irneb Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Anyone used this before? http://freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Manual I've come across it during my searches for something similar to Revit, but in Linux. It does have some features that seems promising as it's designed as a script-able parametric modeller from conception (with "BIM-like" workflow). Though the tutorials don't cover too much It's not that I'm after something "free", I've tried BricsCAD on Linux too (which isn't free, though it's only a replacement for AutoCAD not Revit). But thus far I can't find anything coming even close to Revit which can work on Linux. I'm after getting away from MS's load of ... and so far only Revit is the sticky gum on my boot-sole which binds me onto the infested Windows platform. But if I can find a free/open-source, so much the better. Quote
f700es Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 I'd say FreeCAD is more like SolidWorks and Inventor as opposed to Revit. Not sure if there is any real Revit (BIM) program on linux yet. Quote
SLW210 Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 Which distro you planning on using? Isn't FreeCAD more of an Inventor substitute? You might look into BRL-CAD, I have it downloaded on Windows, but have yet to take a look. Did you look at CYCAS? OpenCASCADE? ARES? Not BIM but you might want to check CityEngine. Let me know which ones you like, I'll be setting up full NIX at home myself soon. Which 2D Cad have you liked/used? Quote
irneb Posted April 22, 2013 Author Posted April 22, 2013 At the moment I've got Kubutu 12.10 x86-64. I had used Fedora 16 x86-64, but had issues with installing BricsCAD on that - due to issues with the required 32bit libraries: http://www.bricsys.com/common/support/forumthread.jsp?id=18407 Yes FreeCAD does remind me a lot of SolidWorks, but they do have a module where you draw walls and place openings (etc.) into them - similar to ACA. What I'm still not too sure of is if they can then do scheduling from that. I've read through the developer's thread on the arch module - it seems they're still not complete though. But if they do what's discussed there, it might very well be a lot more comprehensive than even Revit is attempting to be (i.e. model through space planning and set what types of divisions you want between spaces, instead of drawing walls around some arb space with little to no intelligence of the space itself like Revit does). For 2D CAD I actually prefer BricsCAD, though it's much like ACad (i.e. general purpose 3D capabilities). No, I've not had a look at BRL before. What I saw on their site looks like more in line for mechanical - i.e. again Inventor/SolidWorks. I'll take a look at the others as well, thanks for the links! Quote
SLW210 Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 (edited) You running Live CD or installing? You might keep trying different flavors. I missed one, VariCAD might be closer to what you want, not free though. Not really what you want, but I'll include a link to gCAD3D as another 3D Linux option, free (Works with Windows also). Edited April 22, 2013 by SLW210 Quote
irneb Posted April 22, 2013 Author Posted April 22, 2013 Thanks, those also seem to be food for thought! I've got a full install inside a VBox. My PC blew its CPU (too much rendering), so I'm in the process of replacing. At the moment I've got the VM running through my laptop on Win7 as host. Not the best arrangement, but once I get my replacement I'm going to setup a similar install as I had last time: Dual boot Win7/Linux (at that time Fedora) with both also mapping a VBox to the RAW install of the other. That way I can dual-boot into any one of the 2, and still run the other as a VM without rebooting. Makes it possible to choose which one to use on bare-metal for performance, while still allowing you to use the other's programs through a VM (though graphics performance isn't that great then). Previously it was working perfectly, except for Win7 which had driver issues when running in the VM, then once that was sorted it had driver issues running as host. And finally it started thinking it was on a new PC so asked for a new authentication (had to phone MS to get the new code) - that meant I never again used Win7 through the VM. Will probably not try that again. Quote
irneb Posted April 22, 2013 Author Posted April 22, 2013 Yes. Revit 2008 just about runs under Wine - but having issues with opening files (deal breaker). As for AutoCAD, also only up to 2008. It seems everything using DotNet 3.5 or higher simply fails under Wine, usually it doesn't even want to install. Quote
SofitRum Posted August 23, 2013 Posted August 23, 2013 I tried FreeCAD and found it very obtuse. And I used to run solids CAD for a living. Quote
f700es Posted August 23, 2013 Posted August 23, 2013 Well FreeCAD is still early in it's development. It is only on release .13 so I really try not to expect much from a application until it reaches 1.0. Quote
SLW210 Posted August 23, 2013 Posted August 23, 2013 (edited) Did you try any of the others? A more detailed review of FreeCAD might be nice. Edited August 24, 2013 by SLW210 Quote
pefi Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 It's an old thread, but I don't want to open a new one just to provide some info about FreeCAd. FreeCAD has come a _long_ way since v0.13. It used to be frustrating, crash-prone software, but it's much more stable now with tons of new features coming almost every month. P.S. I'm helping to develop Finite Element Analysis workbench - testers are always welcome! :-) An example: http://forum.freecadweb.org/download/file.php?id=13772 Quote
f700es Posted July 16, 2015 Posted July 16, 2015 Cool, FreeCAD did seem like it had/has lots of potential. Thanks for info Quote
pefi Posted April 12, 2016 Posted April 12, 2016 FreeCAD 0.16 is being released. Release notes http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Release_notes_0.16 Quote
f700es Posted April 12, 2016 Posted April 12, 2016 It's nice to see continued development in this project. Quote
pefi Posted May 31, 2016 Posted May 31, 2016 I used one time, Classic AutoCAD better, dont waste your time. Thanks for sharing your opinion! What version have you used? FreeCAD is 3D parametric modeling software with easy python scripting, so it's not really competition for AutoCAD. You probably picked wrong tool from the box if you recommend AutoCAD instead of FreeCAD. P.S. By the way, is 3D parametric modeling possible in AutoCAD? Quote
SLW210 Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 I have it at home on my Linux and at work on Windows, just not much time to mess with it, pefi. Quote
pefi Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 I have it at home on my Linux and at work on Windows, just not much time to mess with it, pefi. Same here - FreeCAD is changing much faster than I can track. And I'm one of the contributors P.S What distro? Quote
tzframpton Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 P.S. By the way, is 3D parametric modeling possible in AutoCAD?In a pseudo way, yes, for solid primitives. But in the true nature of parametric modeling, no. AutoCAD is still a free form solid modeling CAD program, not parametric, unless something changed in a recent version. Quote
SLW210 Posted June 1, 2016 Posted June 1, 2016 Same here - FreeCAD is changing much faster than I can track. And I'm one of the contributors P.S What distro? Ubuntu Studio (XFCE) 14.04.4 LTS Quote
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