FreeCAD 17 Disaster

[NormandC]

Harry, your quoting is wrong, you replied inside cox's quote. Please fix it. Thanks.

[cox]

Here's the draft page: https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Sandbox ... Tutorial_I

Even more goodness, thanks a lot NormandC

[Ausimax]

I am sorry that some took offence that I said that FreeCAD 0.17 was a disaster it was for me, at the same time I did not personally denigrate or criticise any person and am surprised at the personal attack on me.

“by NormandC » Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:07 am
I strongly protest about the "FreeCAD 17 Disaster" topic name. It's nothing but dishonest.

FreeCAD 0.17 (notice the zero and the period before the 17, FreeCAD has not reached the 1.0 stage yet, so forget about 17.0 ) is not a disaster, it's a huge success in my book because thanks to it the PartDesign workbench took a giant leap forward.

To say that you don't have time nor inclination to learn the new work flow is one thing - to say the software is "disaster" because of it is asinine.”

I am almost 80 years of age and have a life, as hobbies I repair watches Mechanical and Quartz, I do metalwork and turning as well as woodworking and 3D printing, as well as that I maintain a 5 acre property and care for a semi-invalid Wife.
As a result I don’t have the time to relearn a program every time it is upgraded, it is like getting into your car and finding that in your absence all the controls had been changed with no steering wheel and the order of the pedals changed.

I fully appreciate the time and effort put into the development of FreeCAD by volunteers and applaud them for their commitment, however I must point out were I trying to design the “Golden Gate Bridge” I would be using a commercial CAD program that I had learned to use, I however am an amateur at CAD and chose FreeCAD over 123 Design, TinkerCad and Sketchup because it better suited the way I work.
I am an occasional CAD user and at my age find it hard enough to remember what I learned last time I use the program without all that I had learned suddenly seeming useless.
I am sorry I managed by my terminology to upset some people, and in the future I will be more honest and when something goes wrong, and say how pleasantly surprised I was that the program didn’t work, and try not to be asinine.

[chrisb]

I am sorry that some took offence that I said that FreeCAD 0.17 was a disaster it was for me, at the same time I did not personally denigrate or criticise any person and am surprised at the personal attack on me.

Ausimax, thanks for your explanations. It deserves respect that you start at the age of 80 with 3D CAD and 3D printing, and it shows that the thing between the ears is still working; keep it going!
I wasn't really delighted myself when 0.17 came out and I had to use the new workflow of PartDesign, because I wanted to use the new Path workbench ("why do I need additional stuff in the tree", "dependency graph is no longer linear", "Part/PartDesign interaction is cumbersome", ...).
Now I will never ever go back, 0.18 is so much better. I even like the additional body structure in the tree which formerly annoyed me, because now it really reflects the sequence of features.

You have two possibilities: Stick to 0.16 and everything will stay as before. In its time 0.16 was the best FreeCAD and it was a joy to use it.
Or you use 0.17/0.18 and work through the PartDesign Tutorials in the wiki. Together with your 0.16 experience it will give you enough insight to get acquainted. Give yourself time for 5 further models and it will be no problem to use it. Another 5 models further and you will love it - despite some drawbacks.

The problem with the title of this post is, that search engines can produce the impression that FreeCAD itself was a disaster and not your experience with it.

So please edit your first post with the pen symbol at the right top and change the subject to something which shows more precise what you want to express, from your last post I don't have the impression that you mean the current FreeCAD being a disaster.

Thank you

[freecad-heini-1]

The problem with the title of this post is, that search engines can produce the impression that FreeCAD itself was a disaster and not your experience with it.

So please edit your first post with the pen symbol at the right top and change the subject to something which shows more precise what you want to express, from your last post I don't have the impression that you mean the current FreeCAD being a disaster.

Thank you

Hi Chris,
same problem wih this post in the German forum:
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 30#p261430
Alptraum = Nightmare.
Best regards
Wilfried

[vocx]

I am sorry that some took offence that I said that FreeCAD 0.17 was a disaster it was for me, at the same time I did not personally denigrate or criticise any person and am surprised at the personal attack on me.

...
I am sorry I managed by my terminology to upset some people, and in the future I will be more honest and when something goes wrong, and say how pleasantly surprised I was that the program didn’t work, and try not to be asinine.

NormandC is one of the most rabid supporters of FreeCAD; he borders on obsessive. Every free software project has people like him; it's great and terrifying at the same time, that's just how the Internet is.

About the new version, that's how free software is, you get the good with the bad. Things change, and you are left to adapt quickly, stay with an old version, or find something else. I hope you stick around with 0.17 and 0.18. They are great, and really, the new workflows to work with bodies aren't that difficult to learn.

Many new features have been added to FreeCAD because they reflect the best practices that exist in other commercial CAD packages. These options make FreeCAD more complete and competitive compared to professional CAD modellers. So, it becomes a bit more complex for basic users, but it also helps people who do modelling professionally and who need advanced features.

[chrisb]

About the new version, that's how free software is, you get the good with the bad.

This statement is not limited to free software. That's how software is in general, if it's not a dedicated software developed for a single user/company.

[vocx]

... if it's not a dedicated software developed for a single user/company.

But occasionally that's precisely the case! Many software vendors support old customers, and they try really hard not breaking compatibility with those users as that's their source of income.

[triplus]

I am almost 80 years of age...

Nice to hear that. FreeCAD is i guess still a young project compared to that. And still has much to learn.

[yorik]

great and terrifying at the same time

Very good definition of @NormandC!