2d version?

[snowforest]

I just started using freecad and still learning and I think it is a great program for 3d. I really love it
But why does it not have 2d version as advanced as 3d? isnt it much simpler to make? I mean it even has FEM or robot etc.... And the 3d must definitely be more difficult to develop than 2d.

[chrisb]

But why does it not have 2d version as advanced as 3d?

Thinking of Sketcher: with its constraints it is an extremely powerful tool for creating 2D sketches. What else do you want?

[routalot]

I admit to seldom using the Draft workbench,but it does seem to cover most needs for 2D.

[Zolko]

What else do you want?

Print them ? Insert them into a text document ?

[ragohix769]

I just started using freecad and still learning and I think it is a great program for 3d. I really love it
But why does it not have 2d version as advanced as 3d? isnt it much simpler to make? I mean it even has FEM or robot etc.... And the 3d must definitely be more difficult to develop than 2d.

As suggested by Chrisb, with Sketcher you can draw 2D in a complete different way, with no snap and with constraint. Then you have to send that sketch to TechDraw WB or convert to Draft.

[snowforest]

drawing in 2d is not just drawing shapes and lines in every direction and when you do that you can say I am done. As far as convenience and speed of drawing and features, there is a lot more to it.

https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Draft_Module
even here, in its own documentation, it says that freecad is primarily 3d and its 2d features are not as advanced as others, which seems to be correct from what I see.
I mean if you consider 2d, there are a lot more features and convenience of drawing in librecad (which is also open source) than in freecad for example. and librecad is still about half of the most widely used, paid 2d programs in terms of features and convenience of using.

[Zolko]

with Sketcher you can draw 2D in a complete different way, with no snap and with constraint. Then you have to send that sketch to TechDraw

You're right, but it would be nice to automate this process, make it intuitive and user-friendly.

[ragohix769]

with Sketcher you can draw 2D in a complete different way, with no snap and with constraint. Then you have to send that sketch to TechDraw

You're right, but it would be nice to automate this process, make it intuitive and user-friendly.

I agree. But using now Sketcher I have seen that's a tools really different from any other 2D CAD, the idea it's really powerful and original IMHO; it lacks some features of course to compansate the absence of the snaps, but it can be changed in the future.

[drmacro]

...

I agree. But using now Sketcher I have seen that's a tools really different from any other 2D CAD, the idea it's really powerful and original IMHO; it lacks some features of course to compansate the absence of the snaps, but it can be changed in the future.

But...the reason there are no snaps is the usage paradigm requires no snaps...once the user forgets what they expect and learns to use Sketcher to it's best advantage, snaps are not missed. (Besides, with auto-constraint turned on it acts like snapping.)

New users, with experience in other CAD programs, attempt to draw, as they do in say AutoCAD, and don't realize the efficacy of "sketching" in Sketcher.

[ragohix769]

But...the reason there are no snaps is the usage paradigm requires no snaps...once the user forgets what they expect and learns to use Sketcher to it's best advantage, snaps are not missed. (Besides, with auto-constraint turned on it acts like snapping.)

I agree, but some auto-constraint can be better when sketching to avoid hole, not connected nodes, auto constraint some distance when inserting, etc etc. And a scale method o move a group can be done better, IMHO. All can be better Anyway I'm using (discovering) it now, and a like a lot

New users, with experience in other CAD programs, attempt to draw, as they do in say AutoCAD, and don't realize the efficacy of "sketching" in Sketcher.

Totally agree, here.