OpenSCAD has pretty nice UX (though massively outdated UI look & feel) but of course describing your part in code is a very different use case from most other CAD tools.
Yes I know it’s schematic capture and PCB layout, but I’m giving it as an example for two reasons:
The UX is genuinely really good and easy to use even for a novice following YouTube tutorials because it follows the norms of a schematic/PCB software package you’d expect to pay for (OrCAD, Altium, etc.)
It’s open source and used in industry so GIMP and Inkscape have ZERO excuses for their horrific UX which is the prime reason industry professionals don’t want to spend an age re-learning all of their workflows.
There I said it, I’ll get down off this soapbox now.
But freecad is nonsensical. Why do i have to change modes? Why can’t i sketch it all out first and then do body work? Why is snap to grid not on default? Why is the constraint system basically non functional?
Its good but you really need to rtfm and forget 30 years of ui and ux evolution.
Inkscape isnt bad, Ive used it and preferred its ux to that of adobes even 10 years ago.
now freecad…
FreeCAD has improved a lot though with the 1.0 update.
There’s no cad somewhere on this planet with good UX.
OpenSCAD has pretty nice UX (though massively outdated UI look & feel) but of course describing your part in code is a very different use case from most other CAD tools.
Counter point: KiCAD
Yes I know it’s schematic capture and PCB layout, but I’m giving it as an example for two reasons:
The UX is genuinely really good and easy to use even for a novice following YouTube tutorials because it follows the norms of a schematic/PCB software package you’d expect to pay for (OrCAD, Altium, etc.)
It’s open source and used in industry so GIMP and Inkscape have ZERO excuses for their horrific UX which is the prime reason industry professionals don’t want to spend an age re-learning all of their workflows.
There I said it, I’ll get down off this soapbox now.
But freecad is nonsensical. Why do i have to change modes? Why can’t i sketch it all out first and then do body work? Why is snap to grid not on default? Why is the constraint system basically non functional?
Its good but you really need to rtfm and forget 30 years of ui and ux evolution.