I'm Ditching Blender for Onshape

Thanks for watching! Let me know if you liked the video, disagreed, agreed...? I love your comments.

OnShape is great, but it is important to know that if you want to own the rights to your creations, or use them commercially, then you have to bump up to at least the standard plan which was $1500 annually at last look. On their free plan all models are public and it specifies non-commercial use only. Definitely a great tool but those things can be deal breakers depending on your budget and project needs.

FYI, there is a 3D printing add-on for Blender that helps find and fix non-manifold geometry. I have really only just gotten started with blender, but it seems to work pretty well so far. I agree that it makes sense to learn blender along with a proper CAD program though. As you said, they're fundamentally different tools that serve different purposes.

My problem with Onshape is privacy. With blender or fusion360 you can keep the stuff you design private.

I'm actually not an 3D printing guy (at least for now), but I would say the Blender add-on mentioned is "CAD Sketcher" which really helped me to make correct house plan and keep it usable both for 2D and 3D view.

Just wanted to point out that there are non-destructive workflows for Blender. Chipp Walters is one of the guys that's worked on this. I think his Nitrox 3d workflow is meant to be used with vanilla blender. There are also plugins that help with this, like Meshmachine (though that plugin does a lot more than just non-destructive workgflows.) Blender is more of a 3d modeling, animation, and video toolbox than it is just a 3d animation software. You can use it to make models, animate models, composite video, edit video, do 2d animation with the grease pencil, sculpting (like with zbrush,) and even some parametric modeling with plugins like Cad Sketcher. While it's been a while since I've checked, it also had NURBS and metaballs which are not strictly mesh modeling features. NURBS are more akin to the models that parametric CAD software puts out. Metaballs were, as far as I can tell, a way to generate organic shapes that were then refined by sculpting. There's a lot to Blender, but at the end of the day, what software you use is up to your preferences and what you need out of it. Blender is a great option for making things that don't need a lot of precision or are more organic, even if you can use it to make precision mesh models. CAD, specifically parametric CAD, is great if you do need precision and the ability to iterate. Just my two cents.

I started with Fusion and then jumped to FreeCAD. A lot of the Fusion workflow translated to FreeCAD (plus, I've had real mechanical engineering and design training so I already had a basic knowledge of the general workflow). Since I spend 3/4 of my computing life in Linux, using FreeCAD on my Linux platform without resorting to a VM was another plus. Aside from decorative minis just because, the bulk of my work is in the design and testing of engineered mechanical parts. FreeCAD gives me the power to handle even the most complex assembly that I need to create.

Blender and Onshape serve different purposes and excel in their respective domains. However, if you're seeking a middle ground, consider exploring Plasticity as an alternative option.

I started using Blender years ago before I got into 3d printing. And for me personally, this is still the best program, with huge modeling capabilities. But there are few lessons for 3D printing. And at the level at which I use it, I did not find it at all. The biggest problem so far for me in modeling is rounding and chamfering, but mostly this is because I often model non-destructively. And I made the technical details. And unlike cad programs, I easily combine technical elements with artistic ones. It helps me a lot at work.

Open source software is always going to have the longevity factor and not come with licensing issues. Some software is going to have new features that make them stand out, but eventually the open source software will also implement those features and just be better.

Great video. I started using OnShape about a month ago and love the work flow. Still learning the advanced stuff like assemblies.

I agree with your observations between organic and parametric modelling. I prefer Freecad because it is NOT cloud based and my internet connection is not always reliable. I enjoy seeing different approaches to CAD modelling so welcome to the band of u-tube demonstrators.

I tried onshape, and for a few simple objects it worked fine, but when faced with a more complex part in a project I encountered a few annoying bugs, so I went back to fusion. Mostly while trying to select things, or when I wanted to enter constraints and exact numerical values to multiple dimensions when placing simple geometric shapes in sketches.

Nice straightforward assessment. Blender is a visualization and animation application, whose modeling workflow is centrally geared towards creating meshes that deform well and play well with physically-based rendering. Those constraints simply do not apply to 3D printers, who, on the other hand, need more precision. Optimizing one application's architecture and UI for both is pretty much impossible. It's better to have two. 'Bye Bye Blender' is a bit harsh..😅.

I've been using FreeCAD, but Onshape seems cool. I might try it out. One thing I like about FreeCAD is that the parameters can be put into a spreadsheet and you can simply modify the spreadsheet to change the dimensions of things in the 3D model / sketch.

I mostly knew that Blender was a mesh program and that Onshape was a parametric CAD program, but I am sure others who don't know will find this useful. I personally started using Fusion 360. I think a video about Marlin vs. Klipper would be interesting.

For those interested in Blender for 3DP, I recommend taking a look at CAD Sketcher add-on, which allows for a fully parametric, non-destructive workflow. MakerTales has some great videos about CAD Sketcher as well as precision mesh modeling in Blender.

If you ditch Blender or preferer Others to Blender it is up to you but just remember that Blender has been and will always be a game changer as far as content goes! Free and has all you need xx

I use Blender for 3D printing. However I had a huge amount of experience using it before that. I have used it to create precision parts without using any plug ins other than Box Cutter which is optional and the 3D Printer one which you kind of need anyway. It does not handle things like a CAD program unless you add a plug in for it but I think the end results are the same. I don't have that many issues with incomplete manifolds either. So while yeah CAD can do certain things better maybe, Blender just works and it appears to be extremely accurate. I just find it a lot less clunky to work with than a CAD system. But that doesn't mean I won't check this out it looks pretty good.

Hi, have anyone tried both plasticity and onshape? Would love to hear the objective comparison, the pros and cons between those two