I am not a design draftsman, I’m not an engineer. My workflow is usually: I put something on the scanner, load the calibrated scan, trace the outline, throw a few sketches on various planes in there, round a few edges, print it and I’m done.
Fusion 360 scratches that itch very well but requires me to keep a Windows VM and also their free model felt more and more unusable. OnShape is a nice substitute that works fine for me, but I don’t like the “free or 1500€/year” approach. Without a middle ground subscription for makers it feels that I could lose anything the second their energy prices for servers go up or something.
The list of CAD software is exhaustive, so I am looking for recommendations that fit my “eh, click, click, click, good enough” workflow. FreeCAD is way too unintiuitive for that. I have tried getting into it, but 3D printing is a tool for me and the learning curve quickly made using it another hobby.
So. Suggestions welcome. Scalding criticism about my lack of enthusiasm and consumer mentality not so much, but I guess that comes bundled with useful advice, so, eh, I’ll take it.
I don’t think onshape has the market position to rug-pull their free tier. They need as many people using it as possible to act as a counterbalance to fusion, and the server costs are really not that high for a web app that does the vast majority of processing on the client side.
PTC doesn’t care about being a counterbalance to fusion360 or they would have a less restrictive free version. They only care about making money from subscriptions from corporate customers. They amen way more money from Creo and Windchill than they do with Onshape.