DraftSight 2019 no longer free

[looo]

This is very good for open-source tools. We'll have to work hard to make 2D drafting better in FreeCAD! And others like LibreCAD should see some new interest too

Do you see draft-workbench as an alternative to draft-sight /autocad? To me draft-wb seems a bit heavier than these tools as it directly works with occ-objects.

[triplus]

IMHO Draft workbench in FreeCAD already is good for drafting purposes. Maybe default working plane should be set to Top view and when creating a rectangle, face shouldn't be the result. As such defaults could make it more new user friendly.

Beyond that, you have great control over creating and modifying 2D geometry. If there is some special tool currently missing. I am sure that it could be added in the future.

[yorik]

Do you see draft-workbench as an alternative to draft-sight /autocad? To me draft-wb seems a bit heavier than these tools as it directly works with occ-objects.

Indeed. Draft will probably never be as fast and swallow thousands of tiny lines, as 2D CAD apps do. But, I think "traditional 2D CAD" use can progressively be split into "the occasional 2D that you need for ex. for further 3D use", which can be done in Draft, and "power 2D drafting" which will likely still require another app.

[triplus]

Are we talking about OCC or document objects? I don't know why OCC wouldn't be able to handle large number of lines? Anyway, i would prefer if we would talk in numbers or use cases. As the problem i see, with the above question and answer, is somebody else will read it and might start to believe FreeCAD Draft workbench isn't powerful enough, for things like creating a floor plan. Therefore i guess better to give some perspective, on just how big floor plan it can handle. And for people to decide after, if that is powerful enough for them or not.

P.S. If we are talking about document objects, handling larger number of them likely should improve in the future. One possibility related to Part::Link. In active document people could work with the final representation of the geometry. I guess we can call that a block. And the document objects needed to create such block, will therefore be in another document. Loaded only for (optional) editing purposes.

[efyx]

You can check free 2d cad software from Siemens. I think this is more for mechanical drawings, and reminds more sketcher but anyway it is quite nice. Parametric.

https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/ ... ree-2d-cad

[triplus]

You can check free 2d cad software from Siemens. I think this is more for mechanical drawings, and reminds more sketcher but anyway it is quite nice. Parametric.

https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/ ... ree-2d-cad

Solid Edge 2D Drafting was already mentioned in this thread:

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p296215

[yorik]

Are we talking about OCC or document objects?

I'm talking document objects of course, which is the paradigm currently used by Draft (one line is one object)

[jaisejames]

Another one is
Cadmium free CAD editor
https://www.ti-soft.com/en/products/software/cadmium
It support sketchup file also. But development stopped now.

[jmaustpc]

Do you see draft-workbench as an alternative to draft-sight /autocad? To me draft-wb seems a bit heavier than these tools as it directly works with occ-objects.

Indeed. Draft will probably never be as fast and swallow thousands of tiny lines, as 2D CAD apps do. But, I think "traditional 2D CAD" use can progressively be split into "the occasional 2D that you need for ex. for further 3D use", which can be done in Draft, and "power 2D drafting" which will likely still require another app.

Can I suggest a third? People who want a 2d drawing to print or email, to apply for government building permission, perhaps make 2d drawings for some sort of hand book, parts book or brochure etc. ....but where they want that extracted from the main design which would be in a 3d model .... hence TechDraw wb.

Are we talking about OCC or document objects?

I'm talking document objects of course, which is the paradigm currently used by Draft (one line is one object)

Yorik, I was wondering is that true for the edges contained in a Draft Wire for example? If so, if we just took a simplistic example of heaps and heaps of lines that line up such that they could be a wire, 1) if imported as individual Dlines presumably it gets a bit awkward to deal with 2) How would that compare with the same lines but treated as a single object Dwire?

I am asking because I am wondering if some sort of a single Draft object that contains the 2d drawing or parts of it, might be an answer? Perhaps this could be something like a cut down Sketch, where it does not have any constraints so it does not have the calculation overheads involved with solvers, and relies on Draft Snaps like a 2d CAD application. This could allow it to be a true 2d drawing placed in 3d space. When in edit mode it would be totally a 2d CAD application like Sketcher but when out of edit mode it could be an object in the global 3d axis system.

Does that sound like it makes any sense? Or am I talking "Bertie Boo Boo's" (my bull) output!

Jim

[looo]

Can I suggest a third? People who want a 2d drawing to print or email, to apply for government building permission, perhaps make 2d drawings for some sort of hand book, parts book or brochure etc. ....but where they want that extracted from the main design which would be in a 3d model .... hence TechDraw wb.

I use draft-sight for modifying drawings which are generated from 3d... This wouldn't be necessary if everything works perfectly. But there will be always a need for 2d-drafting. And FreeCAD currently is no option for this task (for me). (Loading a dxf which immediately opens in draftsight and librecad takes for ages in FreeCAD)...

Also it's not possible to edit the patterns in FreeCAD (because of performance isssues)

But in my eyes FreeCAD could be a good base for an autocad clone. But basing it on draft will not be the way to get similar performance.