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Used by designers the world over, CAD, or computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), is design and documentation technology that replaces manual drafting (like blueprints, for example) with an automated process.

From architects and engineers through to audiovisual professionals and fashion houses, experts the world over use 2D and 3D CAD programs to draw up visual concepts, create construction documentation, and simulate designs in the real world through realistic renderings of a particular subject matter.

If you’re already a designer, or want to start getting into 2D and 3D design, there is a huge range of software out there that can be used for this purpose. In this article, we’ll explore eight free Mac applications, so you can get stuck into it sooner, and investigate which one rules the roost.

Most of these apps are free, but we are going to start with a paid, but reasonably priced option.

1. Leopoly

Promising to create new opportunities in 3D printing through fully customizable digital landscapes and 3D modeling, Leopoly is built for both newbies and more advanced users.

Its baseline ShapeLab tool enables users to become creators in minutes, building bespoke models and bringing your vision to life through digital sculpting, painting, and mesh-based technology. Going further, LeoTrainer enables full exploration of intricate processes and models—hence the name—where the training is oriented towards corporate and education worlds to familiarize users with concepts in virtual reality.

Finally, LeoShape is best suited to healthcare, fashion, and heavy-duty industries, promising enhanced modeling capabilities for those training or working in design; a great option for professionals.

Download: Leopoly ($20)

2. LibreCAD

In terms of a great beginner’s 2D program, LibreCAD‘s software can help you to create complex drawings, 2D drafts, or projects for laser cutting or engraving purposes. The tool comes with features like a snap-in tool, dimensioning and measurements, and annotations—a bit like a graphics editor such as Microsoft Paint, but with more intricacies.

It’s open-source and available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and with no subscriptions, licensing costs, or annual fees, it could be the program for you.

Download: LibreCAD (Free)

3. LeoCAD

LeoCAD is probably the best CAD software for educational purposes, as it allows users to create virtual designs, shapes, and models using LEGOs, which is ideal for kids who want to get a head start with 3D modeling. With a combination of basic and advanced tools, its open-source nature means that anyone and everyone can contribute, and even add new features.

Download: LeoCAD (Free)

4. Blender

Blender has emerged as one of the best, most versatile CAD programs in the world in recent years. While it is very complex in nature, the possibilities are virtually endless with Blender. Open-source and completely free, its creation suite "supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, video editing, and 2D animation pipeline." Quite frankly, it’s a jack-of-all-trades for everything and everything 2D or 3D.

Users have been enthusiastic about the wide range of possibilities with Blender, and if you’re looking for a more advanced program to help you develop your CAD skills, this might be the one!

Download: Blender (Free)

5. DesignSpark

With an interface that is clearly borrowing from AutoCAD—the "industry-standard" for CAD design software—DesignSpark contains the usual features and is an excellent free alternative to AutoCAD. Users of programs like this would normally be attempting large-scale or intricate builds, like homes for example.

While core features are free, functions like bulk importing and exporting, and advanced rendering, need to be purchased, so that is a limitation. Interestingly, DesignSpark allows you to have designs printed in-house, and sent to you wherever you are.

Download: DesignSpark (Free, additional purchases available)

Related: The Best Home Design Software to Use

6. Houdini

Breaking from the other applications above, Houdini is procedural software that is designed around a node-based workflow. Similar to parametric modeling—which is what Blender uses, this allows you to alter models and objects by changing individual parameters or nodes. Similarly again to Blender, it includes intricate particle effects, which would allow users to create anything from an Alaskan winter terrain to a mock up of interstellar space. For this reason, it is also a popular tool for animation and game development.

Although a free version of Houdini (Apprentice) is available with all the same features as the freemium product, it has some limitations, such as a render size of just 1280×720 pixels, and every rendered image will feature a small Houdini logo.

Download: Houdini (Free, premium version available)

7. FreeCAD

While FreeCAD appears unassuming in name, it is a robust piece of software made to design real-life objects in 3D. Again utilizing parametric modeling, you can easily modify 3D designs and tailor them to a variety of settings or environments. It is modular in nature, allowing plugins to be attached to the application, and also offers handy features oriented towards robotics and mechanical machining like CNC.

It’s open-source and extremely powerful, so pace yourself in terms of becoming familiar with the program. Digging deeper will unleash a universe’s worth of potential for CAD enthusiasts.

Download: FreeCAD (Free)

There Are Lots of Free or Cheap CAD Apps for Mac

CAD software can help you design, create, and produce 2D and 3D objects, worlds, and more

This article has given you a small selection of free but powerful CAD applications, ranging from beginner ability to advanced users or professionals. For those looking to get into design, or build on their professional design skills, these apps could be perfect for you.

MUO – Feed

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Gizmodo

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The dream of finding buried treasure is compelling, but the reality of metal detecting is that you mostly find trash—and you spend a lot of time doing it. This may be the sort of repetitive, mainly solitary activity you intrinsically enjoy … or it may bore you to tears. It’s best to figure that out before dropping a not-insignificant chunk of change on a metal detector of your own. So before you buy one, try to find a local club or store that will help you go on a trial hunt or two with an experienced detectorist. If the bug catches you, you’ll know it. And at that point, we’d say the Nokta Makro Simplex+ is the absolute best metal detector for a newcomer to the sport.

Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World

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Love or hate the vax, this ad from the State of Arkansas will make you laugh out loud.

Not the Bee

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The Holy Vaccinated Saints are some of the most insufferable nimrods out there. I know we make fun of "Karens" but we need to expand and come up with some kind of denigrating moniker for the lot of them. One such pro-vaccine nimrod wrote into Mike Rowe, encouraging Mike to use the power of his influence to spread the Gospel according to Fauci. My words, "Steve" isn’t near clever enough to think up something half-way original. Not his fault, he was born a sheep. Anyway, Mike Rowe didn’t take the guilt bait, and instead of saying "no thanks, to each their own" he wrote a brilliant, spicy essay that every politico and their minions pushing the pokey should read and absorb. They won’t, but a girl can dream.

You’d need to click the "See More" link to read the full post, and you absolutely should, it’s Mike Rowe at his best. But a few of you might be on a social media hiatus or you, blessedly, told Facebook to go pound sand. I approve. If that be the case, here is my favorite chunk from Mike’s post:

"The fact is, millions of reasonable Americans have every right to feel confused and skeptical. Those people you refer to, Steve – the ones now telling us that we can "get back to normal just as soon as everyone is vaccinated" – those are the same people who said, "two weeks to flatten the curve!" Those are the same people who told us that masks were "useless" before they told us they were "critical." Those are the same people who told us that a return to normalcy would occur just as soon as "the most vulnerable" among us were vaccinated. Then, just as soon as "half the population" was vaccinated. Then, just as soon as we achieved "herd immunity." Those are the same people who told us they wouldn’t trust ANY vaccine developed under the last administration. Now, those very same people are belittling the skeptics!

If this were a Peanuts cartoon, those people would be Lucy, pulling away the football at the last moment while a nation full of Charlie Browns land flat on their collective back, over and over and over again. Those people you refer to – elected officials, journalists, and most disturbingly, more than a few medical experts – have moved the goalposts time and time again, while ignoring the same rules and restrictions they demand we all live by. They’re always certain, usually wrong, incapable of shame, and utterly void of humility. Is it any wonder millions find them unpersuasive?"

Mike is, as usual, right about this. A lot of us are skeptical. Speaking for myself, I cannot nor will I trust anyone in government to make my decisions. I make my decisions, and I make my own decisions better than an elected official and better than a butt-kissing sycophant who elected those assholes. I pride myself on critical thinking skills that I saw few people exercising at the start of the pandemic way back in February of 2020. What I did see was herd mentality in full swing. Plenty of right-leaning leaders went right along with it, too.

It’s good to be skeptical. It’s good to hit pause. Sometimes going with the herd is the right move. Sometimes it’s not. But that’s where thinking comes into play rather than just feeling and reacting to those feelings. Or in the case of much of the COVID panic, reacting to what others are feeling and saying so forcefully.

It’s your body and your choice. Remember that line? If you decide the vaccine is right for you, no one is stopping you. But some people have decided it’s not right for them. It isn’t up to you or anyone else to force them to do something they do not want to do to their body. Hard stop.

I have to add this last part, because it resonated with me:

At this point, I’m afraid the the government has but one course of sensible action – get the FDA on board, stat, and then, provide an honest, daily breakdown of just how quickly the virus is spreading among the unvaccinated, versus the vaccinated. No more threats, no more judgments, no more politics, no more celebrity-driven PSA’s, no more ham-fisted attempts at public shaming. Just a steady flow of verifiable data that definitively proves that the vast, undeniable, overwhelming majority of people who get this disease are unvaccinated. In other words, give us the facts, admit your mistakes, try on a bit of humility, and stop treating the unvaccinated like the enemy.

This is the gold: "no more ham-fisted attempts at public shaming" and "stop treating the unvaccinated like the enemy."

I’m tired of the vaccinated treating the unvaccinated like second class citizens. Or third class. Vermin, maybe. It’s gone on long enough and it’s gross. Hopefully those of us in the conservative crowd have been consistent in saying you need to do what you need to do, and so long as others are not negatively affected, fine. But man, the vaccinated people are teetering on the edge of becoming just as if not more obnoxious than the BAKE ME A CAKE, BIGOT Gaystapo soldiers.

Thanks for the wisdom, Mike. Hopefully it’ll resonate with the obnoxious vaccinated populace.

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Louder With Crowder

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Dilbert Daily Strip

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Machines that fire tennis balls are as common. But we’ve never seen one that uses human power. Creative Machines’ ball cannon launches tennis balls up to 200 feet. Each time its handle is pushed, it raises a weight. When it reaches the top, it falls and becomes a piston, flinging balls into the sky using compressed air.

The Awesomer

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