Comment by geuis

Since blender has Geometry Nodes (and especially the more recent versions of those) I make all my parametrized models in blender.

True, it's a bit more hassle to setup and way less standardized. And it's not really the right tool for the job. And the models are less re-usable.

But.... I use blender a lot for other stuff and it's a joy to use. Freecad otoh feels like a confusing mess to me (probably because I don't use it often enough, but still...)

I'd love if Freecad would go through it's own 'blender 2.5 release' phase where someone would prune the UI.

I think this depends what you're 3D printing. I'm almost always making utilitarian things with specific purposes so CAD modelling makes sense, I know what dimensions I need, and what constraints exist, if I were modelling figures for a tabletop RPG it would be an absolute nightmare though. As ever, right tool for the job.

Au contraire... FreeCAD has a confounding UI, except for the sketcher.

to be fair, I did do exactly as you described, and im glad I had both under my belt. But the amount of bs you can get when doing exactly that, "going back and changing a previous step" can be very annoying. Changing dimensions or previous sketches is usually fine, but anything more complicated often results in everything in your stack breaking with strange errors, leading it to just be easier to re-create the model. For many of my more complex mechanisms, ive made the entire thing three or more times

The CAD Sketcher add-on goes a long way towards making it more usable. I’ve been hacking away at it myself (should go back to finish what I was adding…).

Can you explain more? Which things are impossible in blender

> Yes! I have spent my August learning Blender, and it's become one of my favourite pieces of software ever

Same. Started in July with the Donut tutorial and then got completely carried away in geometry nodes and automation.

Once the UI clicks, Blender is super intuitive and downright addictive to use. I realized, while I don’t actually want to work in 3D modeling for other reasons, I could totally live in Blender all day! Can’t think of any piece of software that made me feel so in love.

And don’t get me started on its capabilities. It’s even useful as a video editor and for drawing. I think the only thing it can’t do much is audio editing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day it’s becoming a DAW, too :D

I recommend to everyone: Learn the basics of Blender! Just dive in for a week or two. For universal creative output, it’s probably the single most powerful and useful tool you will ever encounter. Blender unlocks a whole new skill tree. I promise, you will look at the world, differently, how to express yourself, conceptualize and tackle a variety of problems. Even if you are, like me, not much interested in "graphic art", it’s so versatile for anything 3D, illustration or video. You can use it to visualize ideas for yourself or others, a 3D scratchpad, for 3D printing, illustrating math stuff, even simple physics simulations. Yes, there is a learning curve, but it’s pretty straight forward after the initial complexity shock. The UI is so thoughtful and consistent you get efficient with it very quickly. Totally worth it!

And Blender is free and open source, this skill enablement is permanent and unconditional! It’s an attestation to what’s possible.

I was in the same boat as you and sounds like others in this thread, >1000 hours in Blender over the past few years, but learned Fusion360 to be able to get parts lasercut and machined so had to go to proper parametric CAD format. The simple answer is use both - some things like making a simple bracket or fixture are just much easier in CAD. For organic shapes with lots of complexity, sub D modeling is far faster and easier IMO in Blender than the ways to achieve that in CAD (like T splines in Fusion).

The space between those 2 things is where you have to decide what you are really trying to accomplish. The program you use will have an impact on what your result looks like, you see this in the evolution of product design alongside the evolution of design software (boxy cars in the 80s, soap bars in the 90s, and the last few decades of cars with flowing designs with body line defining creases which modern A surface modelers seem to draw you towards). I find parts made in Blender with my workflow often look a lot more interesting and visually pleasing, using edge crease/bevel modifiers and sliding loops around vs. using fillets in CAD for instance, they both aim to soften an edge, but look far different in the end. If you are only ever going to 3D print parts and never CNC, you are already fast in Blender, and part strength vs mass doesn't matter much (especially to a degree where you don't care about FEA), Blender is plenty viable to make printed parts with.

You can footgun yourself easily with both programs, but I find Fusion to be worse for this, half because of the UI, but using tools like sketch projection for me has caused really diabolical issues in the timeline. The whole trick to CAD is being very careful with the design intention as you progress forwards, which is hard to learn coming from 3D modelers where that doesn't matter much and you can just shuffle around non destructive modifiers. This might just be due to my own experience difference in the programs though, I definitely remember going down some roads in Blender I never returned from on meshes when I was learning, normally by either applying subdivision modifiers, doing too many loop cuts, or using a tri/n-gon somewhere thinking it wouldn't be an issue or I would fix it later.

> I cannot bring myself to knowingly tie myself to a subscription-based piece of rentware.

Fusion360 isn't your only option. Several of the larger commercial CAD programs have various maker/hobbyist licences which are either free or low cost, and are suitable for exporting 3D models for 3D printing.

https://solidedge.siemens.com/en/solutions/users/hobbyists-a... → Free

https://www.solidworks.com/solution/solidworks-makers → US$48/yr presently

Yah.

My workflow is hard to describe.

Over the years I updated my base project files when new Blender versions require rebuilding my geometry node graph when old stuff gets outdated. That being mentioned, the updates are worth it. It's a hobby so time is free and a learning opportunity.

It's something I accept as cost of learning, which so far has resulted in better end results.

I was totally in the same mental space with Fusion. Here's what I did.

I don't like hard to understand UI.

I don't like a product whose company constantly changes the rules.

I don't like not being in specific control of mission important software I use.

I also tried open source alternatives to CAD. There are non that are anything approachable from a user perspective. Until the FreeCAD project gets some help from Blender, I'll stand by that.

I don't maybe have any specific modeling scenarios to recommend. Not a professional, just a hobbyist.

I tune my printer. Use the 3d toolbox plugin for Blender. Make sure your model is manifold. Get to learn how to spend dozens of hours editing 3rd part "printable" models into something that's actually printable. Ain't manifold, ain't printable. If you "borrow" models from games to print, you'll spend a lot of time making them printable. They aren't yours even at that point. Don't try to sell them or give them away for free. Not yours. Respect the artists.

Geometry nodes have SOOOOO many options. I'm not kidding, it's awesome the team keeps adding nodes that address old and new issues. But figure out a basic workflow wherever you're at. Only update if there is some required or otherwise very specific advantage

There's a bit of overlap in practice though - and people are interested. Some are interested enough to make things like https://www.cadsketcher.com/ https://blender-archipack.org/ and others.

Those really blur the lines.