FreeCAD BIM development news • Hacker News Board

Re: FreeCAD BIM development news

#21

Post by nucleardog » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 11:48 PM UTC

Brian_K_White wrote: post #19

rgovostes wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first time I've heard of this change to Fusion360, and my initial reaction was to lower my opinion of Autodesk. But on second thought it seems like a good compromise: hobby users still get the functionality for free, but it dissuades use of the free version in commercial manufacturing.

I see no excuse for artificially sabotaging output. Limited access to features is one thing, artificially injected breakage is another. A person or company that behaves that way is not someone I want to deal with and not a tactic I want to reward with success. I would rather pay even more to have open source developers work on honest problems.

How do you segment hobby CNC from commercial CNC usage?

Seems like “how quickly they need the job run” is a good compromise. For commercial use time is money, for a hobbyist something taking a bit longer is pretty inconsequential.

The alternative you’d suggest is just to cut the hobbyists off. How is that better?

Re: FreeCAD BIM development news

#22

Post by eldados » Sun, Nov 01, 2020, 8:47 AM UTC

person8645 wrote: post #12

dudus wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the reasoning but I think any architect not using the absolute best tools available to them at any given time is shooting themselves in the foot. Costs associated with subscriptions are negligible for full time professionals. I think the rise of FreeCad is good for amateurs or part-time architects, and I hope one day it can rival others in the industry, like blender did for modeling, sculpting, composing…

You’re right on but I would like to add in data interoperability. Revit is the standard and the 2700/year is nothing compared to paying 25-50/hour to retrain employees. But Revit doesn’t even open its own files from the past. If you built a building in Revit 2015, you need that exact version to keep using the model for maintenance and repairs. We all have a cascade of versions from our first project to the current ye…

That is not correct. You can open old files with a newer version of Revit, it will upgrade your file to the current version you are using (though not always a smooth process on large files), what you can’t do is open a newer files with an older version of Revit, regardless if it’s one or five versions different. This, for me, is absolutely wrong for a software company to do, only so they can keep you on subscription! Still waiting for the “Revit killer” app, but sadly FreeCAD is not it.

Re: FreeCAD BIM development news

#23

Post by andybak » Sun, Nov 01, 2020, 10:41 AM UTC

guitarbill wrote: post #9

roland35 wrote: post #5

Is freeCAD a viable replacement for Fusion 360 now, especially with the recent changes to the Hobby license?

Viable in terms of functionality for creating models for e.g. hobbyist 3d printing? Yes, there's a bunch of people using it, and I've managed to use it for this (admittedly very simple models). Is it as nice/easy to use? Not quite. Although Qt is pretty good on some Linux flavours and Windows. With more donations, I'm sure this could improve, too. But on a deeper level, the feature set is large/mind-boggling, and I t…

> Blender is great, and boolean tools are improving, but it isn't parametric, and the non-destructive workflow is unusual.

I recently discovered https://github.com/aachman98/Sorcar which looks intriguing but there is UI friction with these workflows and node-based systems offer power but add clutter and complexity.

I wish a non-destructive modifier stack was front and center in Blender. I know it's in there but it's not the primary focus and that hurts UX.

Re: FreeCAD BIM development news

#24

Post by person8645 » Sun, Nov 01, 2020, 6:25 PM UTC

eldados wrote: post #22

person8645 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re right on but I would like to add in data interoperability. Revit is the standard and the 2700/year is nothing compared to paying 25-50/hour to retrain employees. But Revit doesn’t even open its own files from the past. If you built a building in Revit 2015, you need that exact version to keep using the model for maintenance and repairs. We all have a cascade of versions from our first project to the current ye…

That is not correct. You can open old files with a newer version of Revit, it will upgrade your file to the current version you are using (though not always a smooth process on large files), what you can’t do is open a newer files with an older version of Revit, regardless if it’s one or five versions different. This, for me, is absolutely wrong for a software company to do, only so they can keep you on subscription!…

I'm genuinely interested - do you (or a firm you know) work that way or do you keep models siloed to their Revit years? I left Revit in 2017 so I'm not sure if the upgrade model features now work well enough that standard practice is to move forward with each new version. And I'm also ready for a Revit (and Archicad and Vectorworks and also drawing as architectural products) killer... Is anyone working on one that you know of?