What is the best alternative to SOL75?

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score 65 · Answer 1

OpenSCAD

Top Pro

Ideal for programmers

Because the 3D-objects will be programmed. You define basic geometric objects, scale, rotate or move them, create unions, intersections, hulls, differences, ... See More

Top Con

Need to know scripting

Top Pro

Text based description

Hence the resulting files can be easily stored/merged in version control systems. See More

Top Con

No measurements from any area

Top Pro

Parametric

Define some variables and use them in the code. See More

Top Con

SVG exports a single big shape

It should export one shape per object, so it would be re-usable in SVG tools. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

Specs

Dev platforms:Linux, OS X, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD

See All Experiences

65 6

score 663 · Answer 2

Blender

Top Pro

Free and open source

Blender is licensed under the GPL. Some Blender modules such as the Cycles rendering engine are licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. See More

Top Con

Too many possibilities, no unified workflow

The operations are not optimized enough for specific tasks. See More

Top Pro

Wide import and export format support

Support lots of modern 3D formats including DAE and FBX - ideal for game developers. See More

Top Con

The physics engine is a bit lagging behind, especially the destruction physics

Top Pro

Has a powerful rendering engine

Blender runs the Cycles path tracing engine under the hood. Cycles is a very powerful rendering engine capable of full path tracing (light fall off, caustics, volumetrics). It is mostly compatible with OpenCL and CUDA rendering, and is implementing mycropolygon displacement features. The upcoming release has a viewport engine called EEVEE whereby you can see and interact with your work in render mode in real time! See More

Top Con

Difficult learning curve

Blender has a history of being unintuitive, but the 2.8 overhaul made the program far easier for beginners to pick up, and changes continue to be made to further improve the experience. However, there is still a learning curve. See More

Top Pro

Python extensibility

Blender embeds Python 3, which can be used to write add-ons, tools, extend the interface, rig characters and automate tasks. See More

Top Con

Not good for Industrial Design because it uses average vertex normals

You can not create a hard surface with a radius continuity degree along a surface using a specific radius value. See More

Top Pro

Powerful animation suite

Blender provides a full rigging system, and automates animation by interpolating between keyframe positions. See More

Top Con

Vertex normal issues on edges after boolean operations.

After creating a simple boolean operation the vertex normals are broken. A lot of work to fix the issue and you loos surface continuity. See More

Top Pro

Supports both low-poly and hi-poly modeling

Top Con

Bad vertex normal after boolean operations

Does not handle well polygon intersections. And need tweaking by hand points or adding average vertex normals via modifiers. See More

Top Pro

Regular release schedule

Releases are made every ~3 months. See More

Top Con

Does not handle NURBs

Is not capable of real hard surface for industrial design because is not able to reproduce surface continuity degree as a NURBs does and average vertex normal destroy surface radius. See More

Top Pro

Sculpting and 3D painting features

Although Blender's 3d painting and sculpting tools (mostly painting) are not at par with specialized software like Substance Painter, ZBrush, or Mari, it is more than capable of getting most jobs done if the user takes the time to learn and understand it. See More

Top Con

Poor particle system

The Blender particle system can at times be a little limiting and finicky (and buggy) to get working. Even if it can get most straight forward jobs done, it is far from the most advanced system, and could benefit largely from advancements. See More

Top Pro

Includes video editing & compositing tools

Blender's node-based compositor has comprehensive video sequencing and post-processing features. See More

Top Pro

Node based modeling support

Top Pro

Keyboard shortcuts

Good keyboard shortcuts for everything. Keep your left hand on the keyboard and your right hand on the mouse. See More

Top Pro

Very useful for a freelancer

It offers a round solution (it covers many areas and professional fields) for a freelancer, for free, constantly updated, very polished, and allowing high quality results that clients do require. After some learning, it becomes very useful for professional work. See More

Top Pro

Has a large community

There's a huge community to help you get started immediately. See More

Top Pro

Coherent and streamlined workflow / internal use logic

The trick with Blender is to get used to its usage philosophy, as it keeps consistent through all the application. Once you get it, every feature or addition is learnt naturally, almost effortlessly. See More

Top Pro

Very versatile

You don't have to switch between software when you want to do different things. Because modeling, sculpting, composting, video editing etc can all be done in blender. See More

Top Pro

Generative geometry using nodes

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD

663 95

score 24 · Answer 3

Solvespace

Top Pro

Easy to learn

There are easy to understand commands that really help to getting started quickly. The application itself is surprisingly simplistic with easy to learn shortcuts, but extremely powerful. See More

Top Con

Slow for large number of constraints

Top Pro

Available on Windows, Linux, OS X

Binaries are available for Windows and OS X. On Linux it needs to be built from sources. See More

Top Pro

Open source

https://github.com/solvespace/solvespace See More

Top Pro

Good tutorials

Top Pro

Extremely light-weight

The latest version 2.3 is ~6MB size, the previous one was ~1.4MB - yes, Megabyte. See More

Top Pro

Useful integration of keyboard shortcuts

Top Pro

Does not require installation

The single executable can simply be launched. See More

Specs

Dev platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

See All Experiences

24 10

score 6 · Answer 4

Fusion 360

Top Con

Cloud

Just upload your secret models to the autodesk server... See More

Top Pro

It has Mac support

Top Con

Windows only

Does not work on a Linux platform and the web browser version is retired :( See More

Top Con

Paid services with no convenient way to top up the account

Top Con

Proprietary file formates / Vendor lock-in

Autocad uses its own non-standard file formats instead of using open standards. See More

Top Con

Poor performance

Selecting of 1000 points can easily crash/hang it. See More

6 3

score 5 · Answer 5

AutoCAD

Top Con

Can be glitchy

The software can sometimes be laggy, glitchy and unstable to the point of crashing. See More

Top Pro

Great for engineers

AutoCAD helps make engineering drafts quickly. It's designed to help with things like plumbing diagrams and electrical wiring diagrams. See More

Top Con

Interface is difficult to customize

Top Pro

Free trial available

AutoCAD is available for free for 30 days. See More

Top Con

Mac version is weaker than the Windows version

Specs

Platforms:Windows, macOS

License:EULA

5 3

score 5 · Answer 6

SolidWorks

Top Pro

Easy CAD model exchange

Because Solidworks is so used, most companies/universities/research institutes have at least some licenses for it, even if it's not their main CAD program. This facilitates exchanging CAD models in native formats between institutions. See More

Top Con

Expensive for individuals and freelancers

Solidworks typical clients are big organizations, so buying licenses can be quite expensive for individuals. Usually they only sell them in packs and will only give quotations when requested directly. See More

Top Pro

Advanced modelling

Solidworks is one of the most advanced, commercial CAD applications on the market today. For solid modeling, it uses a parametric and feature-based philosophy. Its operations library is enough to build the products/objects that most designers/engineers will ever need to model. See More

Top Con

Weak analysis modules

Solidworks has analysis modules ( structural, thermal, flow, ... ), but they are quite simplistic and their solving abilities aren't the best, so analysis results should be looked at with a critical eye. These modules should only be used for preliminary analysis. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

License:EULA

5 3