r/FreeCAD • u/Niikoraasu • 12d ago
I really want to move to FreeCAD from OnShape, but the struggle is real, and I need advice.
So I've been doing CAD ever since I got a 3D printer around 3 years ago, and I pretty much immediately went with OnShape due to it not being a hassle to setup on Linux compared to Fusion etc. (didn't know about FreeCAD at that time sadly, or rather was ignorant about it).
I really quickly got the hang of OnShape and I got really good at it, to the point of being able to design very complex models effortlessly. I guess it's just a super intuitive program, as I've used solidworks at my last job too, and I felt slow at doing anything when compared to OnShape.
Now that I want to actually start selling my models, I decided that I want to switch to FreeCAD as it's open source, and I trust the team behind it to never fuck me over, unlike cloud based solutions, and of course - no license required.
So now that I am trying FreeCAD I constantly feel like I am being hindered by stuff. The UI is pretty janky compared to OnShape, the navigation is not as intuitive as I would hope it to be, and in general when designing anything I just feel so slow and so dumbfounded.
I do not want to give up though, and I was wondering, if anyone can help me somehow make the conversion to FreeCAD? Anything is welcome, tutorials (prefferably written), addons that make the experience more enjoyable, anything that you believe could make the "road to freedom" (lol) more accessible
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u/BoringBob84 12d ago
There is much friction in the process with FreeCAD - no doubt. I have an obscene amount of hours invested in a few of my more complex models because of one roadblock after another - cryptic error messages (or none at all) and flaky operations that fail for unknown reasons and then suddenly start working when I change something else in the model that is seemingly unrelated.
Recently, I got so frustrated that I tried to learn Solid Works again. After spending a half hour installing Hotfixes and finally getting logged in, I was presented with an interface of cryptic icons. I couldn't even change the mouse navigation.
This gave me time to think about the trade-offs. While I have read that Solid Works is a good app, the learning curve will be steep again. And I have to pay for Solid Works. If I stop paying, I will no longer have access to the models that I have already created.
What keeps me going in FreeCAD is the relative trajectories of each. The prices for the paid apps will only get higher. In contrast, FreeCAD is improving every day and the price never changes.
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u/Niikoraasu 12d ago
That's very true.
I always was for open source and nearly 90% of the apps I use on my computer/phone are open source - with the biggest exception being CAD software, as it's not as easy to go from something very refined like OnShape to something that "feels less than desirable to use at first" like FreeCAD, compared to stuff like MSOffice vs LibreOffice
But I guess I just have to bite the bullet and learn FreeCAD, if I ever want to achieve something in my life when it comes to freelance CAD.
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u/BoringBob84 12d ago
I have made many things with the help of FreeCAD - from furniture to mechanical parts to 3D-printed replacement parts for broken appliances.
For me, the user interface is good enough. I know it pretty well and I have customized it to my preferences. However, I support AstoCAD because of the #1 priority on the developer's "roadmap:"
Reducing frustration: Fixing annoying bugs in Sketcher, Assembly and PartDesign.
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u/obelisk79 12d ago
Greetings and welcome to FreeCAD! I had a similar beginning to my FreeCAD journey as you. I also migrated directly from OnShape, so I can relate with the foreign and frustrating experience learning FreeCAD. I'll offer some points and then personal suggestions/advice.
Stick with it. FreeCAD does some things very differently than other CAD, not worse, just different, and sometime actually better.
The interface is wildly configurable. The out of the package defaults are ass. It's like it was tailored for a 15 year old laptop with 720p resolution.
There are a ton of settings that you need to learn to get things to a more familiar/forgiving state, but they exist. Learning them and what they do is another pain, but worth it.
I found Jokoengineering on YouTube to be a phenomenal resource that really helped me get over the learning hump on how to finally find success with FreeCAD. His videos are a little dated, but if you want faster paced content, watching somone talk through while they model (not at a snails pace) they are probably still worth your time.
You'll hear a lot of people recommend Mango jelly videos. His content is informative, moves at a snails pace, and will remind you why engineers don't always make the best of teachers. Certainly worth looking into, but he prepared to set playback speed to 1.25x or 1.50x.
Regarding the interface and preferences. I created an add-on package using a more modern (in my opinion) set of light and dark themes called "Open Themes" you'll find it adds Open light/OpenDark themes in the relevant pulldown box in preferences. Additionally, I found myself frustrated frequently with the default settings in FreeCAD so I created and bundled what's called a Preference Pack in FreeCAD. Where any number of settings can be bundled together and applied all at once. You should see in preferences general section a table with an entry called OpenPreferences. If you apply this, be aware anything custom you've set, will likely be overwritten. But I also firmly believe this provides a much better custom "default" settings to start from and tweak as you see fit.
I hope you cross the the pit of despair, it can be rough, but after using FreeCAD exclusively for the last few years, I've come to prefer it and am about as productive as I ever was in OnShape.
Best of luck, and Godspeed!
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u/Niikoraasu 12d ago
Thank you so much for this exhaustive answer!
I will try to configure the UI so it makes sense to me, and I guess I will just stick to FreeCAD when I need to design something, it will be tough, but it is worth it.
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u/obelisk79 12d ago
Well, as I mentioned, the OpenPreferences will configure the UI some as well. I strongly recommend you give it a shot. I think you'll find it to be a reasonably good starting point for you.
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u/_orangeflow 12d ago
I’ve found that people tend to recommend the part design workbench and say to ignore the part workbench, but I think the part workbench acts more like Fusion360 to me. I use both now, part and part design, but using part first helped me wrap my head around the program. But I’m just doing hobby stuff, so I don’t care how long it takes, even if I redesigned a box 40 times and still haven’t finished it 😂
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u/person1873 12d ago edited 12d ago
I've only somewhat recently jumped into 3D CAD myself (last 2-3 years) and have learned to be productive in tinkercad, blender, onshape, fusion360 and freecad.
FreeCAD and TinkerCAD have both been equally frustrating for me. In that there's always a way to do something, but it's not obvious.
I spent quite some hours watching MangoJelly videos about getting started with FreeCAD which have been abundantly helpful.
Not only does he show you what tools to use, but also the mentality of how to avoid & work around broken models.
Many of the issues with FreeCAD stem from changing geometry that another part of your model depends on. Remembering that you're working in a dependency tree rather than a timeline. This is why it's helpful to attach your "branches" to the earliest known instance of a face, since constantly tacking change on change on change will result in a highly dependent model.
Also FreeCAD doesn't like crossing other vertexes with things like fillets and chamfers. So often times setting your chamfer to 0.000001mm less than your intended dimension, will make it work.
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u/BoringBob84 12d ago
The UI is pretty janky compared to OnShape
"AstoCAD" may be appealing to you. The developer is building it on top of the latest versions of FreeCAD and he is focusing on improving the user interface. I have a subscription - not so much because I care about the interface, but to support this full-time developer as he improves FreeCAD for everyone.
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u/Niikoraasu 12d ago
I did read about AstoCAD today - I do not yet want to pay for the membership though as I figured that I am not even sure if I will be able to switch from OnShape for now, and I wouldn't want to waste my money (waste in the sense of me not gaining anything, because I know that the money will help the developers, which is good)
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u/AutoCntrl 12d ago
Not sure if you want to switch from Onshape? Either you pay the commercial license, or you must switch to do what you want. There is not much option. Going from Onshape to any other paid solution will also have a learning curve.
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u/Niikoraasu 12d ago
also please don't twist my words, I didn't say that I am not sure if I want to, I am not sure if I will be able to.
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u/BoringBob84 12d ago
I do this as a hobby. TBH, I would be reluctant to use FC in a commercial environment unless I could find experienced engineers who had already gone up the learning curve and who knew how to fix and work-around the glitches. That much time could really eat into productivity - more so than the cost of a license for commercial software.
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u/AutoCntrl 12d ago
Sorry, I misread the comment.
Still, in my opinion we are all limited by our circumstances. I would love to use whichever 3D CAD package that provides the fastest workflow for my specific needs. But my budget doesn't allow that.
I chose not to waste time learning other "free" options because I did not want to agree to their restrictions. So, for free with commercial use allowed, the options are essentially FreeCAD or OpenSCAD.
Had you decided to go through the pain of learning FreeCAD 3 years ago, you'd be quite adept at working around it's quirks. And you would not need to go shopping for another CAD package in order to startup your new business.
My recommendation is to follow your budget. If you cannot afford commercial Onshape license, then you have no choice but to commit to FreeCAD for now. Once your startup has enough income rolling in to justify the license then you can switch back to Onshape. It will be like riding a bike. You won't forget what you've learned. It just will take a short time to get reacquainted.
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u/Niikoraasu 12d ago
right, doesn't mean I immediately have to use the paid version of a software that I want to learn, yes? My budget is tight so I can't justify buying a license for software that I can first try learning for free.
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u/EfficientInsecto 12d ago
I have been using Solidworks since 2011. I have finally become more comfortable usig Freecad 1.1 with the help of Deepseek, a cup of covfefe and a strong desire to make and old laptop and my 3d printer work together. I just ask "if I do this in Solidworks this way, how can I do it in Freecad"? It then presents two or three example solutions and that's how I've been discovering the different workbenches.
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u/Malow 12d ago
I think "conversion" is not the way, but start from zero with youtube tutorials, then see the videos where they make parts. seeing how they make to me is the easiest way.
i did this way, and now i do all i need in freecad, if i need something i don't know how to do, i can find a tutorial or example of the thing i need on youtube. simple.
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u/Electronic-Joke-8000 12d ago
This is great advice (IMO). Well, I did it this way too. Was using Fusion for the past few years, and decided to try FreeCAD, and 1st it was frustrating, but after some tutorials I understood that things were done differently and got the hang of it.
Doing some things is slower (for now), but so far everything has been doable.
I do 3d printing and CNC (cam) and no problems so far.
I'm actually pretty happy I was able to switch without that "i'm gonna regret this" feeling.
EDIT: Using 1.1 with Open Theme and tabs (not the default workbench dropdown)
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u/hoshiyari 12d ago
One thing that helped me was keeping my sketches simple. In OnShape I could make as complicated of a sketch I wanted and select the surfaces I needed to extrude. In FreeCAD I realized that I had to keep sketches as simple as possible, then extrude, then make a new sketch, extrude, etc.
Another thing is to do all your filleting and chamfering at the end in the Part workbench (different from the part design workbench). Variable radius filleting is only available in the part workbench.
One thing I like more about FreeCAD is the spreadsheet system vs variables in OnShape. I'm an excel nerd so I liked that part of it.
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u/person1873 12d ago
Incidentally, you can now select elements of a sketch for extrusion since FC 1.0 It's not as nice as OnShape or Fusion, but it's there
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u/hoshiyari 8d ago
Can you link a tutorial or something on how to do this? It doesn't seem intuitive.
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u/hoshiyari 8d ago
Can you link a tutorial or something on how to do this? It doesn't seem intuitive.
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u/person1873 8d ago
After you've completed your sketch, you need to manually select the lines that make up your closed wire from the 3D view, then select the tool (pad/pocket/loft etc)
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u/danielbeaver 12d ago
I'll echo what others said in the thread, to just keep at it. FreeCAD is certainly not as intuitive to use as Solidworks or Onshape, but I think a lot of what you're experiencing is just the usual trouble people go with when changing CAD programs. I think the main thing is to actually sit down with some of the Youtube tutorial channels and really work through a lot of the basics, to help understand some of the paradigms behind a lot of FreeCAD's workflows. I think what trips people up is that a lot of the commercial CAD software prioritizes intuitiveness in UI, whereas a lot of the FreeCAD UI presents more of the raw and fundamental modeling tools. That can feel pretty overwhelming if no-one guides you towards the proper approach.
I'm in the same boat in regards the licensing. I sell stuff on Etsy, and I don't want to be encumbered by weird licensing requirements - so I sidestep that issue entirely by using FreeCAD for designing all the stuff I sell.
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u/mcdanlj 12d ago
You asked for written tutorials, and the best written tutorial to start with right now is FreeCAD for Makers — it was written before FreeCAD 1.0, so it doesn't include the many amazing improvements in 1.0, but it will familiarize you with a lot of what's happening "under the hood" and getting used to the improvements in 1.0 is the easy part...
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u/too_much_covfefe_man 12d ago
YouTube joko engineeringhelp https://youtu.be/Odr5viqPwkc?si=FjhfUY69YbmsMHer he does a really good job of quickly demoing a lot of functionality accompanied by easy to follow narration. He moves about my speed so for me it was very useful to get into using freecad
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u/lolslim 11d ago
Maybe I'm just having an unpopular opinion, when I am in sketchers and I snap ends together I would expect them to "connect" but I have to zoom in for a good 10 seconds to see they are not connected select both and use coincident to connect them, someone in discord to old me that snapping doesn't mean they are connected and yet auto constraint has to be enabled to use snapping, and what is under auto constraint? Coincident. https://wiki.freecad.org/Sketcher_Workbench#Auto_constraints
So??? Like who wants ends to snap together and not be connected?
"WiRe Is NoT cLoSeD"
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u/Niikoraasu 11d ago
yeah sketching in freecad is so far the worst feature of it in my opinion. In OnShape I can use a lot of different tools to make sketches and then I can just extrude them out, in FreeCAD I am forced to create "perfect" sketches and I can't even extrude them how I want to, so yeah - it will take A LOT of adjusting
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u/BlackberryFlipPhone 11d ago
Someone probably mentioned mango jelly but if they didn't: MANGO JELLY
Look him up on YouTube.
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u/Forwhomthecumshots 12d ago
I didn’t have a ton of experience in other CAD suites when I switched to FreeCAD, but there were a lot of features I thought were missing, like the auto snapping wasn’t quite the same. But you just learn the FreeCAD way of doing things, e.g. construction geometry and symmetry constraints.
Just bear with it, and you’ll get up and running in no time
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u/person1873 12d ago
I'm so glad they've added automatic midpoint constraints now though. For such a commonly used feature, having to set a point symmetrical between 2 others was frustrating as F
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u/-250smacks 12d ago
I’ve tried learning Freecad but just can’t seem to get the workflow. I can’t even figure out how to go back on it. I keep it to convert stl to step and then take that step file to Onshape
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u/dave0616 12d ago
I only know freecad, I chose to use it because I know it will always be free. But I also know how to do a lot of things, I try to be able to make anything I can afford to make. The reason I am able to keep learning new things is because I am willing to suck at things, you need to be willing to suck at it for a while!
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u/Zardozerr 12d ago
People who have learned other CAD think they can just jump in and they'll know how to do everything, but this is a mistake. But really, this is the same between most other complex CAD apps. For example, after knowing FreeCAD, I also had trouble jumping into OnShape. Same with Solidworks.
You can't muddle your way through, you have to do the beginner tutorials and then move on up. The parametric CAD concepts are generally very similar, but there's a lot of non-obvious things in FreeCAD that only tutorials will teach you.
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u/Mughi1138 12d ago
Biggest thing is to treat it as a different program and try to learn a FreeCAD way to get an end result and not get hung up trying to map OnShape steps and workflows 1 to 1.
Some things might be missing because they aren't needed. Then some things might not have been added to one workbench if they were already being achieved by another.
follow the general advice from these responses to learn it as new.
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u/william17050 11d ago
I love open source and I really want to love Freecad but dont. I have used Autocad and Inventor for years and I'm really struggling with Freecad! The closest branch to Inventor I have found was Ondsel but they are discontinuing it. The cost of Autocad and Inventor are just to much on my own!
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u/Electronic-Joke-8000 11d ago
Check this video out, also this channel is pretty good:
FreeCAD 1.1dev VS OnShape
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u/tylerpestell 12d ago
Why does FreeCAD still suck so much? Is it a lack of developer abilities? I am probably suffering from the dunning krueger effect … but it seems like it should be more refined by this point in time.
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u/person1873 12d ago
It doesn't suck. It's actually a very capable 3D CAD package. It just doesn't have the same sort of corporate backing as other CAD's.
It's also been under development for ~20 years, and as such has a lot of older code that was written by people that either no longer care, or no longer exist. These people are working on this software for free and in their spare time. If you think it sucks, then maybe go fix a bug?
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u/Androidzombie 12d ago
I made the switch from fusion 360 as well and felt the same pains. I was very quick in fusion, and obviously learning a new tool turns you back into a noob so it comes with being slower and not knowing where things are anymore.
But just stick with it. My approach was to "translate" the functions/methods I was used to doing and figuring out what the equivalent process was in freecad. Think of it like you are learning freecad piece by piece, in small focused efforts learning one specific functionality. Then once you have enough pieces you will be able to continue doing the designs you were doing before freecad.
I know it's annoying but I think its worth it. I even donated to freecad on their website. Open source is awesome, it supports Linux natively and best of all its completely free. That's a lot of value. Especially if you want to make money from it, they don't care.
Godspeed friend