Why I love/hate using @Onshape cloud-based CAD software to #designand3dprint things.
Originally shared by Richard Gain
I use Fusion360,Solidworks and for really simple things tinkercad is fun.
I’m going to look into this onshape , looks interesting
I like the work with the helix. I’ve never used those tools but you made it look easy.
At work we have solidworks, and I loathe it. It’s not as intuitive and magical as OnShape.
I do miss the private files, but I can imagine the investment in the product. For small to medium businesses this is more affordable than most other cad systems, with built-in collaboration tools and versioning.
Sure, I miss the free private documents but it’s not a dealbreaker.
Preferring OnShape to SolidWorks is mind-boggling to me. I recently tackled a hobby project in it and found it quite cumbersome overall. There are some fabulous ideas in the architecture of OnShape that will make it a contender in the future, but it is simply too incomplete for me to even consider it for daily use (like i do with SolidWorks). I would estimate that OnShape’s level of polish and completeness is about where SolidWorks was 15-20 years ago. They only just got their own BOM tool, for example, and interface customization is pretty much nonexistent. The yearly cost is only slightly less than SolidWorks, and the difference in capability is enormous. this is all very disappointing to me, because I’m rooting for the OnShape team, and there are some things it can do that I wish SolidWorks had. I really look forward to seeing what they have in 5-10 years. Also, I don’t buy into the cloud vs file-based marketing hype.
@Dale_Dunn Thanks for your feedback, but I think you have missed the point that I don’t pay anything for Onshape. I don’t do professional CAD, I am very much an amateur. I use a free account and I don’t believe such a thing is available for Solidworks. I find the Onshape UX really intuitive and have not had the same degree of success trying to learn to use Fusion 360.
@Richard_Gain , Sorry, I wasn’t arguing with your use of OnShape for hobby projects. @Stephanie_A got me thinking about how it compared to SolidWorks, especially for professional work.
OnShape has featurescript, you can literally write your own tools. They practically give the source code to how their tools work.
I can’t count how many times solidworks has corrupted files, virtually impossible with OnShape.
Assemblies and derivative parts are soooo much easier.
Sure, it doesn’t have CAM or some of the other tools, but you can make most anything faster and easier in OnShape. Constraints work like magic, navigating the tools is simple, everything about it just works.
I’ve been using SolidWorks nearly all day every day since '99. I’ve seen approximately two corrupted files. It also has powerful APIs that can be used to write any tool you want. I agree that OnShape appears to have a better architecture, but it’s just not mature enough yet. Clearly it’s getting the job done for a lot of people though.
I jump from one to another CAD, all of them suck in one way but all together are great😂 will take look at that one too.