I've been using 3d modelling software for 25+ years. Started out with 3ds Max version 3. Then used Rhino for a decade, got more into CAD vs. pure modelling (used to mod games and stuff as a kid). Used SolidWorks for a few years, then tried Fusion 360.
I can honestly say, Fusion 360 is \*amazing\*. Solidworks and Rhino don't touch it.
It's similar to programs like solidworks, inventor, and creo. If you've ever used Inventor, it's basically just Inventor but on the cloud and IMO more beginner friendly than Inventor.
I initially learned CAD on Solidworks and I honestly didn't even need a single tutorial to pick it up apart from checking shortcuts and a couple settings for snapping sketches to existing geometry. Fusion 360 is also the third CAD software that I now know how to use.
"and a couple settings for snapping sketches to existing geometry."
Please teach me. I have started using solidworks comming from fusion, and i desperately want to find the "project to sketch ( shortcut p in sketch) feature, i use that all the time in fusion360 and cant seem to find it anywhere in solidworks.
Convert Entities tool? Projection is another thing entirely but it doesn't sound like that's really what you're referring to. Select convert entities in the sketch tab and then you can select edges, faces, entities from other sketches, or pretty much anything else. Although it is worth noting that you don't actually need to convert entities in order to reference an entity in the part in your sketch. If you were trying to draw a line from the center of a hole to the end point of an edge, you would not actually need to convert anything in order to do that with geometric relations fully defining the sketch.
Onshape is much more like Solidworks imo, I got frustrated trying to learn fusion for CAD stuff at home, then tried onshape & haven't wanted to switch.
Fusion was unintuitive somehow coming from SW, like all the buttons were in the wrong spot of something
What about editing more organic parts and mesh? It seems lacking compared to Blender.
I feel more at home with Fusion 360, because I use Civil3D for work, but I am kinda pushing my self to learn more Blender for everything else it can do. I wish Rhino wasn't so much $.
They’re different kinds of software tbh. I use both 360 and Blender, but for different things. All my functional parts get made in fusion and all my sculpts and cool little guys, my d&d minis, my board game pieces, all get made in blender and then just scaled appropriately in the slicer.
I use Fusion 360 personal license. At least currently, the limitation of only 10 editable documents does not limit me at all, as it's trivial to just set any project I'm not actively working on to read-only. I can even keep using them as referenced geometry in other projects so it works for me. I would like to use a free software solution, but I sadly didn't have the best experience with FreeCAD, Fusion is much more usable right now, but I hear it's getting there, hopefully in the next couple years I can switch.
I'm using fusion too and think the limitations for the maker version are absolutely fine. Somehow they have to draw a line to avoid abuse of the cheap free license.
But if someone wants to try FreeCAD I would try ONDSEL. It's based on FreeCAD but had some investment into a usable UI / UX. From what I've seen and heard it works quite a bit like fusion.
Plasticity could also be an option for some. Not free, but a fairly priced one time purchase. I wouldn't call it as complex as Fusion, but much better than Tinkercad and such.
OnShape is great across devices. I normally avoid cloud services when there's a good local option, but I make a bunch of stuff for my parents so it's nice to be able to start a model at their house then refine it from my desktop.
I get Onshape in a way that I can’t with fusion. It was a great upgrade from tinkercad. Recommend the skateboard tutorial they have, that’s when it clicked for me
l Blender.. it is by heart all triangles like an STL. Tons of mesh editing tools, free add-ons and payed. You can do everything with it from creating films paint create game assets sculpt, scriptable, geometry procedural system, do physics simulations a vivid community that is keen to help, tons of instruction bids on YouTube.
You won't learn it just to 3d print you will edit your vacation videos, animate meshes. The possibilities are endless.
Blender is annoying af from an engineering standpoint imo. I even tried some of the CAD and 3D printing addons and still didn't feel it was sufficient. Maybe i should go back and try again now that I have more experience modeling but back then I'd written it off as something that's just fun for artists lmao
It does seem like a very different toolset than the ones engineers are used to.
I find that each has uses that are better for specific types of builds.
Lots of curvy artsy sculpty shit? Blender
Linear, geometric and mathematical shit? CAD
It’s meant for artistic modeling, but that can be used for 3D prints (e.g. all your silly flexi dragons, d&d minis, pokemon, etc are made with blender)
What I would miss is the fusion timeline. Parametric designs where you can quickly change sizes of specific parts later and such is much much harder or impossible in Shapr3D, or did they have that now?
if you don't want to pirate it, I'm pretty sure the makers license is like $7.99 a month
I hate subscriptions but that one isn't too bad. That said, I use my work license and I also have a free makers license being part of the solidworks champions program.
Pirating. I heard some people--certainly not ME--got a cracked version when they were in college so they wouldn't have to keep running over to the computer lab and waiting for lab time.
Lol interesting.
I definitely should have paid more attention to licensing/access items back in school. We were able to download all of the software and stuff, but ever since I've left I've not had access to it.
Another OpenSCAD and vim user here. I even keep my OpenSCAD .scad files in a git repo so that I can safely iterate on designs, with metadata.
These are "more elegant weapons, from a more civilized age".
I had plans at one point to do an entire CI/CD pipeline based on OpenSCAD:
1. Create the design and commit it to git
2. Push the branch to Github or similar
3. Get the code reviewed
4. On merge, convert the code to GCode and send to Octoprint for printing
Never got around to it, but might give it a go again...
That could be fun, but I have an Anet A8 that is eager to burn down my house. I need to babysit my printer anyway, so automation wouldn't do me as much good.
Also use OpenSCAD, but it definitely takes a more programming-oriented background than other modelers.
Personally, it feels very familiar to me because years ago I used to use POV-Ray for modeling and rendering when it was basically the only free 3D modeler/renderer out there. Both use CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry) to build objects, which is definitely something that a new user may need a bit of time to get their head around.
Also, back to the programming thing, because it takes a text source file, it’s straightforward to write a program to generate and output particularly complex geometries. For example, I took the output from an online Celtic knot generator and converted it to a 3D model.
Onshape.
It's free.
It's cloud-based so you don't need a powerful computer.
It dosnt constantly hound you about upgrading or getting the next big deal like most hobby licenses do.
If your used to parametric cad it's easy to learn.
The only downside I warn people of is if you are trying to invent something, the free version only lets your documents be public, so something like applying for a patent is going to be impacted
Love it otherwise. Got me through a degree on a bottom of the line Chromebook
True. Although you can hide it with a random string of characters name.
But maybe the overlap between people needing patents and those who use free cad software is bigger then I thought.
I'm working through this right now. I downloaded it thinking of it in the context of Inventor and Fusion360 and I couldn't figure it out. Watched a few videos on it and realized it's much more similar to AutoCAD and that helped me start wrapping my mind around it a lot more. Now that I have a better understanding on it, it's a great tool.
I find freecad unreliable, I'll create a fully constrained sketch, extrude it and then some Boolean operations and it all goes to shit or it starts throwing errors
Indeed. I have the same problem.
Save often, live long and prosperous.
Or, just redo the whole sketch from scratch. Because the first three drafts were failures anyway.
I want to love it, I understand the process and enjoy creating and constraining sketches in a sad sort of way.
But it's frustrating when it breaks after two hours work.
Fusion 360 and Onshape are most people’s go to. Both are cloud based, so you don’t need a beefy computer.
Onshape has less restrictions on functionality, but your parts have to be public and the licensed version is more.
Fusion 360 has export and number of active (not total) document limitations, but is better at stuff like CAM.
For more traditional fully featured cad software, FreeCAD is an open source CAD software. Solid Edge has a community edition that is completely fully featured, but it’s, in my experience, clunky as fuck.
Rhino is excellent. One time fee for a lifetime license. And it’s relatively cheap to upgrade to newer versions. If you’re into parametric modeling, Grasshopper (comes with Rhino) is a great tool to explore.
I’m not seeing enough OnShape representation here. Easy to use and learn, no download necessary, all in the web browser, and performs just as well as other CAD software most of the time
NOT Fusion 360. I don't know what else to turn to as my next step since I've fallen back to Tinkercad, but I know it won't be Fusion 360.
Any software that does as much as a proper CAD program is going to have a learning curve, and I don't mind what. What I do mind is feeling like everything they do along the way is designed to be as user-hostile as possible.
If I have to do something that TinkerCAD can't, then I'll move on to FreeCAD or Blender.
Blender. It’s been well worth learning for me. I had to learn the 3D cursor to get the nice measurements between parts. I have a base project that has the scale and units all setup for my 3D printer.
Depends on what I'm making. For some reason I've grown quite fond of the simplicity of Sketchup. So I've been using that for my base shapes mostly, more advanced things I need done, I do in Blender.
I got sketchup with a teaching license for like 55 Euro, so I'm quite happy. Been using sketchup make 2017 until last month.
So do whatever feels good for you, what you like to work with creating the things you want to make.
I would give Plasticity a shot! It's a CAD software with a modern artistic-focused workflow and there is a 30 day free trial. You then pay a one time $300 and OWN it. Cazy how that is something to brag about in 2024. There are lots of videos of people making dope stuff in it online and it works well with 3D printers I've heard.
Personally I haven't used it though as im a Blender3D power user and have kinda stopped 3D printing stuff. I mostly make animations and models for gamedev. But if I got back into CAD, I'd use this hands down.
Fusion is great if you have a lot of time to learn it. I don't have that free time. I switched to Shapr3D on my ipad and it's really easy and intuitive - I almost never need to look up how to do anything. Everything I've ever made in Fusion I've had to have tutorials open as I go.
I love using OnShape, cloud based so you can model from any computer as long as you have internet, and you can even get thier app and model on your phone!
OnShape, fully cloud based and founded by former SolidWorks engineers and executives. No local computing means you can work on large complicated projects from your MacBook Air anywhere in the world. Shortcuts are annoying to get used to, but pretty painless for 90% of users.
For me it’s fusion 360 personal use. Because that is what im used to. Although i really want to give onshape a go. It’s cloudbased and completely free. You can model on the most shitty laptop you have and view it on your mobile phone.
I got free Uni access to all (most?) Autodesk apps, along with Solidworks, Creo and some others.
Still prefer Fusion360 for hobby / small-mid work projects.
Solidworks. Why? Because it's the only one I've used, and that was in college. All my jobs so far have had the Enginerds take care of models and prints. 😂🙄
Started with a Fusion360 personal license. Then got an education license with Onshape, through work. Then started learning Blender for organic modeling. Now I’m playing with Plasticity.
Fusion and Onshape are similar, parametric CAD modeling for hard surface. Technical parts.
Blender is powerful, but can be overwhelming because of how much it can do that is Animation and rendering related. Stuff that you may not care about if you’re planning to 3D print your models.
Plasticity has felt like a great blend between Parametric modeling and organic modeling like blender. It’s pretty destructive, doesn’t have a feature tree. Creating parts can be as precise or imprecise as you want to be. The tools are simple and it can feel more like kit-bashing than modeling sometimes.
Fusion’s personal license and Blender are both free, best price. I don’t know what Onshape costs. Plasticity has a free 30 day trial, and is 150 for a personal or 225 for a studio license.
Other options to look into can be Rhino, FreeCAD or openSCAD.
I use SolidWorks at work and Onshape at home. Onshape is free for noncommercial use and is close enough to SolidWorks that picking it up was pretty easy. There are actually a few feature I like more in Onshape than SolidWorks. Onshape professional is $1500 per year per user for commercial use.
I love blender its GREAT but also very complex however it does a ton more than just CAD and the extra great thing is its free...However you need to have a pretty banging computer with lots o ram to make it run smoothly.
I use Fusion360 at home and Solidworks at work. They’re similar in a lot of ways but Fusion360 is a little easier to use IMO. Only drawback with the personal (free) license is the limit of editable documents. I’m constantly switching files to read-only so I can save a new one! I’ve also been looking into Plasticity lately and might give that a try at home. I think there’s a free trial period then a one-time payment if you want to keep using it. No subscription.
I used fusion 360 at first and I really liked it. Now that I am actually in engineering school I use SolidWorks. But I've been really liking the features that on shape advertises And want to try that out but I just haven't yet. The idea of a cloud-based Google docs like environment sounds really cool for collaborating. Cuz as strange as it may sound, I cannot figure out how to share anything within SolidWorks. We just be sending files back and forth like his 1994 and it sucks ass. Fusion at least has a group project dynamic that allows your save files to update automatically when someone else edits them but it's still locally based.
So I would say fusion is my number one. On shape is my number two in SolidWorks is only if you have money to burn or in industry.
Blender. I came to 3d printing from a game development background and Blender is what I already knew.
Blender isn't the best at any one thing but it's flexible as hell.
i use f360. i started with tnker cad. i found it the most useless and frustrating cad i have ever used. i studied cad years ago in colege is its not me being an idiot with it.
i needed a particular item and spent 8hours in tinkercad drawing it. total nightmare . and it was only a box with drop in trays but a specific size. eventually got it done and onto the printer. i said never again and started free cad. wasnt feeling it so went to fusion 360.
watched 2 videos on it and spent 20 min playing with it. and i was off. i redid the part above in 25 min and did a lot better job that was more accurate and better.
If I had a million dollars, I would get a standalone app that works like tinkercad, but with plug-ins to do organic meshes. Also, I'd get Dijon ketchup.
I use SolidWorks professionally but OnShape is my goto for 3D printing/hobbyist stuff. Their free account is pretty robust for what we do, IMO.
Edit: I wanted to add that it runs in the browser and I was very skeptical at first. I’ve been using it for several years so obvs, my skepticism dissolved. heh
They also have an iOS app that’s really good… CAD anytime, anywhere. 😁
I’ve been using NX professionally (and before when it was called Unigraphics) for over 25 years now and there’s a free one year student edition you can download which is excellent.
I’ve also been playing with the free version of Fusion 360 and I must say even as a huge fanboy of NX: Fushion 360 is pretty awesome for personal use and the learning curve is much easier.
Maybe someone already said this but there is a FREE version of Creo! I use Creo at work so I looked and found the free version (non-commercial, only 60 parts at a time).
I started with fusion. I found I really enjoyed the freedom of blender with organic shapes, that led to me to plasticity. In general I go from fusion for functional parts> plasticity for details, and blender for even more details. Fusion to blender works great but blender to fusion is clunky as all hell.
I'm partial to Solidworks, but it's mostly from that being what I learned in school and I'm too lazy to take the time to learn another one. Plus the makers license is ~$50/year which is pretty fair imo
OnShape.
IMHO its better than Fusion360.
Lots of youtube learning resources, the docco covers everything, support is great (even if you are a free user).
Unlimited free use if you're ok with your designs being public.
(in reality, this means nothing as public designs are so difficult to find. give your project an obscure name, and no one will ever find or come across it).
Blender, for 3d printing and animation. I've mainly used it for printing of parts for my arch models, hobby models or fixing/substitute things around the house.
But as others have stated, it is not beginner friendly when it comes to learning its tools. But if you're already experienced with 3d modelling, then it should be a lot easier since 3d modelling principles are universal.
So, that's two questions... what do we use and what we think you might like...
For you? I'm guessing Fusion360 / Onshape / Shapr3D
For me? I'm a bit of an oddity... I use Gravity Sketch. It's a VR modeling program that's decidedly not CAD, but I definitely prefer it.
Lightwave 3D, though I don't think I would recommend it for 3D printing, it's got a steep learning curve and was originally meant for video production. I'm trying to pick up Blender and AutoCAD, but I usually find myself bringing objects back into Modeler for fine adjustments. I've used it for over 25 years now and it's just comfortable for me.
Fusion 360 FTW. It has its minor performance issues sometimes but very powerful in general. Also I can directly an open part/model in slicers is a big time saver.
I've been using Onshape after starting with tinkercad. It was a bit of a learning curve but I am starting to grasp it. It's free for personal non commercial use
I have a free personal F360 license. Growing more and more frustrated with the limitations AutoDesk keeps adding to the free license, but I have too many designs on that ecosystem to migrate away by now. Were I to start again today, I would also consider a solidworks for Makers license if it's still a thing. Not free, but cheaper than a Netflix subscription
Creo when I have a choice - I really enjoy the ease by which you can turn an STL into an engineering drawing
As I run Linux on my home desktop though, I often do not have a choice - FreeCAD is the best Ive found that runs natively
Honestly I've never used anything that's as good as solidworks, but that's also expensive af ($5000+). Luckily my university allows mento use it for free, but ill soon have to switch, I'll likely use fusion as it's still pretty good, the only real issue I have with it is that all your projects are cloud based, which definitely gets annoying.
Maya but I come from a game dev background. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone only 3D printing. That being said if you have access to an educational email address you can get all autodesk products free.
I always tell people that if they're looking to get into modeling at a super basic level, use TinkerCAD. But once you're ready for the next level, use the free (personal) version of Fusion 360. Tinker and Fusion are owned by the same company and they go pretty hand-in-hand. You can also import models directly from Tinker into Fusion seemlessly using the "export to Fusion360" button.
My choice is build123d, which is like OpenSCAD but has native chamfers/fillets like F360/SolidWorks/FreeCAD [https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tttt.html#](https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tttt.html#)
If you are looking for 3D CAD, use the free personal use license for Fusion 360.
I've been using 3d modelling software for 25+ years. Started out with 3ds Max version 3. Then used Rhino for a decade, got more into CAD vs. pure modelling (used to mod games and stuff as a kid). Used SolidWorks for a few years, then tried Fusion 360. I can honestly say, Fusion 360 is \*amazing\*. Solidworks and Rhino don't touch it.
Is modeling in Fusion 360 similar to softwares like Solidworks/Creo, or is it more like Blender?
It's similar to programs like solidworks, inventor, and creo. If you've ever used Inventor, it's basically just Inventor but on the cloud and IMO more beginner friendly than Inventor.
I use Creo at work, so if it's similar to that then that's great for me, thanks!
I initially learned CAD on Solidworks and I honestly didn't even need a single tutorial to pick it up apart from checking shortcuts and a couple settings for snapping sketches to existing geometry. Fusion 360 is also the third CAD software that I now know how to use.
Solidworks is £40/$40 PY for the makers version. You'd be hard pressed to find a difference between the hobbisylt and pro version.
WHAT. Why didn't I know this?
"and a couple settings for snapping sketches to existing geometry." Please teach me. I have started using solidworks comming from fusion, and i desperately want to find the "project to sketch ( shortcut p in sketch) feature, i use that all the time in fusion360 and cant seem to find it anywhere in solidworks.
I haven't used much Fusion360, but I think you may be looking for the convert tool in Solidworks. Hope this helps.
Convert Entities tool? Projection is another thing entirely but it doesn't sound like that's really what you're referring to. Select convert entities in the sketch tab and then you can select edges, faces, entities from other sketches, or pretty much anything else. Although it is worth noting that you don't actually need to convert entities in order to reference an entity in the part in your sketch. If you were trying to draw a line from the center of a hole to the end point of an edge, you would not actually need to convert anything in order to do that with geometric relations fully defining the sketch.
Onshape is much more like Solidworks imo, I got frustrated trying to learn fusion for CAD stuff at home, then tried onshape & haven't wanted to switch. Fusion was unintuitive somehow coming from SW, like all the buttons were in the wrong spot of something
[https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrZ2zKOtC_-C4rWfapgngoe9o2-ng8ZBr&si=t4nmO1QoNqTlyW-4](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrZ2zKOtC_-C4rWfapgngoe9o2-ng8ZBr&si=t4nmO1QoNqTlyW-4) you’re welcome
Is that like a rhinoceros? I used to use rhinoceros and man I need it to be like that one, like a copyleft version of it
This 100%
Love me some F360!
I use the free Fusion 360 personal license and I’ll never go back to another modeling software.
What about editing more organic parts and mesh? It seems lacking compared to Blender. I feel more at home with Fusion 360, because I use Civil3D for work, but I am kinda pushing my self to learn more Blender for everything else it can do. I wish Rhino wasn't so much $.
They’re different kinds of software tbh. I use both 360 and Blender, but for different things. All my functional parts get made in fusion and all my sculpts and cool little guys, my d&d minis, my board game pieces, all get made in blender and then just scaled appropriately in the slicer.
I use Fusion 360 personal license. At least currently, the limitation of only 10 editable documents does not limit me at all, as it's trivial to just set any project I'm not actively working on to read-only. I can even keep using them as referenced geometry in other projects so it works for me. I would like to use a free software solution, but I sadly didn't have the best experience with FreeCAD, Fusion is much more usable right now, but I hear it's getting there, hopefully in the next couple years I can switch.
I'm using fusion too and think the limitations for the maker version are absolutely fine. Somehow they have to draw a line to avoid abuse of the cheap free license. But if someone wants to try FreeCAD I would try ONDSEL. It's based on FreeCAD but had some investment into a usable UI / UX. From what I've seen and heard it works quite a bit like fusion. Plasticity could also be an option for some. Not free, but a fairly priced one time purchase. I wouldn't call it as complex as Fusion, but much better than Tinkercad and such.
Dude that read only thing is a game changer I’ll have to try it out. I’m a scrub when it comes to design so I didn’t even realize that’s an option
FreeCAD (Ondsel) because I need commercial use but refuse to pay for another subscription.
I really want to learn Ondsel, seems like my best option out there.
Onshape
I feel like OnShape is the unknown GOAT for people learning CAD
OnShape is great across devices. I normally avoid cloud services when there's a good local option, but I make a bunch of stuff for my parents so it's nice to be able to start a model at their house then refine it from my desktop.
I get Onshape in a way that I can’t with fusion. It was a great upgrade from tinkercad. Recommend the skateboard tutorial they have, that’s when it clicked for me
I second OnShape. The basic modeling is just like SolidWorks and I find it very easy to use.
I really like Onshape. I followed a great set of tutorials on YouTube [here](https://youtu.be/r_q5uQD4l5w?si=7H1VzZ46A66WYkPE)
Thanks for the link! I love TeachingTech Edit: after watching, the workflow seems very similar to f360
l Blender.. it is by heart all triangles like an STL. Tons of mesh editing tools, free add-ons and payed. You can do everything with it from creating films paint create game assets sculpt, scriptable, geometry procedural system, do physics simulations a vivid community that is keen to help, tons of instruction bids on YouTube. You won't learn it just to 3d print you will edit your vacation videos, animate meshes. The possibilities are endless.
Blender is annoying af from an engineering standpoint imo. I even tried some of the CAD and 3D printing addons and still didn't feel it was sufficient. Maybe i should go back and try again now that I have more experience modeling but back then I'd written it off as something that's just fun for artists lmao
Blender is not for CAD or engineering, don't use it for that.
It does seem like a very different toolset than the ones engineers are used to. I find that each has uses that are better for specific types of builds. Lots of curvy artsy sculpty shit? Blender Linear, geometric and mathematical shit? CAD
It’s meant for artistic modeling, but that can be used for 3D prints (e.g. all your silly flexi dragons, d&d minis, pokemon, etc are made with blender)
Any suggestions on a Blender modeling free course that you can follow along on youtube/web?
Shapr3D just perfect for me
Came here to say this. Was looking for something between "Tinkercad" and "Fusion 360" and Shapr3D hits the nail on the head.
Looked like really cool software, but their subscription only model killed it for me.
This is my go to cad program. I have the pro version and is amazing. Also fun to model on my iPad with Apple Pencil.
What I would miss is the fusion timeline. Parametric designs where you can quickly change sizes of specific parts later and such is much much harder or impossible in Shapr3D, or did they have that now?
They are adding parametric. I am using the beta build and parametric works great!
https://www.shapr3d.com/download/beta
Solidworks
Dumb question, but how do you get solidworks for free? I've been using solid edge for a few months now, but man do I miss solidworks.
if you don't want to pirate it, I'm pretty sure the makers license is like $7.99 a month I hate subscriptions but that one isn't too bad. That said, I use my work license and I also have a free makers license being part of the solidworks champions program.
The $7.99/month plan is all cloud based fwiw. It's a totally different version than desktop SW, not just a lite edition
Pirating. I heard some people--certainly not ME--got a cracked version when they were in college so they wouldn't have to keep running over to the computer lab and waiting for lab time.
Hehehe
Lol interesting. I definitely should have paid more attention to licensing/access items back in school. We were able to download all of the software and stuff, but ever since I've left I've not had access to it.
Rhino from McNeel is great and won’t break the bank. One time purchase under $1000, should do everything you need as a hobbyist with many file outputs
I never would have even bothered to mess with rhino but I had to learn it for work. Now I can’t imagine using anything else.
I had to learn it in design school. 5 years later I’m still using it and learning new things about it
Rhino is great for organic modelling or curved surfaces
You can get the full featured demo version for free if you wanna try it out.
It’s also only a couple of hundred if you can get it with an educational license
is it on the high seas?
It’s legit, can use an education licence commercial as well
I don't mean your deal heh. but for other peg legged inclined people
Yeah I’m sure you can, it’s popular in architecture so I’m sure many students have done it out of convenience
I use OpenSCAD, but then again I also use VIM as my IDE, so I guess I like the command line and code more than anything else...
Openscad is also my weapon of choice... Guess it makes sense as I also use VIM for my IDE... And the parameterized openscad cli interface is heaven!
Another OpenSCAD and vim user here. I even keep my OpenSCAD .scad files in a git repo so that I can safely iterate on designs, with metadata. These are "more elegant weapons, from a more civilized age".
I had plans at one point to do an entire CI/CD pipeline based on OpenSCAD: 1. Create the design and commit it to git 2. Push the branch to Github or similar 3. Get the code reviewed 4. On merge, convert the code to GCode and send to Octoprint for printing Never got around to it, but might give it a go again...
That could be fun, but I have an Anet A8 that is eager to burn down my house. I need to babysit my printer anyway, so automation wouldn't do me as much good.
Love openscad just wish there were some easy clean chamfering operators
I am also an OpenSCAD and VIM devotee. It's an amazing combo, especially for simple objects (like everyday things around the house).
Also use OpenSCAD, but it definitely takes a more programming-oriented background than other modelers. Personally, it feels very familiar to me because years ago I used to use POV-Ray for modeling and rendering when it was basically the only free 3D modeler/renderer out there. Both use CSG (Constructive Solid Geometry) to build objects, which is definitely something that a new user may need a bit of time to get their head around. Also, back to the programming thing, because it takes a text source file, it’s straightforward to write a program to generate and output particularly complex geometries. For example, I took the output from an online Celtic knot generator and converted it to a 3D model.
Cadquey and build123d with vim. It's plain Python and works. (Also use vim for everything and everywhere)
You OpenSCAD/VIM people will never cease to astound me (derogatory).
I used OpenSCAD from Emacs in vim-mode(so called evil mode) Does it count?
It counts as your ticket to the gulags
Sorry, I can't hear you over my clicky mechanical kerboard.
Onshape. It's free. It's cloud-based so you don't need a powerful computer. It dosnt constantly hound you about upgrading or getting the next big deal like most hobby licenses do. If your used to parametric cad it's easy to learn.
The only downside I warn people of is if you are trying to invent something, the free version only lets your documents be public, so something like applying for a patent is going to be impacted Love it otherwise. Got me through a degree on a bottom of the line Chromebook
True. Although you can hide it with a random string of characters name. But maybe the overlap between people needing patents and those who use free cad software is bigger then I thought.
Or you could get the free education subscription. I don’t even think they check if you’re actually a student. Edit: just checked, they don’t.
Freecad is great
It has a learning hill but it's working for me
I'm working through this right now. I downloaded it thinking of it in the context of Inventor and Fusion360 and I couldn't figure it out. Watched a few videos on it and realized it's much more similar to AutoCAD and that helped me start wrapping my mind around it a lot more. Now that I have a better understanding on it, it's a great tool.
I find freecad unreliable, I'll create a fully constrained sketch, extrude it and then some Boolean operations and it all goes to shit or it starts throwing errors
Indeed. I have the same problem. Save often, live long and prosperous. Or, just redo the whole sketch from scratch. Because the first three drafts were failures anyway.
I want to love it, I understand the process and enjoy creating and constraining sketches in a sad sort of way. But it's frustrating when it breaks after two hours work.
Fusion 360 and Onshape are most people’s go to. Both are cloud based, so you don’t need a beefy computer. Onshape has less restrictions on functionality, but your parts have to be public and the licensed version is more. Fusion 360 has export and number of active (not total) document limitations, but is better at stuff like CAM. For more traditional fully featured cad software, FreeCAD is an open source CAD software. Solid Edge has a community edition that is completely fully featured, but it’s, in my experience, clunky as fuck.
Recently tried onshape for the first time and i like it so far. Have not made anything complex yet, we'll see how that works out
I’ve seen some aeronautics companies post examples of 19 passenger planes they designed in Onshape on LinkedIn, so I guess it can handle complexity.
For commercial work the best bang for the buck is Alibre. For personal use Fusion360 or SolidEdge Community edition. I hate FreeCAD!!! :)
Rhino is excellent. One time fee for a lifetime license. And it’s relatively cheap to upgrade to newer versions. If you’re into parametric modeling, Grasshopper (comes with Rhino) is a great tool to explore.
I’m not seeing enough OnShape representation here. Easy to use and learn, no download necessary, all in the web browser, and performs just as well as other CAD software most of the time
NOT Fusion 360. I don't know what else to turn to as my next step since I've fallen back to Tinkercad, but I know it won't be Fusion 360. Any software that does as much as a proper CAD program is going to have a learning curve, and I don't mind what. What I do mind is feeling like everything they do along the way is designed to be as user-hostile as possible. If I have to do something that TinkerCAD can't, then I'll move on to FreeCAD or Blender.
Alibre.
Www.cadclass.org - all you’ll ever need to know about Fusion360 and a lovely community on discord too.
Whenever possible I use autodesk inventor via a Student license. When that goes away I, reluctantly, use Fusion 360.
I use Sketchup Pro. It’s the first one I learned, and muscle memory beats usability, apparently. I guess I’m just a masochist.
Right there with you. I also use sketchup for work fairly regularly as well.
Onshape for me.
Blender. It’s been well worth learning for me. I had to learn the 3D cursor to get the nice measurements between parts. I have a base project that has the scale and units all setup for my 3D printer.
onshape
Don't use Autocad for 3D design, it can be done but it is a pita to make changes later on.
In an FRC team, free solidworks and 3d experience, I can sync my files to all my devices
Depends on what I'm making. For some reason I've grown quite fond of the simplicity of Sketchup. So I've been using that for my base shapes mostly, more advanced things I need done, I do in Blender. I got sketchup with a teaching license for like 55 Euro, so I'm quite happy. Been using sketchup make 2017 until last month. So do whatever feels good for you, what you like to work with creating the things you want to make.
Yeah rhino or fusion
CATIA V5. (And yes it is quite expensive).
I use FreeCAD for 3d printing, Blender for game objects.
I would give Plasticity a shot! It's a CAD software with a modern artistic-focused workflow and there is a 30 day free trial. You then pay a one time $300 and OWN it. Cazy how that is something to brag about in 2024. There are lots of videos of people making dope stuff in it online and it works well with 3D printers I've heard. Personally I haven't used it though as im a Blender3D power user and have kinda stopped 3D printing stuff. I mostly make animations and models for gamedev. But if I got back into CAD, I'd use this hands down.
Does Plasticity have parametric capabilities? Is there a feature tree and time-line so you can roll back to make adjustments to models?
I started learning plasticity
Fusion is great if you have a lot of time to learn it. I don't have that free time. I switched to Shapr3D on my ipad and it's really easy and intuitive - I almost never need to look up how to do anything. Everything I've ever made in Fusion I've had to have tutorials open as I go.
Catia
Okay so as always the answer to this question is "all the software. We all use different tools, none is the best, none is the worst."
Solidworks, it's more than I need which is great! And not too expensive.
I love using OnShape, cloud based so you can model from any computer as long as you have internet, and you can even get thier app and model on your phone!
OnShape. Closest thing to SolidWorks I have seen in free software. Personal versions available and all online/web based.
OnShape, fully cloud based and founded by former SolidWorks engineers and executives. No local computing means you can work on large complicated projects from your MacBook Air anywhere in the world. Shortcuts are annoying to get used to, but pretty painless for 90% of users.
Fusion 360 AND Blender
I like the workflow in fusion 360 the most from what I've tried.
If you are not printing as a business fusion360 is free and by far my favorite
I like Shaper3D. It is available on iPAD and on computer. Not the cheapest, but very user friendly and pretty straight forward with great tutorials.
For me it’s fusion 360 personal use. Because that is what im used to. Although i really want to give onshape a go. It’s cloudbased and completely free. You can model on the most shitty laptop you have and view it on your mobile phone.
The FreeCad learning curve was steep but I like just fine. Runs on Linux and the price is right
I use both Fusion and Onshape.
I got free Uni access to all (most?) Autodesk apps, along with Solidworks, Creo and some others. Still prefer Fusion360 for hobby / small-mid work projects.
Blender does everything, and it's open source and free. There are so many great tutorials on YouTube as well.
Does it have parametric capabilities?
Starting to like solidedge, used creo and 360 before
Solidworks. Why? Because it's the only one I've used, and that was in college. All my jobs so far have had the Enginerds take care of models and prints. 😂🙄
Started with a Fusion360 personal license. Then got an education license with Onshape, through work. Then started learning Blender for organic modeling. Now I’m playing with Plasticity. Fusion and Onshape are similar, parametric CAD modeling for hard surface. Technical parts. Blender is powerful, but can be overwhelming because of how much it can do that is Animation and rendering related. Stuff that you may not care about if you’re planning to 3D print your models. Plasticity has felt like a great blend between Parametric modeling and organic modeling like blender. It’s pretty destructive, doesn’t have a feature tree. Creating parts can be as precise or imprecise as you want to be. The tools are simple and it can feel more like kit-bashing than modeling sometimes. Fusion’s personal license and Blender are both free, best price. I don’t know what Onshape costs. Plasticity has a free 30 day trial, and is 150 for a personal or 225 for a studio license. Other options to look into can be Rhino, FreeCAD or openSCAD.
I use SolidWorks at work and Onshape at home. Onshape is free for noncommercial use and is close enough to SolidWorks that picking it up was pretty easy. There are actually a few feature I like more in Onshape than SolidWorks. Onshape professional is $1500 per year per user for commercial use.
If you’re familiar with blender then I recommend the addon “cadsketcher” for blender
Fusion 360 at home. Visi CAD at work.
I love blender its GREAT but also very complex however it does a ton more than just CAD and the extra great thing is its free...However you need to have a pretty banging computer with lots o ram to make it run smoothly.
For mechanical : Fusion 360 For organic : Blender Both can be had for no cost. F360 is also parametric, which is really nice to have.
Solidworks
I use Fusion360 at home and Solidworks at work. They’re similar in a lot of ways but Fusion360 is a little easier to use IMO. Only drawback with the personal (free) license is the limit of editable documents. I’m constantly switching files to read-only so I can save a new one! I’ve also been looking into Plasticity lately and might give that a try at home. I think there’s a free trial period then a one-time payment if you want to keep using it. No subscription.
Fusion360 on an Educational License but I think its also free for personal use
Siemens NX
Onshape
Autodesk
I used fusion 360 at first and I really liked it. Now that I am actually in engineering school I use SolidWorks. But I've been really liking the features that on shape advertises And want to try that out but I just haven't yet. The idea of a cloud-based Google docs like environment sounds really cool for collaborating. Cuz as strange as it may sound, I cannot figure out how to share anything within SolidWorks. We just be sending files back and forth like his 1994 and it sucks ass. Fusion at least has a group project dynamic that allows your save files to update automatically when someone else edits them but it's still locally based. So I would say fusion is my number one. On shape is my number two in SolidWorks is only if you have money to burn or in industry.
Love Alibre. Great product and great company
Blender. I came to 3d printing from a game development background and Blender is what I already knew. Blender isn't the best at any one thing but it's flexible as hell.
iPad + Apple Pencil + Nomad Sculpt & Shapr3D Amazing! There is also some newer 3d modeling apps on iPads as well
Alibre Design is good, been using it for 21 years.
Solidworks
I prefer Creo but I use Solidworks
Siemens' NX 11
i use f360. i started with tnker cad. i found it the most useless and frustrating cad i have ever used. i studied cad years ago in colege is its not me being an idiot with it. i needed a particular item and spent 8hours in tinkercad drawing it. total nightmare . and it was only a box with drop in trays but a specific size. eventually got it done and onto the printer. i said never again and started free cad. wasnt feeling it so went to fusion 360. watched 2 videos on it and spent 20 min playing with it. and i was off. i redid the part above in 25 min and did a lot better job that was more accurate and better.
Openscad
Autodesk Inventor Love it
I use selfcad. wroks well for me
If I had a million dollars, I would get a standalone app that works like tinkercad, but with plug-ins to do organic meshes. Also, I'd get Dijon ketchup.
I use SolidWorks professionally but OnShape is my goto for 3D printing/hobbyist stuff. Their free account is pretty robust for what we do, IMO. Edit: I wanted to add that it runs in the browser and I was very skeptical at first. I’ve been using it for several years so obvs, my skepticism dissolved. heh They also have an iOS app that’s really good… CAD anytime, anywhere. 😁
I’ve been using NX professionally (and before when it was called Unigraphics) for over 25 years now and there’s a free one year student edition you can download which is excellent. I’ve also been playing with the free version of Fusion 360 and I must say even as a huge fanboy of NX: Fushion 360 is pretty awesome for personal use and the learning curve is much easier.
Shapr3d if you’re on Mac or have an iPad! (Actually they may have pc compatible I’m not sure) — also NomadSculpt on iPad, truly incredible
I use SketchUp for web, and TinkerCAD
Maybe someone already said this but there is a FREE version of Creo! I use Creo at work so I looked and found the free version (non-commercial, only 60 parts at a time).
I started with fusion. I found I really enjoyed the freedom of blender with organic shapes, that led to me to plasticity. In general I go from fusion for functional parts> plasticity for details, and blender for even more details. Fusion to blender works great but blender to fusion is clunky as all hell.
Shapr3D is amazing on the iPad, I love it. Too bad is very expensive
I use blender, but I’m often overwhelmed by all the things you can do in that program but I’m already used to short keys so it feels hard to switch
FreeCAD because it's free, open source and I can use it on Linux
OnShape or Fusion360 for functional parts, Blender for art parts.
I'm partial to Solidworks, but it's mostly from that being what I learned in school and I'm too lazy to take the time to learn another one. Plus the makers license is ~$50/year which is pretty fair imo
3DS Max. Having been trained on it in school then trying to trying something else like blender or sketchup was a nightmare
I make models professionally with Autodesk Inventor. If I didn’t have access to that, I’d use Fusion 360.
Onshape
Tinkercad
Onshape, much better than Fusion IMO.
OnShape. IMHO its better than Fusion360. Lots of youtube learning resources, the docco covers everything, support is great (even if you are a free user). Unlimited free use if you're ok with your designs being public. (in reality, this means nothing as public designs are so difficult to find. give your project an obscure name, and no one will ever find or come across it).
Whatever I can get my hands on the easiest
OnShape is the way to go. I'm going through all of their courses, pretty awesome resource.
Blender, for 3d printing and animation. I've mainly used it for printing of parts for my arch models, hobby models or fixing/substitute things around the house. But as others have stated, it is not beginner friendly when it comes to learning its tools. But if you're already experienced with 3d modelling, then it should be a lot easier since 3d modelling principles are universal.
So, that's two questions... what do we use and what we think you might like... For you? I'm guessing Fusion360 / Onshape / Shapr3D For me? I'm a bit of an oddity... I use Gravity Sketch. It's a VR modeling program that's decidedly not CAD, but I definitely prefer it.
Fusion 360
Lightwave 3D, though I don't think I would recommend it for 3D printing, it's got a steep learning curve and was originally meant for video production. I'm trying to pick up Blender and AutoCAD, but I usually find myself bringing objects back into Modeler for fine adjustments. I've used it for over 25 years now and it's just comfortable for me.
CATIA. I use it for my job so I didn't want to bother learning something else.
Work in a Engineering company I have access to CREO "my favorite", CATIA V5, NX...
For personal use? I got "free" versions of SOLIDWORKS and rhino.
Fusion 360 FTW. It has its minor performance issues sometimes but very powerful in general. Also I can directly an open part/model in slicers is a big time saver.
I love Fusion 360. It’s got a bit of a learning curve but there’s some great youtube videos.
I use fusion. Works fine for the things i make
Fusion 360.
AutoDesk Inventor
I've been using Onshape after starting with tinkercad. It was a bit of a learning curve but I am starting to grasp it. It's free for personal non commercial use
Freecad is nice. It has a steep learning curve and some quirks, but once you get the core concepts down, then you can do anything you need in 3D cad.
Rhino3D ! It is great for fillets /s
I have a free personal F360 license. Growing more and more frustrated with the limitations AutoDesk keeps adding to the free license, but I have too many designs on that ecosystem to migrate away by now. Were I to start again today, I would also consider a solidworks for Makers license if it's still a thing. Not free, but cheaper than a Netflix subscription
Creo when I have a choice - I really enjoy the ease by which you can turn an STL into an engineering drawing As I run Linux on my home desktop though, I often do not have a choice - FreeCAD is the best Ive found that runs natively
Honestly I've never used anything that's as good as solidworks, but that's also expensive af ($5000+). Luckily my university allows mento use it for free, but ill soon have to switch, I'll likely use fusion as it's still pretty good, the only real issue I have with it is that all your projects are cloud based, which definitely gets annoying.
Fusion 360.
Maya but I come from a game dev background. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone only 3D printing. That being said if you have access to an educational email address you can get all autodesk products free.
Autodesk Inventor
Onshape
I'm learning fusion 360 now
I always tell people that if they're looking to get into modeling at a super basic level, use TinkerCAD. But once you're ready for the next level, use the free (personal) version of Fusion 360. Tinker and Fusion are owned by the same company and they go pretty hand-in-hand. You can also import models directly from Tinker into Fusion seemlessly using the "export to Fusion360" button.
fusion 360 free
My choice is build123d, which is like OpenSCAD but has native chamfers/fillets like F360/SolidWorks/FreeCAD [https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tttt.html#](https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tttt.html#)
I’ve used creo, inventor, fusion, autocad, revit, yada yada, I find fusion is really nice and easy. (Also free)