Do NOT use this proprietary nonsense, learn FreeCAD
I'm a decently able self-taught CAD user now, of the level where I can reasonably quickly pick up a new piece of software. And yet... I've lost count of the number of times I've reinstalled FreeCAD thinking "this time it will be different"... and then quickly removed it again. Compared to anything reasonable it's just an awful hot mess to try and figure out, with huge quirks, a weird interface, and unhelpful error messages.
Given the reasonable pricing, I'm interested to try Plasticity, although it's not strictly CAD in the sense of Fusion360/Solidworks/etc - it's currently more of a modelling program. It's also doesn't have the parametric + history features that are really valuable in other products.
The truth is, we're crying out for a decent open-source CAD program. Everything currently available (FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, SolveSpace, CadQuery, etc.) has huge usability and/or feature deficits compared to the commercial offerings.
> I tried and tried and tried to get into [FreeCAD]. It promises so much, but there are two fatal flaws in my opinion. First, the UI is a nightmare. I have no idea which "workbench" I am supposed to be using, and there are so many similar choices available, each with subtly different tools and ... I gave up trying to make sense of it. Secondly, even when following tutorials to get some basic modelling done, I found lack of sensible keyboard control and having to click almost everything a real distraction. Not a good experience.
It's an absolute nightmare to use. Really the worst UX I've ever seen.
I'd love to use something like KiCAD is in the EDA world.
I highly expect, at any moment, Audodesk to pull the rug from under the hobbyist licence and I'll not be able to use it anymore.
While I feel kinda 'dirty' when I use it, I have been using it for maybe 8 years and the thing is a masterpiece. It's like a third arm for me.
Once your brain knows the whole constraints workflow it is so natural. I can very quickly model up pretty much anything I can think of to make.
Time spent thinking "I'm sure it's just me" in FreeCAD is time you will never get back.
Licensing is a thing with FreeCAD but last time I looked it was free (as in beer) for hobbyists. The grey zone is where you turn your hobby into a small scale business.