Monday, June 12, 2017

OnShape In-Browser Parametric CAD

I've been using OnShape for hobby projects for a while.  I used Pro/ENGINEER when I was an undergrad, but wouldn't spring for a license for it or Solidworks for just hobby stuff.  (You know a license is going to be expensive when you can't find a price on the website.  "If you have to ask...")  I get the impression that a lot of hobbyists use SketchUp, but I'm totally hooked on parametric CAD and so SketchUp seems underpowered.  OnShape is remarkable in that it implements a pretty interesting range of parametric CAD features, but runs in the browser.  It has a free tier that lets you use it as long as you don't mind everyone being able to see and copy your projects.  (FYI: Buried in the terms of use it is suggested that you put a LICENSE tab in the project to determine reuse rights.) Unfortunately, the step up beyond the free tier is $100/month, so it immediately becomes unrealistic for a hobbyist to have any private documents.  Free accounts could have a couple of private documents when I first joined, but they removed that after a while.  Anyway, OnShape isn't perfect but it is a nice and free way for me to design things.  I use it mostly for 3d printing, but I'm now exploring how to use it for woodworking projects.