If you code at all OpenSCAD
If you've never done modeling at all TinkerCAD
If you want the easiest experience Fusion360
If you live the FOSS doctrine -- FreeCAD
It's possible that I'm not familiar enough with it, but in my experience OpenSCAD makes the vast majority of projects take way longer compared to non-scripting-based CAD software. I learned Onshape for a class and haven't used OSCAD since. (though it definitely still has some niche uses)
I find the same thing but It seems clear to me if you understood 3d geometry really well you would have a ton of benefit
If you're new to 3d design I usually recommend starting with Tinkercad. I moved from there to Fusion 360. Fusion is a huge pain in the butt if you don't want to way them large sums of money, but it's the cad software I most enjoy.
Step 1. Start with TinkerCAD
Step 2. Graduate to Fusion 360
Step 3. Go back to TinkerCAD because F360 was difficult
Final Step. Read other people's comments about moving to Fusion 360 and cry a little
: Perhaps I should learn this OpenSCAD thing or maybe FreeCAD. Then I would have all the fancy features and I'd never have to worry about paying for such software.
Actually, there exists no commercial equivalent to OpenSCAD that I'm aware of. Those doing generative design via code in industry are already using OpenSCAD or they're using truly custom stuff.
Pro tip: Use the latest nightly build of OpenSCAD from their website and enable the new features that speed up rendering times by like 1000% 👍
The manifold renderer is a game changer. I seriously didn't like OpenSCAD before that.
I made the jump using youtube tutorials but it's been a few years so I don't remember which to recommend. One of the reasons I keep using fusion is that it's ability to move back and forth through design history so so well made it easier to overcome my early screw ups.
For learning or use. Fusion 360 still offers a free version for home use. There are great tutorials on YouTube or buy a $30/month Udemy account and get access to tons of courses and everything else in their library and cancel when you're done learning.
For Mac and Windows only, limited to 10 editable designs and 1 drawing at a time.
The window part kills me... Wish there was a real Linux alternative.
Last time I checked it almost worked in Wine.. No issues with the actual CAD stuff, but IIRC the window for managing projects was broken so once I had reached the limits of the free version I couldn't close any open projects.
I use FreeCAD primarily. It's powerful but the UI is a bit clunky and occasionally you have to spend a lot of time on something that feels like it ought to be a simple operation. Perhaps I ought to try OpenSCAD too
I used to run Fusion 360 in Chrome on my Chromebook and then chromium when I flashed the Chromebook to Ubuntu after my support schedule ended. I get it for free through the school district where I work and am using my two licenses on my computer and on my friend's computer where I definitely do much of my modeling. -cough- lie -cough-
If you or anyone you know has an email account from an educational institution, you should be able to access it for free!
Shit I didn't know about the education email thing, I'll have to give that a shot soon.
I'm currently using the hobby license of it.
But you can save your files locally, and then delete them. The 10 file limit isn't really a limit. It's an annoyance.
You can just need to switch them between editble and read-only to save the hassle. But I have 14 on-going projects right now, it's a giant pain to keep within that limit.
I didn't realize you could toggle them. Thanks.
First design was on freecad. The others on openscad.
lol hatekeepers. I'm going to use that -- what an apt term
Fusion 360. Free for home use and it's really not as bad as some people make it out to be. A little tricky to get the hang of first but there are thousands of tutorials out there.
I had absolutely zero 3d modeling experience prior to diving into fusion360 and I am still really new to it, but I'm quite enjoying it.
The tutorials for F360 are numerous, and some very good, you just have to find one that supports the current build. I still struggle with the invisible auto constraints it inexplicably adds and the apparent inability to modify constraint hierarchy (I had a couple thousand hours of Pro/E back in the day), and I throw things when they don’t have all the mathematical ways to create construction objects. Aside from that it’s a good tool as long as you’re working with solid objects and not meshes.
Yea that is the one thing I noticed. Trying to work with a mesh was damn near impossible for me. Makes it annoying if i'm trying to modify an existing .stl. Still haven't really worked out how to do that but one of these days i'll get it.
Yep I started on SolidWorks back in the day due to doing a related degree, but it's honestly overkill for most of what we do in our house. Fusion has been great for sharing designs between me and the husband, and we've not yet needed anything it can't do.
This will be unpopular, but I would recommend getting an autoddsk Inventor eduational license, if you can, to learn the basics of parametric modeling. Build up general skills and then graduate to a FOSS solution like Freecad. I would recommend finding broken gadgets/toys and home and reverse engineering replacement parts.
@debiangamer I think it is important to note that if you're learning any modeling software, it is important to follow tutorials to learn the process and workflows (especially with FreeCAD)
#3dprinting
Do you have a good interactive parametric tutorial suggestion?
OnShape is my go-to. It's what I taught my students when I was a TA for an introductory engineering class at college, and they could pick it up in about a day.
Can do just about anything a "professional" cad suite does, but it's free, works in a browser, and is generally so much better designed so you don't have to fight against the UI to get anything done.
I'm also team onshape. I have a powerful desktop, but I still end up doing CAD from the couch on my 6-year-old Chromebook, so onshape is a champ for that. It's also nice for collaborating, which I do when working on bigger projects with my fiancee.
I got started with it entirely from the tutorials provided by Onshape itself. The learning curve was a lot less steep than I expected.
I don't remember what I started with. It was forever ago, so something very obscure and tedious. I use https://freecad.org exclusively for my own work these days. Free as in freedom and it does about everything.
I had some past experience with Blender, but for functional designs I picked up OpenSCAD
I have been just brute forcing blender to do what I needed.
Totally agree with Bishma on Tinkercad, it has limits but you’ll be building stuff. I came from SketchUp which isn’t strong for 3D printing, played with Blender for a short bit then sucked it up and dove into Fusion.
I started watching videos from Paul McWhorter on YouTube who walks through things slowly instead of some of the other guys who go at a lightening fast pace, not saying they aren’t good but too many what just happened there moments. Paul’s videos are slightly dated but still strong for basics.
I have only created a few simple stls in Tinkercad. Real basic stuff. Anyone have thoughts on Sketchup?
I like SketchUp for my woodworking stuff and wanted it to work with 3D but the shortcomings at the time weren’t worth it. The product could have changed so this could be dated.
Always seemed to fight getting models watertight which has been no issue with tinker, fusion, openscad, or freecad. Also, it was hard with curved objects. Lastly, it didn’t have parametric support which is a must for design once/use many things. As an example, I have a simple funnel with a lip to fit into bottles or whatever. Need one for a different container? Just a couple of adjustments and I’m printing.
Not saying not to use it but others have listed many alternatives for 3D that are superior. SketchUp seems to have a good community for questions it’s just that other tools have better (IMO.)
Thanks for the insights. Still new to drafting my own designs. I will probably stick with Tinkercad awhile longer and the move to an open source program from there.
Only advice I can give, not knowing your learning style, is whatever CAD platform you choose will seem challenging until you "get" the mindset it uses. Not really hard, but all have an approach which will become natural after some time. Take something you did in Tinkercad in 10 minutes and recreate it in say freeCAD, initially it’ll seem like something so easy shouldn’t be this hard….in short order it’ll be a breeze.
some of the other guys who go at a lightening fast pace
This drives me nuts on a lot of "tutorials". Not just for CAD but for anything on YouTube. The presenter will launch into a massive word vomit, jumping from step to step, with barely a breath in between. They'll have half the thing done and I'm still trying to figure out which side of my mouse I'm supposed to grab. And FSM help me if the idiot behind the camera opens a copy of notepad and starts typing instructions instead of speaking....
There’s a ton of content out there for everything but a huge difference between being a teacher vs being an expert. People think it’s easy, just make a video of me doing something, but instruction is much more than that.
Started with solidworks in 2008 and that was a big mistake. Its too good and its not open source lol
Same which is why I pirate it
I might be a bit of an odd case, but I use Autodesk Maya 2014. I was trained for 3d modelling and animation on it and it was still on my computer from those old days. I'm familiar with the tools and I get get what I want out of it quickly. I'm definitely missing some modern features but I'm not printing anything that needs more.
I've got other priorities at this stage in life to bother learning a new system that may not bring any benefit.
I started with TinkerCad and is now learning Shapr3d with the iPad. Haven't made much designs tho
I bounce around between FreeCAD and OpenSCAD but I started on Sketchup.
Use TinkerCad for basic shapes and anything where I am more interested in the visual appearance than the exact measurements.
Use OpenSCAD for anything where precision matters. But, I'm an OK hack at programming and math; so, it's a pretty natural way for me to think.
Keep meaning to give a "real CAD" program a try and keep falling back on what I know. Some day I'll do more than open FreeCAD and run screaming away from my computer.
I use AutoCAD r14 for 2D and for 3D modeling I use Delcam PowerSHAPE (now it has been acquisition by Autodesk), it's back when I study in university. Later I change it depends on what company use/have. Last I use NX in work.
For tips and tricks you'll be find it more when you do more practice, it is difficult to say what need to do. But for basic I'll say :
For starting software there are many option out there. But I can recomend you view of it, especially that has educational/hobbyist/free version.
All of them have similarities in how to do 3D modelling, each of them has pros and cons. Choose one that you like and master it, try othe CAD package and you'll find which one is home to you. 😂
Keep practicing and be better.
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