MakerGear Forum

NavyDT here (the annoying new guy)

Just wondering what 3d modeling programs you guys are using. I started messing with tinkercad, it seams pretty intuitive and might do the trick for 99% of what I want.

I also started messing around with Blender on recommendation from my brother. I got a Udemy course on it and am a few hours in. It is pretty unwieldy to say the least.

So what are you guys using? mostly wondering what I should invest my time in learning that I'm not going to outgrow at some point ( like tinkercad)

Cheers,
NavyDT

So you will quickly realize that you will outgrow tinkercad when you cant get fine control over parameters. It's still good for rough shapes and models, but if you want to build anything that is purpose built, then you will want a real CAD package.

I'm currently using Fusion 360. It's based off of autodesk inventor, but it is free to hobbyists. as far as free software goes, i'd say dedicate your time to that.

+1 for Fusion 360. i bought Rhino, but F360 is just as good, and you can't beat free. Lots of Youtube tutorials to get you started too.

Im using rhino

I use Solidworks

Onshape is another good one. It' also free (to an extent) that is if you don't mind sharing your files with everyone.

Its very similar to both Fusion and Solidworks so once you learn the basics of CAD you can translate those basics to other programs.

The cool thing about it is it's online based so you can use it from any computer just through the browser.

I like to play around with it at work (while on lunch of course) and then I can continue where I left off when I get home.

I use Solidworks 2017. I looked at onshape but it lacks a great deal of basic features from Solidworks.

Awesome, I will check out thsee recommendations, thanks guys

I'd give another thumbs up to Fusion 360. It has a lot of power for free software.

My preference is still Solidworks for most projects, but Fusion 360 has some capabilities that Solidworks lacks (or that I don't know about/understand) when it comes to working with mesh files.

It happens pretty often that I use Fusion 360 to make an .STL file usable in Solidworks.

I think another thing you'll find as you gain more experience is you'll end up using different programs for different designs. I find my self sometimes starting a design in one program and finishing it in another becuase they all offer different ways of doing things. As basic as it is I still use tinkercad for somethings because it's actual one of the easiest ways to make simple holes and cuts outs directly in STL's. (as long as the file sizes are not to big anyway)