EVERY Engineer Should Know About This FREE Software (Pt. 1)

Check out this list of great FREE engineering software!
In this video I cover a variety of great free engineering programs that I think are the top of their respective software categories. I review statistics, mathematical modeling, 2D CAD, 3D CAD, PCB EDA ECAD, CFD, and programming and IDE. Most of these programs are provided for free under open source or GNU General Public use licences. These are great alternatives to commercial programs like MiniTab, MatLab, AutoCAD, SolidWork, Eagle, SimFlow, and Visual Studio.
Links:
0:00
Statistics - "R" [ 0:57 ] www.r-project.org/
Mathematical Modeling - "SciLab" [ 1:54 ] www.scilab.org/
2D CAD - "DraftSight" [ 2:47 ] www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/
3D CAD - "FreeCAD" [ 3:20 ] www.freecadweb.org/
EDA/ECAD/PCBCAD - "KiCAD" [ 3:57 ] kicad-pcb.org/
CFD - "OpenFOAM" [ 4:37 ] www.openfoam.com/
CFD - "Paraview" [ 4:55 ] www.paraview.org/
CFD - "SimFlow" [ 5:17 ] sim-flow.com/
Programming - "VBA" [5:55]
Programming IDE - "Eclipse" [ 7:15 ] www.eclipse.org/ide/
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Disclaimer:
I am in no way affiliated with the software, programs, or companies reviewed in this video. The video is meant for review and discussion purposes only.

[@mochueloDDD]

Congrats, you did a nice job! I knew some of the programs you have presented, others I totally didn't know about. Thank you!

[@qzorn4440]

I am using FreeCAD and KiCad which are great Cad packages. However, SolidWorks has so much power when designing electrical 3D panels with PLCs, relays, terminal strips, wiring harness. Then linking these items to the electrical schematic data base. When alarms happen the problem 3D sensor can be viewed life like on a computer monitor. 😎 Thanks for the info.

[@isgrisen]

Very nice video, great work man! It is very concise and straight to the point. I also love that you provided timestamps and links to the different programs, as this makes it so much easier to find the specific program you're looking for. Thank you for your work, it is greatly appreciated.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Really glad you enjoyed! Part two will be out soon. 👍

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

isgrisen part two is up now 😄

[@chrishixon7975]

Thanks for the video trying to do some home projects

[@JRDavison]

Great list, mate.

[@primate3609]

Neat video man, keep it up

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Glad you enjoyed! More to come. :) Thanks for watching!

[@neanderthall9102]

Thanks a lot, I have few time and it is very useful good suggestion for engineering big hobies projects

[@willemagenbach511]

Well presented, and just about enough detail to give a meaningful introduction into each program. You could consider in future videos to spend a bit more time on a specific program as requested by viewers.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Thanks for watching! Don't forget to check out Part 2. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3XapmCZoruFb7M I attempted a little bit more entertainment value in that one but there is a lot of great info too. Thanks for the suggestion. Anything software that you would want to see a deeper dive into?

[@ireneensengiyumva1227]

Great compilation

[@LOKI123ification]

One suite which contains most of it in one environment is Salome-Meca/Code-Aster. Pretty good software.

[@edwardcdg]

Well done!

[@alimozaffar6884]

Thanks for this good video!!

[@cdixon3498]

Added freecad and simflow awesome channel definitely subscribed

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

C Dixon glad you liked it! Thanks for the sub!

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Hey everyone! Part two is out now! 😀 kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3XapmCZoruFb7M If you have any suggestions for programs that I you think I should have included let me know for future videos. 👍 I love the knowledge sharing that has been going on so thanks to all of you who have shared!😁

[@jvon3885]

You not making videos anymore?

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

@@jvon3885 Unfortunately i have been too busy since i took on a new job. Still hoping to get back into it though!

[@jvon3885]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel right on. I'm currently using Blender and looking for a really good open source water physics program. I'm getting to your other videos so hopefully you logged some down. Thanks.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

@@jvon3885 OpenFOAM is probably your best bet if you need something completely open source!

[@jvon3885]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel need no, want yes, lol...I'll check it out. Thanks.

[@alibi6968]

love your work man

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for watching!

[@LT72884]

Octave is a good alternative to matlab as well. I currently use freecad with the cfdof workbench for all my cfd. I also use prepomax to mesh stl files, step files and the use prepomax to do my fea and its free

[@infotainer8011]

great information.

[@jr3474]

great info

[@mireazma]

Justin Timberlake is an undercover engineer?!

[@charleslegard716]

He sings to support his true passion, as it should be 😂

[@ernestojr.angeles9707]

​@@charleslegard716 pre-Nsync break-up 😂

[@maharshipandya8221]

Thank you so much sir

[@henriquescoton2602]

By the way, nice channel. Keep doing it.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Thank you!

[@robert8241]

Btw nice Video man

[@negritolindo8838]

have you tried jupyter notebook? It support mardowns and math (like latex) and code like python and/or R all in one. So you don't need to write report in another program.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Negrito Lindo Yes I believe I have for python before. It is browser based if I remember correctly? I didn’t know it had the math and markdown functionality though! Thanks for sharing!

[@greenlightzone]

GNU Octave is quite nice

[@ivanurgell9455]

Hello! So many Thanks for this! Can you make any update of this video actually. Very thank you!

[@abhinavrajan5325]

Complete list of CIVIL ENGINEERING softwares. buildzo.blogspot.com/2020/11/civil-engineering-softwares.html

[@britexitengineer1407]

LTSpice for circiut simulation & RS Design Spark for PCB layouts.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Nice thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out.

[@energyeve2152]

Thanks for sharing

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

My pleasure

[@ernestojr.angeles9707]

Discovered KiCAD because of this vid. 😊

[@hashtag3154]

pretty nice video :)

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Glad you liked it! Don’t forget to watch part 2!

[@crusader_2028]

Elmer fem, multisim too!

[@sinankuniyilathoot5188]

Thanku verymuch

[@sinankuniyilathoot5188]

This video introduced me to free cad and it helped me a lot . If you can suggest some good resources with these softwres in future videos

[@gabrielcuro458]

MASTER! THANKS A LOT

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Make sure to watch part 2!

[@ariftanha9567]

well don and thanks a lot for this video. i need actually your advices, i am geologist but I want get in surveying engineering and doing my master degree in this field. I have already learned Autocad and Revite, but unfortunately I almost forgot both. and now which engineering program would you recommend me?? is the two program which i already learned usable? I would appreciate your respond--- thanks in advanced

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Auto CAD is the most comin CAD software. For 3D modeling I would recommend solidworks or inventor

[@ThanasisPlevritis-bi7gv]

Great work! The only think that bothered me was the music man , i think it's unnecessary.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

θανασης πλευριτης good feedback. Much appreciated!

[@elwardiayoub7410]

oh great...I have a question...Open FOAM and Simflow are the same softward or not?

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Good question. No they are not. Simflow is a GUI (graphical user interface) for OpenFOAM. In other words OpenFOAM is the brains and simflow is a nice looking front end application can take inputs and information from the user and feed it to the OpenFOAM algorithms. It’s completely possible to run OpenFOAM calculations without simflow but it is very confusing because without a GUI it is all code based.

[@Thirteenwindows]

I'm planning to design a travel luggage and I'd like to use a software that it's easy to learn/use and I can do 3D planning and parts design. What do you recommend me??

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Commercial: Solidworks Free: fusion360

[@emadamin5254]

Salome is a great CAD repair tool.

[@abdun00]

Any suggestions for RF&Electromagnetic simulations

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Unfortunately I don’t know of any. Definitely check source forge and GitHub, might find something there!

[@jason6347]

Just wondering if you know of any engineering software out there for roller shutters .

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Hmm no sorry I do not!

[@narendra672]

👍

[@OlafurViir]

GNU Octave is also a good alternative for Matlab

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Yes! I showed that one on part two of this video

[@malachite072]

I still don't know what software would be best for simple machine designs (levers, pulleys, gears and maybe hydraulic systems). I would like to find a software that can move objects around to understand simple machines. So far the only thing I know that does this is SolidWorks, which would take some time to learn, not a problem....but it costs around 100USD. Anyone got any ideas for me please?

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

If you’re looking for a completely free full featured 3D modeling FreeCAD is really the only option. TinkerCAD is free but limited beyond simple models. Onshape offers a free non-commercial license if you save your models to their public cloud. For affordable options but great features and usability… Solidworks, fusion360 have the best low cost maker licenses IMO. You won’t find software that is as feature rich and easy to use as these without paying for it unfortunately.

[@malachite072]

​@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel Hey thank you for your response! I'm not sure why I didn't see the notification immediately. What I really wanted to ask is what would be the best software for motion simulation specifically. For example if I had a 2D image of a pulley system and pulled on the rope with my mouse or something I can see the weight being lifted by two ropes in a basic 2:1 pulley system. There are a couple applications I found that do this, but after using them I found that I've wasted my time learning them. These ones are SimPHY and Algodoo. Algodoo seems like it's intended to be for teaching kids and is a sort of physics game for kids. I didn't care about this bit as long as it would work properly, and long story short it didn't, it was glitchy and had various problems as did SimPhy. As for the engineering apps (CAD softwares), I'm not sure which ones will work like those apps I mentioned and I really don't want to waste months learning something that won't do what I need. Sorry if it's a bit long and misdirected but what I'm really looking for is being able to use kinematics/physics to see how things will move rather than just modeling. I've spent 6 months learning Blender and it doesn't seem like the best option for what I need. In the future I would like to design my own kind of mechanics and possibly sell things, but until then I'm not able to afford a software like Solidworks which from my analysis seems to be the best one.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Simphy is the one I am aware for simple 2D physics animations. I am most familiar with SolidWorks and the makers license does have simple motion simulation (no advanced physics or dynamics). I.e. You tell solidworks what you want the animation to do. Another free option would be Blender but the learning curve is extremely steep IMO. It does have physics models that you can use to simulate gravity, bounce, flow, etc. Can I ask what the purpose of these simulations would be? And what career path youre on? If you’re in any kind of engineering field I would suggest solidworks. If you’re more in the design/animation world Blender would be a better skill to have.

[@nv3796]

which ones has have Physics engine to test stress points?

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

You’re probably looking for finite element analysis (FEA). It calculates stress/strain in solid bodies under load. This feature is in FreeCAD

[@nv3796]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel Thanks a ton

[@jonnupe1645]

Commenting for KZbin algorithm

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

👍

[@robert8241]

Matlab -> GNU Octave is a FREE almost copy of Matlab ....

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

I will definitely check that out! Thanks for sharing.

[@robert8241]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannelo Problem man, is a very good tool :)

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Thanks again for sharing. I made sure to include it in part 2! kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3XapmCZoruFb7M

[@justadude8716]

Micro-Prose SPICE simulator went free, they closed down :(, but that means the $4500 price is gone and they offer it for free now. It is leagues, $4500 in fact, better than KiCad.

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Thanks for sharing! Will definitely check it out

[@campin8635]

is it for ios?

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

All of the demos in this video were done with windows 10. Some may be available on iOS but I don’t know off hand. Follow the links in the description to check each software out.

[@miraculixxs]

Octave is a free Matlab alternative

[@waynel20008]

MicroCap 12 - Free as of 2019 EDA - company closed and donated to community (located here in file): groups.io/g/FreeEDA-Tools/files/MC12_Files_&_Documents Their website is down but cab get from here

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Nice! Thanks for contributing!

[@chris122380]

Draftsight is no longer free 😢

[@jmirodg7094]

Most of the advises are good but VBA is defunct

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Why do you say VBA is defunct?

[@greenlightzone]

I'm gonna be honest, I bought Solidworks Connected from 3D EXPERIENCE. It has less features than the student version. I cancelled my subscription and will be getting a Russian version instead. I feel scammed, I am an Aerospace engineer graduate with huge Solidworks skills. Going down from the student version to their Makers version, I have no flow simulation, no stress simulation. I cannot continue my won

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

I definitely understand. It’s hard to find affordable software that can run more advanced simulations. I also use solidworks connected, but I knew it only had modeling capabilities when I bought it. And that’s really all I need.

[@MuhammadAli-iy4qn]

voice is too low

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you mean the volume is too low?

[@MuhammadAli-iy4qn]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel yes 😁

[@x87alpha1]

you lost me at VBA

[@kennethtarlow]

speak slower

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

Noted! Thanks. ....but then again, you could use the .75x speed setting if I speak too fast. :)

[@h18x30]

x0.75

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

@@h18x30 x2.0… thats how the cool kids listen to KZbin.

[@kennethtarlow]

@@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel THE AGAIN i COULD JUST TURN YOU OFF?????

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

You’re free to do as you wish! Thanks again for watching though!

[@glenvollmer]

seriously? VBA? 🤮

[@TheEngineeringToolboxChannel]

I mean…it’s a easy to learn tool to automate many of the applications we use every day as engineers. What’s wrong with that?