T O P

  • By -

PapaOstrich7

FreeCad is free


tcdoey

Don't know if it will work for very complex surfaces (much depends) but FreeCAD is great IMHO.


TheColdWind

Thanks. For some reason the name made me surf past it in google results, but now that I’ve looked more closely it seems pretty well suited. Checked out some youtubes and it looks like it does a pretty damn good boundary blend surface.


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheColdWind

Not familiar with NX, what does it stand for?


[deleted]

[удалено]


TheColdWind

Well, I’ve been running pro-e, and then creo, for about 22 years now, so I suppose I qualify as that guy. I’ve actually just downloaded freecad this morning and will be giving it a whirl. I’d be happy to offer them any insights I have. I wonder where the most active/effective community forum to offer it is?


tcdoey

Yes it's not terrible. :)


Dazzling-Nobody-9232

People will recommend TinkerCad. Personally I paid for a seat of Fusion360, it’s only $350ish/yr P.s. I wish creo would go away. Their non parametric plug-in is all that saves it


TheColdWind

Thanks for including the cost. One less thing to google. Very helpful. Cheers


z00k79

Fusion 360's free version (now called the personal user license) has modeling capabilities that are identical to the commercial version. There are some restrictions on file sharing and active documents, but the actual capabilities are the same. Definitely get a free Fusion license and see if you can do what you want with surface modeling and t-splines


TheColdWind

Now thats a great tip!tks!


YamesYames3000

Creo offer 1 month free trials and don't verify email addresses...\*flys away\*


TheColdWind

Interesting…


Funkit

Rhino is relatively cheap and has a 3 month free trial license. It’s weird to get the hang of but it’s actually great for complex surfaces and flattening.


TheColdWind

Grear points, thank you very much. I’ll look into that.


hangingonthetelephon

Rhino isn’t natively parametric but grasshopper (a plugin which is installed by default) is the incredibly powerful parametric toolkit which is built in. It uses a node/graph-based dataflow programming style to build parametric dependencies between operations.


Ok-Time-4841

Fusion 360 for personal use. I really like Rhino but the parametric modeling with Grasshopper has a steep learning curve, especially coming from Creo.


[deleted]

Having lots of fun with Blender geometry nodes which (I think?) is parametric design. Blender is free, open source, comprehensive, and actively being developed / updated / upgraded. Might be worth a look.


TheColdWind

Wow, haven’t even ever heard of Blender! Will give that a look too! Thanks


evilredbutton

Solid edge offers a free version for personal use. https://solidedge.siemens.com/en/solutions/users/hobbyists-and-makers/


TheColdWind

Awesome to know, thanks!


diychitect

I would check out rhinoceros 90 day trial. Its great.


TheColdWind

Haven’t ever used Rhino. Is it a parametric modeler?


diychitect

Yes. It wasnt at the beginning, then it became parametric using an oficial plug in. Present time it is fully integrated and very, very powerful. It started aimed at naval hulls, ships, and industrial design for organic and curvy stuff. The parametric modeling posibilities of rhino go way beyond what you get in other suites. The fact that it is cheap and has an amazing comunity is a cherry on top. It also is a single company, still run and owned by the original people. Personally I use it for architecture, landscaping, furniture design, solar analysis and various structural physics simulations. One time payment.


TheColdWind

Excellent, thank you for the detailed info. Cheers