I had figured they were open source based on how popular they are around here and the fact that their base level software is free. I could be completely wrong.
What I was referring to is they don’t screw over their customers the way AutoDesk likes to do on a regular basis. Though, I’ve fought with them about licenses and software support in my professional life, though, so I am biased against them.
Yeah Onshape only has a free tier like Autodesk but is very much commercial, and have only been around a couple of years, so there is still chance they could end up screwing over their customers, but currently I like it the best. And the fact that it allows for multiple contributors to design is why a lot of people here use it.
go with the company that has a bad track record, or the company with a very
short track record, that’s an interesting question to consider.
Apparently Onshape has made a change to their licensing in the past, from what I
understand they used to have a free tier that let you have private projects and
they eliminated that (and some people are very upset with them for doing so)
the fact that onshape works on all devices in a neat trick. being able to pull
up the full cad on my phone to look at something or show the design to people is
nice.
Is there a reason nobody said/likes Easel? I haven’t done any cutting yet but Easel fit riggghht into my skill level with regard to design/drawing. As I played it more I realized it had more features than I originally thought, and allows for some fairly complex/precise work.
Might be well below most of you guys’ skills but it clicked well in my brain. You can’t do 3d design but with a little outside planning you could easily replicate a lot of more complicated designs.
I’m also a passionate open source fan, but the moose is right. It’s a lot easier to start an open source project than to see it through to maturity. Commercial products have this same problem, but most of the failures never make it to market.
I like Easel. When I’m laying out something 2-dimensional using simple shapes, that’s the tool I use. I use it to generate gcode for SVG files created elsewhere as well.
It isn’t appropriate for more complicated 3-d forms, though.
Thanks for recommending these lessons: http://www.mikeandlauren.com/its-finally-ready-fusion-360-for-hobbyists-and-woodworkers-course/
I found them really helpful in speeding up my Fusion360 workflow, making sure I was using the ‘best practices’ etc, and de-mystifying some stuff like joints and other component interactions.
Along with some youtube searches for specific actions, this goes a long way towards getting anyone up to speed on at least the modeling aspects of Fusion360.
As for the CAM side there’s still a bit more to learn, and frankly MaslowCNC isn’t quite far enough along itself to properly apply all that Fusion360 can help optimize, but it’s getting there.
cheers,
I like the idea of Easel, but the fact that it only takes in SVG and not a real dimensional format like dxg, etc. Is keeping me from using it.
I have been considering Vectric’s VCarve Pro ($700) or Cut2D Pro ($450). It’s not about open/closed source for me, but just getting stuff done with the most efficient workflow. I’ll pay for that.
With that said, I’m interested in other options that don’t require such large $ antes. I came here looking for an easy alternative to MakeCam, which looks like a limited toy that is cumbersome to use. I also have access to SolidWorks…