures around them.
I have also been toying with the idea of some simple 3D modeling, like making custom parts for projects around my house
I think that FreeCAD and Blender are probably fine for this.
Example of something I’ve made and printed the enclosure for via FreeCAD: Fight Key Wide. It uses parameter-based design and includes some design touches like screw-holes and bezels which aren’t purely simple geometry, so FreeCAD gets a pass in my book.
If you look at the GitHub linked on the project page, it has the enclosure files which you can check out in FreeCAD if that helps you get started.
Freecad has improved considerably in the last year, to a point where I’ve gone from saying I will wait to use it, to recommending it. It may actually have been designed for humans now.
With about a half an hour of reading documentation it became very clear a couple versions ago what work benches were, which were useful to me, and how to use them. That’s maybe longer than going from inventor to solidworks or visa versa, but hardly that bad. For a beginner it will be taking a long time anyway and there will be essentially no difference, except that you’ll learn a much more robust understanding of how parametric modeling works.
If you want solidwork or fusion : https://github.com/cryinkfly/SOLIDWORKS-for-Linux/releases
I’d love to use and suggest blender/freecad, but I struggle with the workflow.
I still use Inventor 2017 in a windows VM.
