1. QCAD / LibreCAD: The first thing that comes to our mind when it comes to design is a 2D drawing software or AutoCAD. I will put QCAD / LibreCAD in the same row as an alternative to AutoCAD. In fact, QCAD or LibreCAD is a very complex and small software as an alternative to AutoCAD, but if you want to use open source software, there can be no better alternative.
First let’s talk about QCAD. QCAD is a CAD software designed for two-dimensional or 2D drawing. It is designed for Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms. Development began in 1999 and was last released in March 2020 (version 3.24.3.0).
QCAD is available in two versions. Professional version and community edition. The professional version offers some additional benefits, including .dwg file support for AutoCAD.
LibreCAD is a software-based on QCAD Community Edition. Simply put, if you exclude QCAD’s professional add-ons, LibreCAD will remain
You can do Architectural, Civil Engineering, Plumbing, Mechanical, and Electrical drawing using these two software’s.
Platform: The two software’s are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Official website: https://www.qcad.org/en/ and https://librecad.org/
2. Blender: When you think of open source three-dimensional design, the first name that comes to mind is Blender. This is not a blender in our kitchen at all. It is an open source three-dimensional or 3D design software that can be used for many tasks including architectural modeling, interior modeling, mechanical or electrical modeling, motion graphics, video editing, 3D animation, game creation.
In detail, it can do everything including 3D modeling, UV Unwrapping, Texturing, Raster Graphic Editing, Fluid, Smoke, Particle, Soft body Simulation, and Rendering.
Neo Geo, a Dutch animation studio, released the first version of Blender in 1994. It is currently the latest version 2.62 which was released on February 14, 2020. You can use it as an alternative to 3D Studio Max or Sketch-up.
It has Cycles Rendering Engine as render engine. That means you don’t need to install Vray extra. Cycles is a very powerful rendering engine.
Platform: The software is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Official Website: https://www.blender.org/
3. Free CAD: Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Free CAD is compatible with QCAD or LibreCAD. Free CAD is an open source MCAD (Mechanical Computer-Aided Design) software. But now it is used for BIM (Building Information Modeling), Architectural, Electrical, Construction besides mechanical work.
You can use it as an alternative to Solid Works, Autodesk Inventor, Revit. It was first released on October 29, 2002. Developers: Jürgen Riegel, Werner Mayer and Yorik van Havre.
It was last released on October 26, 2019 (version 0.18.4). This means that it has not yet received its first stable release in 18 years. Hopefully, its first stable release will be available soon.
Platform: The software is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Official Website: https://www.freecadweb.org/
4. Ki CAD: This is an EDA (Electronics Design Automation) software or ECAD (Electronic Computer-Aided Design) software design software that can be used as an alternative to Autodesk EAGLE. It allows you to design electronic circuits and convert them to PCB designs.
Created in 1992 by a developer named Jean-Pierre Charis. At present many volunteers are working behind it for money. Its latest release was published on November 4, 2019.
Platform: The software is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Official Website: https://www.kicad-pcb.org/
5. GODOT: This is an open source gaming engine. In 2019, the gaming engine in Blender was removed and a recommendation was made to use a stronger gaming engine. Now you can create many beautiful games and animations using Blender and GODOT. It can be used as an alternative to Unreal Engine or Unity.
In 2004, Juan Linietsky and Ariel Manzur began developing it. Which was first released in 2014. The latest version is 3.2.1 which was released on March 10, 2020.
With GODOT you can create games for almost all types of platforms, including Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD, Haiku, iOS, Android, HTML5, Xbox, WebAssorney, and Universal Windows Platform (UWP).
Hopefully, through the publication of these two episodes, I have been able to give a little idea about open source design software. You can let us know later what kind of open source software you want to know.
