maxy

Blender user here. I think you got it right, and FreeCAD is probably your best bet. Maybe give it a second chance.

OpenSCAD is in a different category, it’s more like a coding tool or software library. There are other options if you’re into that, e.g. build123d.

I can’t use FreeCAD myself, but then I don’t have a mechanical engineering background, so I was also learning the basic CAD workflow when I tried it. At work my colleagues (who occasionally 3D print some part) seem happy with it, and keep telling me I should use a proper CAD to design parts.

Personally I’m happy with Blender, using it for my hobby 3D print designs. Most have some playful/artistic touch in addition to being functional, and Blender shines at that. But you totally can do a parametric design in Blender natively, it just won’t be a CAD workflow with the constraint solver you expect. The CAD plugins I have tried felt experimental. The native tools are very solid, and Blender is very polished and mature. But it is targeting expert users (including teams, since you asked about that). Learning Blender is an investment, it took me a long time. If you are still curious, look for a video demo/tutorial of someone designing a 3D part in Blender. Don’t just open it and expect to be able to do stuff, you will not figure out on your own which tools/modifiers you should use.

(And since you didn’t say what kind of CAD, also check out KiCad if you are doing PCBs!)

I see where this comes from, but it’s funny because F-Droid is the very last place where I expect this to happen. Right after hell freezes over. Imagine them listing their own app with an anti-feature from their list: https://f-droid.org/docs/Anti-Features/

Yes. I’m here for the long tail, the niche communities. And what do I see? Not enough photos of houseplants! Come on, you must have some too. And to add to the list, !books@lemmy.world looks nice.