I’m curious why I don’t hear more about mattercad here or elsewhere? It’s free (not FOSS), and for me really fills the gap between tinkercad and most professional cad software. I often see questions about people wanting to move beyond tinkercad but being intimidated by the learning curve and the fairly large jump between it and higher powered software. Mattercad fits so nicely in this space. Yes it’s a bit slow once shapes get more complex, and it has some frustrating bugs that I don’t think will ever be fixed, but it’s both powerful and simple. I’m curious if there are places people think it falls short or if you think I’m wrong and there is a better intermediate software package I should be considering?
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I have never heard of it before, but for me it wouldn’t have made sense to make an intermediary step between tinkercad and actual CAD software. Granted I’ve only spent very little time in tinkercad, I’ve always found it frustratingly lacking and infuriating to work with. Maybe it’s good to get kids into designing 3D shapes, but designing anything useful was too much of a nuisance when I tried. If mattercad is anything resembling tinkercad, I can definitely see why it hasn’t picked up more traction.
This is actually my first hearing of mattercad, I will have to check it out. I went from tinkercad to freecad and would agree that was quite a jump, but after watching a few low level tutorials I really started getting the hang out it pretty quickly.
Checked out the website, it seems amateurish and the comments on the free version indicate some very lacking support and functionally. Furthermore a search into matterhackers revealed a lot of poor reviews about the companies filaments. I have major doubts.
It is amateurish. That’s what I’m going for though.
So this post is just you self-promoting your proprietary platform in hopes of getting people to use it?
Yes. I’m getting paid huge money to do this and I figured Lemmy would be the place to start.
It’s not about making money, I don’t give a shit…, it’s about being dishonest with intentions and motive. Not disclosing if you’re promoting your own shit makes you no better than any of the cancerous influencers on other SoMe.
I’m not saying they aren’t involved with this project, but I’m not seeing any indication that they are. What is making you jump to this conclusion? (Their last comment was obviously sarcastic.)
it is amateurish. That’s what I’m going for though.
Their answer to the other comment regarding the website strongly suggests it is their site
Looks interesting. Without a native linux build I’d have to pass, though.
You can run the older version matter control
It really hasn’t changed much
https://www.matterhackers.com/news/mattercontrol-now-available-for-linux
I tried it back in the day and wasn’t impressed by it. But I used CAD professionally before hand also. So I expect more powerful software.
20 or 30 years ago? Sure
These days? And ESPECIALLY for 3d printing? Fusion 360 IS the intermediary step between TinkerCAD and professional software… and is the professional software too. And OnShape isn’t THAT much of a step if you understand the basics from TinkerCAD et al.
Stuff can get VERY complicated if you are trying to make stuff for different processes (e.g. CNC) or want to run physics simulations (essential for any “real” part). But if you are just making a model to get sliced? TinkerCAD teaches you more or less everything you need to know to get going and the UX of Fusion and OnShape are insanely good.
And if you really DO want to go free: FreeCAD exists and is almost kind of usable these days (moreso if you have already learned the fundamentals of CAD in a more friendly tool).