The reason I got FreeCAD was in hopes that I could use it similar to Solid Works and change the Boolean operator across the model tree at one time. FreeCAD is multiplatform and is available on Windows and macOS as well as Linux. FreeCAD is built with mechanical engineering and product design as its target purposes. Why don't I rewrite the script to work for FreeCAD? That's a last resort as I've already invested time into getting it to work for BRL-CAD, and am not very familiar with FreeCAD. For 3D modelling, FreeCAD is an excellent option that is both free (beer and speech) and open-source.
#Brl cad vs solidworks license
I'm going back and forth with someone with a license to troubleshoot, but this a very temporary solution. If Solid Works sees the cylinders as it should, why don't I just use it to change the Boolean operation from a union to a subtraction? I unfortunately don't have a license for Solid Works. So if I made the hole via Boolean subtraction in BRL-CAD, it'd export as a union anyways. Why am I using both BRL-CAD and FreeCAD? I've already written the script to automate the creation the hole pattern in a format BRL-CAD can understand, but BRL-CAD's file converter doesn't recognize any Boolean operations on export. Some potential questions I want to address up front: I've attached screenshots of what i'm seeing in both programs.
When I export the same file to Solid Works, I get the entire cylinder rather than just the top and bottom.
In FreeCAD I'm seeing my model with the top and bottom face of the cylinder, but the middle section isn't there. I then export it back to STEP and open it in FreeCAD. When in a format BRL-CAD can read, I create a cylinder and perform a Boolean union with the model to create a space for a hole. I then take that STEP file and convert it using BRL-CAD's built in converter. To do this i'm starting with a STEP file exported from Solid Works.
I'm starting with one cylinder in order to make sure it's possible before using a script I wrote to create thousands of holes. I'm working on a problem where i'm creating a hole pattern using a few different tools.