Pros
On CNET. CNET is awesome.
Cons
Not the real FreeCAD.
Summary
FreeCAD is great, but I'm talking about the one developed by Juergen Riegel, Werner Mayer, and Yorik van Havre. The most recent version is 0.11 (release date 2011/05/03). Don't let the version sway you, it is a powerful CAD program. Look for it. It is way better than this one. Another powerful open source CAD program is BLR-CAD, but it is much harder to use and not compatible with other CAD programs.
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Pros
Easy to use, did not use alot of disk space.
Cons
Not state of the art, engineering design level.
Summary
A simple to use program.
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Pros
Pros? I uninstalled it, wasn't worth the hassle !
Cons
Reminds me of 80s programs!
Summary
I have simple test for ease of use,FreeCAD8 failed,I moved on. :)
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Pros
It doesn't crash my computer. It actually runs, and seems to do what it's said to do, which is to run animations of mechanical assemblies.
Cons
Odd interface, menu bar seems to be a mix of menus and command shortcuts. Help and tutorials are even weirder, with a minimalist approach in all of the documentation that requires that you already know how to use this particular program to understand it. Non-intuitive drawing interface. I keep getting the feeling that I'm in the presence of a long-winded science teacher who does not care so much about results or getting work done, but would rather spend all day teaching abstract concepts using flow-charts. Non-intuitive. Using this program is like dragging fingernails across a chalk-board. It looks like this is really geared towards importing a 2D *.dxf sketch of each component you need to animate, as the first FreeCAD tutorial emphasized the extrusion of 2D objects to get 3D shapes. I didn't wade through it enough to see if there was a way to import 3D shapes, which if there is should be advertised up front. Basically, you will need to use some other drawing program that can export dxf files. Considering the drawing limitations of FreeCAD, I would recommend drawing your entire model using other software. I'm thinking I should just purchase Autodesk's Inventor and just get everything done right to start with.
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Pros
It is a straight forward program, easy to figure out how to use it. The program was easy to install and did not cause any conflicts or programs to hangup.
Cons
This program would be great if some plug-in were offered.
It would be nice to have a floor plan plug in and furniture, cabinets etc. that could placed in the rooms and adjusted for size based on dimensions of the room.
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Pros
Basically, the author says do the examples OR forget about it. That's the only way to figure out the weird structure and the "tree view".
I like the kinematic aspects, but the dynamics are really weird except for gravity loading. The author uses notation for the dynamic loads that is unreasonably complex, especially for an older engineer.
This is NOT a Cad program for modeling or drafting, it is a kinematic and dynamic simulation and analysis program for mechanical engineers.
But, if you can't afford Pro-E Mechanica, then spend $35 and buy Cadsm which is the colorized version with dxf import. Works fine on XP.
Cons
If you find out how to use his dynamic loading notation, please let me know.
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