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- Dec 1, 2016
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free version of Sketchup or 123 desigh by AutoDesk fusion360 and Blender are a bit more difficult to used
Solid Edge is for free for hobbyist. From Siemens. Full version for educationnal and hobby purpose. Sketch up may gives some erratic .stl file for GCode production. Fusion 360, Meshmixer and blender plus Inkscape. I have DesignSpark Mechanical 5.0 but not yet tried it.
I’ve been using Tinkercad for a few months. It’s a totally free, cloud based program. Simple to learn with a series of 5 - 20 minute videos on YouTube. Although being basic, it has suited my needs very well. It works very well with Cura Slicer, another totally free program.
You will be very well set with those software. Happy printing.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2021
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Tinkercad is a good way to get going quickly and if you haven’t done any 3D modelling previously I’d strongly recommend starting there. It’s extremely easy and intuitive and you’ll be making something within the hour. Whatever you make can be exported as a printable .STL, along with other formats. You can do quite a lot with it but will eventually run up against its limitations.
The next step on is a key decision point, because whichever app you choose, you’ll end up investing a lot of time and effort on the learning curve. There is a junction of sorts here: the softwares are broadly either CAD, aimed at ‘engineered products’, or ‘artistic’ apps like Blender. The former are (in my view) better for making precisely dimensioned model parts, the latter for sculpted type objects. (Though sooner than you think you may need both).
You’ll also want to decide whether you’re willing, down the line, to pay to use the software. CAD can be very expensive. If like most of us you’re therefore only interested in apps that are free, there are quite a few out there but I think the main free ones are Fusion 360, Solid Edge, FreeCad, and Sketchup. I can’t really talk to the latter three; when I was in your position a couple of years back, I gave all of them a try and preferred Fusion 360. Contrary to what some folks think, it’s still free for hobbyists, the only real limitation is a slightly irritating limit on the number of files you can work on simultaneously. But I think all of them are very powerful tools that will far exceed your needs.
The next step on is a key decision point, because whichever app you choose, you’ll end up investing a lot of time and effort on the learning curve. There is a junction of sorts here: the softwares are broadly either CAD, aimed at ‘engineered products’, or ‘artistic’ apps like Blender. The former are (in my view) better for making precisely dimensioned model parts, the latter for sculpted type objects. (Though sooner than you think you may need both).
You’ll also want to decide whether you’re willing, down the line, to pay to use the software. CAD can be very expensive. If like most of us you’re therefore only interested in apps that are free, there are quite a few out there but I think the main free ones are Fusion 360, Solid Edge, FreeCad, and Sketchup. I can’t really talk to the latter three; when I was in your position a couple of years back, I gave all of them a try and preferred Fusion 360. Contrary to what some folks think, it’s still free for hobbyists, the only real limitation is a slightly irritating limit on the number of files you can work on simultaneously. But I think all of them are very powerful tools that will far exceed your needs.
Tinkercad is a free cloud based program provided by Autodesk. As such it’s a great beginning program and many of the functions and shortcuts transfer to the more robust Fusion 360 (also free for personal use by Autodesk). Finally Meshmixer is a precursor to Fusion 360 and is still available for download. Meshmixer actually has some features and benefits that were not moved to the Fusion platform
I build furniture after creating all the parts and joinery in (free) SketchUp. But there's a limit on file import and export types.
Free SketchUp...
Import: SKP, PNG, JPG
Export: SKP, PNG, STL
Paid Sketchup includes quite a few more plus the ones from free SketchUp...
Import: DWG, DXF, DAE, KMZ, 3DS, DEM
Export: DWG, DXF, DAE, KMZ, 3DS, FBX, XSI, OBJ, VRML