<![CDATA[If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make:]]>If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make:

Do not use Onshape.

Do not use Fusion360 (or any other Autodesk product).

Using these tools binds your work to someone else's profit motives. You are a temporary guest in their house. They *will* fuck you over the moment they decide they can make more money by doing so.

and are incredible tools. Learn them and become free.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/f85e8d95-c55a-494f-9684-3b1820a7fb27/if-you-use-cad-software-and-care-about-properly-owning-what-you-makeRSS for NodeFri, 05 Jun 2026 15:11:21 GMTMon, 25 May 2026 00:30:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Tue, 26 May 2026 08:40:40 GMT]]>@tj do you have a story I can share around in my org about the specifics?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mklovenotcyber/statuses/116639979304273917https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/mklovenotcyber/statuses/116639979304273917Tue, 26 May 2026 08:40:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 15:11:09 GMT]]>@Gustodon @tj Besides FreeCAD, which I use, for folks looking for the TinkerCAD experience, there is CaDoodle CAD, which is open source and explicitly intended to replace the TinkerCAD experience. I haven't used it because FreeCAD is more my style, but I've heard good things about it from others.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.makerforums.info/users/mcdanlj/statuses/116635852448812276https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.makerforums.info/users/mcdanlj/statuses/116635852448812276Mon, 25 May 2026 15:11:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 13:59:47 GMT]]>@tj The principals, without the expletive, apply to anything where you are investing your time in something . You simply need to ask, will I be able to continue work without the provider/service. If the answer is "no", then adopting an open source alternative is a serious contender.

For the institution/government/company where the person who has "tens of thousands of Autodesk licenses" -- investing in an in-house development team to take an open source to a higher level is money well spent.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/VogueLaGalere/statuses/116635571843929746https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/VogueLaGalere/statuses/116635571843929746Mon, 25 May 2026 13:59:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 13:04:23 GMT]]>@Gustodon @tj That would be FreeCAD. If you can do Fusion, or any other modern CAD, you can do FreeCAD.

If you want an excellent source for tutorials for beginners to pros, check out the MangoJelly channel on YouTube. He makes high quality videos that are succinct and informative.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/chrishuck/statuses/116635354002682486https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/chrishuck/statuses/116635354002682486Mon, 25 May 2026 13:04:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 12:36:35 GMT]]>@tj

The conglomerate I work for has tens of thousands of Autodesk licences. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Good to know though

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/Sir_Osis_of_Liver/statuses/116635244652904706https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/Sir_Osis_of_Liver/statuses/116635244652904706Mon, 25 May 2026 12:36:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 12:32:34 GMT]]>@Gustodon @tj Yes, FreeCAD has a GUI. It is THE open source parametric CAD.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/georgramer/statuses/116635228873039404https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/georgramer/statuses/116635228873039404Mon, 25 May 2026 12:32:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 12:26:21 GMT]]>@tj Is there an open-source CAD program that has a GUI? That would help a lot, especially for kids transitioning from TinkerCAD to Fusion 360.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/Gustodon/statuses/116635204450848925https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/Gustodon/statuses/116635204450848925Mon, 25 May 2026 12:26:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 07:20:15 GMT]]>@tj @foosel I totally agree and would like to mention as a third addition to the tools section. Often overlooked but still thriving 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/daftwullie/statuses/116634000790485343https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/daftwullie/statuses/116634000790485343Mon, 25 May 2026 07:20:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 07:12:15 GMT]]>@tj real good advise and i have to agree that FreeCad and OpenScad are incredible pieces of Software. But both have a huge learning curve in contrast to Fusion 360 and Onshape with make them extremely hard to learn for people without engineering background. Also the bugs and inconsistencies in FreeCad are extremely annoying.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.sengotta.net/users/bjoern/statuses/01KSEZMA251G4HNM2K41PVPKGBhttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.sengotta.net/users/bjoern/statuses/01KSEZMA251G4HNM2K41PVPKGBMon, 25 May 2026 07:12:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to If you use CAD software and care about properly owning what you make: on Mon, 25 May 2026 01:04:58 GMT]]>@tj FreeCAD has come a very long way in the last couple of releases, I'm very impressed. Definitely what I'll be using for future work.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://gts.vidja.club/users/astrovore/statuses/01KSEAKS0NEAKDX1DNS8AA7RB9https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://gts.vidja.club/users/astrovore/statuses/01KSEAKS0NEAKDX1DNS8AA7RB9Mon, 25 May 2026 01:04:58 GMT