Generally speaking, I will recommend software based on the audience’s core competency.
As of FreeCAD 1.0 I can’t in good conscience recommend against trying it, especially anyone that is new and just learning the principles of parametric CAD.
I get that it is still not as easy, and it’s especially hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, but I feel anyone that is willing to learn how to use CAD in the first place can now learn how to use FreeCAD.
I have personally found it very fulfilling to learn FreeCAD in the last year and know I’m no longer tied to any source of enshittification in my 3D printing pipeline. (Shoutouts to MangoJelly and Deltahedran on YouTube btw.)
I also feel that as that audience grows for FreeCAD and its popularity rises, that in turn helps the users of the proprietary software. Healthy competition is important after all!
I started with FreeCAD 1.1 a few weeks ago, with virtually no CAD experience. Because I screw things up and change my mind a lot, the parametric approach has been rewarding.
Generally speaking, I will recommend software based on the audience’s core competency.
As of FreeCAD 1.0 I can’t in good conscience recommend against trying it, especially anyone that is new and just learning the principles of parametric CAD.
I get that it is still not as easy, and it’s especially hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, but I feel anyone that is willing to learn how to use CAD in the first place can now learn how to use FreeCAD.
I have personally found it very fulfilling to learn FreeCAD in the last year and know I’m no longer tied to any source of enshittification in my 3D printing pipeline. (Shoutouts to MangoJelly and Deltahedran on YouTube btw.)
I also feel that as that audience grows for FreeCAD and its popularity rises, that in turn helps the users of the proprietary software. Healthy competition is important after all!
I started with FreeCAD 1.1 a few weeks ago, with virtually no CAD experience. Because I screw things up and change my mind a lot, the parametric approach has been rewarding.