I've used Blender and a few AutoDesk applications for some jobs/tasks, but need a cross platform and as professional-grade as possible F/OSS CAD program.


I see quite a few programs listed on Wikipedia and other articles, but was wondering if there's a F/OSS CAD program you've used and what your experiences and recommendations are. Thanks!

FreeCAD has lots of possibilities.

As per computersavvy!

I use FreeCAD to generate models which I can then export as .stl files ready to be run through a slicer (Slic3r, or PrusaSlicer,also Foss) before sending to my "Open source" Geeetech Prusa i3 pro B clone 3D printer via another Foss 3D printer driver/monitoring program called Repetier-Host.

It's taken me a while to learn enough about FreeCAD but waaaay back in the day I used to work on maintaining CAD equipment which ran on Digital Equipment Vax 11/780s! Same principle of adding and subtracting primitives applies. Visualisation and rendering a lot faster now.

One interesting thing I remember from these days was a model of an ejector seat being used to check for clearances when deployed... The canopy would have taken the pilots legs off just above the knees! Prior to CAD there was a model shop which had to build models to check this stuff out. Lots of time money and legs saved by CAD!

Play Bonny!

Hrm. These answers make sense. CAD sounds quite convenient! I'll give those a try. Thank you!